When the game between the Washington Commanders and Chicago Bears concluded in Week 6, the talk should have been the impressive last-second win by Chicago, but instead was all about what happened in the broadcast booth.
ESPN NFL commentator Troy Aikman took a ton of heat for his comments on Bears quarterback Caleb Williams' fourth quarter touchdown and calling it "lucky." This resulted in Bears head coach Ben Johnson and Williams each making public comments about it, and stories emerging that Williams did not get a chance to meet Aikman before the game for the pre-production meeting.
When speaking with Front Office Sports, Aikman finally addressed the situation in public for the first time. Without being asked about the Chicago situation, Aikman brought it up himself and discussed what happened, adding a small challenge to it.
"Being in Chicago and with the Caleb [Williams] situation: when you do live television for 25 years, there’s bound to be times when you say something, and you’re like, 'I wish I could take that back,' or 'I wish I could say, could have said that a little differently,' or in the moment you say something, you’re like, 'That didn’t quite come out right.'
"That game was not one of those. I walked out of that game feeling like 'O.K., it was a game that came down to the wire.' It’s fun, whatever. On Tuesday evening I had dinner and I got home and I was just kind of looking at my Instagram, and all of a sudden Ben Johnson comes up and it’s got Troy Aikman written on there. And I’m like, 'What is this?' First time I heard about it. So I don’t know exactly where that came from. I didn’t go back and watch the broadcast, but I would challenge anyone to go watch it and tell me that any analysis that I gave was unfair. I mean, they may disagree if I thought that was maybe not great ball placement, and they thought it was. O.K., but I’m not sure where it came from."
Aikman is still missing what everyone is seeing in Williams
To address the "lucky" comment directly, remember that Williams made the decision to throw it to D'Andre Swift. Yes, Swift is the one who ultimately scored, but Williams shouldn't get penalized for making the best decision. That's his job.
It has not been a perfect season for Williams, as he has faced plenty of criticism for his accuracy. He's currently barely over 60% on his completion percentage and finds himself behind where he was in his rookie season last year.
With that being said, something Aikman refuses to acknowledge is how clutch Williams is in the fourth quarter. Williams has led four comeback wins with game-winning scores. Not many quarterbacks even do that in a career, let alone a season.
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It's clear Aikman is not the biggest fan of Williams, and Bears fans should be okay with that. Ultimately, Williams is a winner, and that's all that matters in the end.