The Chicago Bears quarterback received an official-looking text from what he believed to be Ben Johnson’s number … but found himself FaceTiming a group of teens.
The Chicago Bears quarterback received an official-looking text from what he believed to be Ben Johnson’s number … but found himself FaceTiming a group of teens.
CHICAGO — Bears quarterback Caleb Williams can laugh about it now, but a catfishing prank left the No. 1 pick heated after he was tricked into believing he was talking to his new head coach.
Appearing on the “St. Brown Podcast” with NFL wide receivers Amon-Ra and Equanimeous St. Brown, Williams detailed how he was tricked into believing that Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson was reaching out to let him know he would be the Bears’ next head coach.
On Friday, Williams received a text message from an unknown number that piqued his attention.
“Hey Caleb, this is Ben Johnson,” the text read. “Just wanted to reach out ahead of time before it gets released to the media, I will be taking the HC job. Very excited to work with you in the future. Great things.”
Williams was in the middle of playing a video game, so he said he wasn’t as focused as he should have been to spot some inconsistencies. The quarterback knew the Bears were in the thick of first-round interviews to find the organization’s 19th head coach and thought the team had already interviewed Johnson.
The text came through on Friday, Jan. 10. Johnson’s virtual interview with the Bears was scheduled for the next day.
“The text was so official,” Williams said. “I’ve gotten that text from college coaches and other coaches before, before getting drafted and all of that in different ways. It looked mad professional.”
Williams reached out to Amon-Ra St. Brown, his former USC Trojans teammate, to confirm Johnson’s number before responding. Williams said St. Brown didn’t get back to him quickly, so he called the number after sending a text to verify his suspicions.
On the receiving end of that FaceTime call was a group of teenagers who laughed in amazement that they had tricked the Bears quarterback.
“I ain’t going to lie, it was a classic prank,” Williams said. “It was a Grade A, S-tier prank. I gotta give ’em props. I wasn’t locked in, in the moment.”
Williams said on the podcast that he figured he was being recorded when he called the unknown number and that he wanted to keep his cool in the event their interaction was posted. But once he hung up, his emotions shifted.
“I wanted to smash some s—,” he said. “I was fuming.”
For the first time in 15 years, Williams said, he had to change his phone number.
As of Wednesday, the Bears have interviewed 12 candidates for their open head coaching position. When asked by Amon-Ra St. Brown what qualities he would want in a head coach, Williams listed several that reminded him of Lions coach Dan Campbell.
“Strong-minded. A leader of men,” Williams said. “I think that’s a cool thing with what y’all got over there in Detroit.”
He later detailed the specifics he’d like to see in anyone the Bears hire to guide the franchise past a 5-12 finish during his rookie season.
“Selfishly, I want an offensive-minded guy so I can build with him and be with that coach for the next 19, 17, 15 years, so I can also learn and grow and things like that from him and what he’s seen and what he’s gone through with other QBs or been around,” Williams said. “So that’s selfishly.
“But if we get an overall, like, grand scheme coach, and is good with time management, good with the clock, good with helping control the game. It’s a big factor, obviously. In our game when we played the first time in your place, big factor was being able to help control the clock. And then helping find the right guys to win championships. That’s the only goal that I have for my NFL career is to go win a championship and championships.”
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