Bears' Caleb Williams Follows LeBron James' Lead, Uses Criticism as Motivation

Caleb Williams is keeping the receipts.

The Chicago Bears quarterback revealed to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated that he seeks out criticism and even takes screenshots of it to serve as motivation.

"The other part, and this feeds into knowing myself, is all athletes try to act like they don't see it. I see it, and I use it," Williams said. "I take screenshots of people. People don't know it. I have notes and things that I screenshot. I save the links, all of that. I use it."

Williams is far from the first athlete to use slights, whether real or imagined, as motivation. Nobody in the city of Chicago had more success doing just that than Michael Jordan, and the Bears quarterback highlighted another basketball great who does the same thing.

"There's always something," he said. "LeBron [James] always says, and has said before, he only needs one thing. He walks into the stadium, all he needs is one fan, one thing through the week or before the game. Some of it is motivation and some of it is psyching yourself out. That's the other part. It's knowing myself. It's knowing what I like to know, how I like to do things. I know how hard I work. I know the confidence that I have, from my work that I've put in for many, many years now."

If Saturday's preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals was any indication, finding motivation is working for the USC product.

He dazzled with his arm and legs and had a clear connection with fellow rookie Rome Odunze during the win:

There is no shortage of pressure on Williams as the latest quarterback savior for a franchise that has been searching for one throughout its history. In fact, the Bears are the only NFL team to never have a 4,000-yard passer in a season and have famously cycled through QBs even during successful periods.

But that pressure also brings opportunity.

If Williams lives up to the hype, he can become a legend in a city that has been starving for sustained football success. And it will take plenty of internal and external motivation to reach that level, especially over the course of a long career.

Good thing he presumably has plenty of screenshots.