Heading into Sunday night's Week 2 game against the Texans, there was a lot of conversation about how similar these two team's trajectory was. Both had a young, talented franchise quarterbacks with superstar potential, a wide receiver room full of All-Pro talent, and one of the league's best defenses.
That's why, given how the game actually went, it was so dispiriting for Bears fan to watch Caleb Williams run for his life all game while the Bears turned in one of the worst offensive line performances you'll see on TV this year. By the end of the game, there were a half-dozen TV shots of Williams looking exhausted and beat down going viral, and all the goodwill from the Bears' Week 1 win over Tennessee was gone.
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During the postgame handshakes, cameras caught Texans QB CJ Stroud talking to Williams for an extended period of time. Fans wasted no time speculating what the two were talking about, which is silly because that's why NFL Films exists! And sure enough, they gave the people what they wanted.
CJ Stoud gives great advice to Caleb Williams after Bears' Week 2 loss
.@CJ7STROUD had some words of encouragement for @CALEBcsw.
— NFL (@NFL) September 17, 2024
"You're gonna be a hell of a player in this league." 🤝 pic.twitter.com/EkGCMOl0ew
"Good job out there bro," Stroud said. "Hey, stop taking those hits. Learn from those mistakes, and everything that you got is in you already. You're going to be a hell of a player in this league."
It's nice to see Stroud impart some words of wisdom on Williams – he's literally telling him exactly what any Bears fan who got the opportunity to meet him would, so in that sense he's doing the Bears a real solid.
And granted, I don't know how Williams felt about the conversation. But he doesn't exactly look like a guy who's thrilled to listen to extended advice from a QB who's only been in the league one (1) season longer. Given how much he was picking himself off the ground on Sunday night, it'd be hard to blame him if he was extremely over the pleasantries of postgame handshakes and wanted to just get out of Houston. That 1,000-yard stare at the end says it all.
NFL Films: always there to capture the most awkward moments possible. Thank you, NFL Films.