Mark Potash at the Chicago Sun-Times wonders if Bears fans aren’t going to be too quick to criticize new Bears wide receiver Roy Williams.
“Sox fans gave Adam Dunn two months. Will Bears fans give Williams two games?”
No. He won’t get two games. He won’t get two halves.
Potash and the other writers around town seem to believe Williams lack of personal accountability for his mistakes will work against him. It might. It certainly is something I found to be particularly irritating in past Bears like Cedric Benson. But Dan Pompei at the Chicago Tribune points out that the Bears haven’t helped Williams image much either:
“Hired gun Roy Williams, who has underachieved for most of his career, was brought in and treated as if he were Brian Urlacher. Young, promising Johnny Knox was demoted before Williams took a snap.”
It isn’t as if Bears fans will actually be judging Williams on one or two games. He has had a number of years in the NFL to show us what he can do already. Recently they haven’t gone well. He has one of the worst catch percentages in the NFL over the last three seasons at 48.1%. He’s also got a history of doing perhaps the worst thing any receiver can have a habit of – dropping balls. Over the last three seasons he has the highest drop percentage in the NFL amongst receivers since 2008 (via Kevin Seifert at ESPN). His preseason has not inspired confidence in that respect, either. Every dropped ball is a penalty for yardage that should have been gained. They’re devastating.
I like the Williams signing because he should be able to get off the line of scrimmage in situations when Knox couldn’t. But given his history, if Williams wants any love from Bears fans he’ll have to succeed immediately.