In about two weeks, the Caleb Williams Bears jersey is going to immediately be one of the NFL's best sellers. And while that in and of itself is not uncommon – first overall picks are, if you can believe it, usually pretty popular – given the context of everything around the first pick this year, there's plenty of reason to believe Williams' jersey will do absolute numbers. Justin Fields' jersey was one of the best-selling jerseys in the league over the last couple years, and was still selling well even when it became obvious that his time in Chicago was coming to an end. Bears fans buy jerseys.
If you follow Chicago media closely enough, you'll remember that there are already a few blue-and-orange Caleb Williams jerseys out there. And yeah, they only exist for the entertainment of the radio host who pulled off the kinda cringey stunt, but it worked, and that's sports radio. But according to a recent Twitter detective, Williams #13 Bears jersey may never actually be a thing.
Caleb Williams looks likely to wear #18.
— Daniel Coltun (@danielcoltun) April 10, 2024
When trying to enter 18 customized on the Bears shop, it errors. However, choosing a different name for 18 doesn’t result in an error. Furthermore, you can enter Williams for any other number. pic.twitter.com/lXKPVIgzA3
THIS is what Twitter is all about. This is, as they say, the good stuff. We would be nothing without those of us willing to go into the depths of customizable football jerseys in hopes of finding the smallest clue about a piece of information that will be publicly available in, like, 10 days. (It would also be wonderful karma for certain radio stunts, but that's less important.)
So there you have it. Caleb Williams is probably going to wear 18 for the Bears. It makes you wonder what number Marvin Harrison Jr will wear. And what's worse is that even though you now know said information, there's nothing you can do about it. You can't go get one to wear the night of the draft; it's almost like NFL teams are wildly protective of their money making opportunities. But never let anyone tell you that Twitter is a waste of time – sometimes, Twitter hints at what a player's jersey number will be a week or two early. And that's definitely, totally, absolutely worth dealing all the bots.