Bear Digest

Caleb Williams offers hilarious explanation for Ben Johnson prank

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams broke his silence about the Ben Johnson prank and offered this hilarious explanation.
Bryan Perez|
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Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams appeared on the St. Brown Brothers Podcast on Wednesday and finally broke his silence about the hilarious Ben Johnson prank, when a few young fans texted and facetimed Williams pretending to be Detroit Lions offensive coordinator.

The hoax had Williams believing Johnson accepted the Bears head coaching job, and resulted in a series of text messages from Williams and a facetime call to the pranksters.

Williams, who admitted on the St. Brown Bros podcast that he wasn't locked in when he got the fake messages, offered an interesting explanation for why the Ben Johnson gag worked. He blamed Amon-Ra St. Brown.

Williams told Amon-Ra and his brother (and former Bear) Equanimeous St. Brown that he attempted to text the Lions' star receiver to confirm the incoming texts were, in fact, from Johnson.

St. Brown's reply? Nothing. Nada. Zilch. He ghosted the former Heisman Trophy winner.

By the time St. Brown did reply to Williams, the infamous video had gone viral on social media.

Williams, who appeared to be a good sport during the prank, admitted he was fuming after the call ended and acknowledged that he kept his composure in the moment because he knew he was likely being recorded.

Caleb Williams confirmed he changed his phone number. Smart move.

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Bryan Perez
BRYAN PEREZ

Bryan Perez founded and operated Bears Talk, a Chicago sports blog. Prior to that, he covered the Bears for USA Today’s Bears Wire and NBC Sports Chicago. In addition to his Chicago Bears coverage, Perez is a respected member of NFL Draft media and was a past winner of The Huddle's Mock Draft competition. Bryan's past life includes time as a Northeast scout for the CFL's Ottawa Redblacks.

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