Chicago Bears fans are eagerly anticipating the announcement of their next head coach. Among the top candidates, Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is widely regarded as the fan favorite for the position. Overall, landing Johnson during this coaching cycle would be a significant PR victory for the Bears.
On Friday, Bears quarterback Caleb Williams became the target of a clever but brutal prank. A group of kids, pretending to be Ben Johnson, managed to trick the talented rookie into a FaceTime call. But you can’t blame Caleb Williams for getting caught up in this one. If you get a text from someone named Ben Johnson and you’re thinking it’s the potential future head coach of the Chicago Bears, you have to answer.
Here’s what happened.
The prank began with a subtle text message supposedly from Johnson:
“Hey Caleb, this is Ben Johnson. Just wanted to reach out ahead of time before it gets released to the media—I will be taking the head coaching job. Very excited to work with you in the future. Great things ahead. I wanted you to be the first to know. We will talk more as the season winds down.”
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Not my Goat💔💔 pic.twitter.com/M4eijF2zcz
— Chi Town Sports (@ChiTownnSports) January 11, 2025
Initially skeptical, Williams responded once convinced, saying, “I’m definitely excited for the future! Let’s get this going and turn it around, do what hasn’t been done in years.”
However, during the video call, Williams quickly realized he had been fooled. Despite the prank, he handled the situation with good humor, and the young fans relished the chance to briefly interact with the Bears quarterback. Many other Bears fans have criticized the young fans for possibly going too far with this prank and disrespecting the Bears QB. Despite this, Williams once again demonstrated his class and professionalism.
This is diabolical https://t.co/JQQSI5aoAe
— Dave (@dave_bfr) January 11, 2025
Meanwhile, Ben Johnson has a scheduled interview with the Bears on Saturday. It will be interesting to see how things unfold after that, as we can now imagine how excited Caleb Williams would be if Ben Johnson were chosen as the next head coach.
@Tcloud @David I don’t and didn’t look at any pictures. Any professional profiler, yes, I was, would have said “white” due to the nature of the message, the wording, and three other things. I was one well before all the movies and TV series about serial murderers. Believe it.
Went down a rabbit hole on YouTube recently where some punk ass pranksters get their asses kicked by their targets. Rather enjoyable.
That was a corny thing to do honestly. I mean these guys even put their face on it. Literally.
He handled it better than most would! How did they get his number?
Hate to see a good kid like Caleb mocked. I have even more respect for him and how he handled it, good sport, good guy.