The NFL offseason is mostly noise. Rumors, workouts, vague reports about a player’s “mindset” and a lot of content that means very little by the time September arrives. Every once in a while, though, something genuinely revealing slips through — and Caleb Williams sitting down with Maxx Crosby for an hourlong podcast conversation this week was exactly that.
By the time the episode ended, Bears fans had gone from casually following offseason news to refreshing trade rumor pages with concerning frequency. Williams did that. With his words, his ambition and a level of mutual chemistry with one of the best defensive players in football that nobody was quite prepared for.
The play that still clearly stings
The conversation opened a wound that apparently has not fully closed. During the Bears’ Week 4 matchup against the Raiders last season, Crosby did something that sounds almost physically impossible when described out loud — he crossed from the right side of the defensive line all the way to the left, tipped a Williams pass at the line of scrimmage and then caught his own deflection for an interception.
Williams acknowledged the moment openly, describing the relentless quality Crosby has built over his career and the way he impacts games in ways that most players at any position simply cannot. After that game, Williams had called Crosby the best player he had faced up to that point in his career. Crosby has responded in kind, describing Williams as someone with every bit of talent and ability the game requires.
A quarterback and the pass rusher who picked him off developing genuine mutual respect is not a common storyline. This one feels real.
50 points per game and the greatest offense ever
Here is where the episode stopped being a feel-good moment and became a genuine football conversation. Williams laid out his offensive ambitions for 2026 in terms that were, to put it diplomatically, not modest.
He referenced the 2013 Denver Broncos — the team that set the NFL record for points in a season with 606, averaging nearly 38 per game behind Peyton Manning’s 55-touchdown campaign — and said he wants to nearly double that output. His stated target is 50 points per game. His stated goal is building the greatest offense ever to take a field. The Bears averaged 25.9 points per game last season, good for ninth in the league.
Williams also described his head coach Ben Johnson as someone who plays the game like a competitor determined to dismantle every opponent on the schedule. Coming from a second-year quarterback who just led Chicago to the NFC North title and the franchise’s first playoff win in 15 years, that kind of player-coach alignment is not something to gloss over.
What Crosby said at the end that Bears fans can’t stop thinking about
Crosby closed the episode by telling Williams he had earned respect at a different level, that he was just getting started and that the scariest part was that Williams might not yet fully understand how good he could become. He told Williams they were locked in permanently.
That kind of send-off lands differently when Crosby is also one of the most discussed trade candidates in the league. He was reportedly frustrated with the Raiders after being placed on injured reserve in December, and multiple analysts have suggested his time in Las Vegas appears finished. The Raiders have reportedly indicated they would prefer not to move him, and any deal would likely require a package in the range of what Green Bay sent Dallas for Micah Parsons — two first-round picks and more.
Why the Bears are exactly the team that could do this
There is history here that makes the whole thing feel less like a fantasy and more like a genuine possibility. Nearly eight years ago, the Raiders sent Khalil Mack to Chicago in a deal headlined by two first-round picks. The franchise knows how this transaction works.
The Bears are also in the kind of early Super Bowl window — Williams and several key offensive contributors still on rookie contracts — where general manager Ryan Poles could credibly justify a major swing at a generational pass rusher. The relationship between Williams and Crosby is already established. The mutual respect is documented and public.
The football part is the only thing left to figure out. Which, in the NFL offseason, is both everything and nothing at all.
