So much about the Alan Williams situation felt off. Never in Chicago Bears history had a coordinator just up and vanished in the middle of a season with zero explanation. Then, on Wednesday of this week, he abruptly resigned from the team, citing health and family reasons. Speculation ran wild. Some people heard the FBI was involved, including Pat McAfee. Williams’ lawyer insisted there was no criminal activity involved. Albert Breer of the MMQB added to the intrigue when he revealed health reasons weren’t referenced when Williams first stepped away.
More details have surfaced, this time from Diana Russini of The Athletic. She confirmed that a forensics team was present at Halas Hall in the past few days. However, the reasoning wasn’t due to criminal concerns. It was deployed by the organization itself.
“Multiple people on the Bears property spotted a forensic vehicle parked outside the facility in the wake of Williams’ resignation. I was told by multiple league sources this is standard practice when a team employee has resigned or has been fired. That employee’s work devices, such as a computer and cell phone, are downloaded out of caution. This is a layer of protection for the Bears against potential future lawsuits involving a former employee, those sources said.”
While understandable, considering the Bears are a billion-dollar franchise, it’s still odd that information on this reality only now comes to light. One would think people would know about this standard procedure years ago. Maybe it’s true. Maybe it’s a cover story to keep the heat off their backs. Who knows at this point.
The Bears are unlikely to miss Alan Williams.
From a pure football standpoint, it felt like the former defensive coordinator wasn’t doing anything to make his unit better. They’d allowed at least 25 points in the last eleven games he called. It’s why Breer also mentioned that head coach Matt Eberflus had been planning to take over play calling before the resignation took place. Perhaps Williams couldn’t handle the idea of a demotion and decided to quit, using family and health reasons as a convenient cover story. Or maybe something else is going on that hasn’t come to light yet.
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Bears defenders don’t seem sad about his departure. They’re excited to keep working with Eberflus, who called plays for the first time last week in Tampa Bay. Alan Williams promised he would get back into coaching once his current issues are settled. One thing is clear. It won’t be in Chicago. His brief stay with the Bears was primarily marked by some of the worst defensive play this franchise has seen. Hopefully, he gets his life back in order, and nobody is harmed.
