Despite online insistence about ill intent, Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales did not find anything offensive about Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams‘ viral postgame comments to him about his team’s defense.
Williams and the Bears offense torched the Panthers defense in their season-opening matchup, putting up 59 points and 552 total yards on offense. The third-year quarterback accounted for four of the touchdowns himself, throwing two and taking in another two with his legs — including a 29-yard scamper that tied the longest run of his career.
That’s why some NFL fans took offense when Williams shook hands with Canales after the game and told him in a now-viral clip: “Y’all are a great defense, man.
Dave Canales Pushes Back on Caleb Williams Narrative
The perception that Williams was dissing the Panthers for their poor defensive effort quickly drew backlash online, with some calling his comments “disrespectful” and his behavior “arrogant” and “embarrassing.” The discussion even made its way into the press room when a reporter asked Canales on Monday about the controversial video.
Canales said he didn’t take Williams’ comments as an insult, though.
“No, to me, it was a common postgame humility [comment],” Canales said Monday. “It was the same thing with my exchange with Ben Johnson. It was Caleb talking about preparing for the guys that we had and all that — and the type of defense we were able to play down the stretch of last season. He was aware of it. They took advantage of things, and they executed better than we did, so I didn’t take that as a dig at all.
“I thought it was a good kid just being respectful and just kind of making a comment about like, ‘Hey, we prepared, and you guys played hard and — he didn’t have to say it — we played better today.'”
Caleb Williams Wants Better From Bears Offense in Week 2
Williams couldn’t have asked for a much better start to the new season than his Week 1 performance against the Panthers, in which he completed 72.4% of his passes (21 of 29) for 269 yards, rushed 10 times for another 65 yards and scored four total touchdowns.
With a division matchup against the Minnesota Vikings on tap in Week 2, though, Williams said he wants to clean up the mistakes — like their opening-drive fumble — and get better out of himself and the Bears offense in the upcoming week.
“Going into this game, we knew that it’s our first game of the season,” Williams told reporters in Sunday’s postgame. “We knew that it’s not going to be as pretty as it will be later in the year, and so the whole thing was to be able to stay steady and understand that when bad things do happen that we’ve got each other’s backs with defense and special teams. And I think they had our back pretty well today.”
“And we obviously have to be better. We’ve got to protect the football. We can’t have the penalties that we had, and so we’re gonna go back, look at those, be truthers about ourselves and what we can get better at and find a way to try and go 1-0 this next week.”
Caleb Williams’ Perceived Diss Draws Response From Panthers Coach