Caleb Williams’ Monday night in Seattle ended with a win, a clean stat line, and a fresh round of scrutiny over something as small as a mouthguard.
Williams helped lead the Chicago Bears past the Seahawks 34-17, finishing 24 of 34 for 247 yards and a touchdown as Chicago moved to 6-2. The game itself was already buzzing before kickoff, thanks to pregame fireworks that went off near a helicopter. But the conversation that followed the Bears’ victory shifted to a detail from the fourth quarter.
Analyst Dave Kluge posted on X that Williams appeared to be giving away play information with the way he wore his mouthguard. “I hope someone on the Bears coaching staff sees this and tells Caleb Williams,” Kluge wrote. “He was tipping play calls late last night.”
Kluge said Williams had the mouthguard in his mouth on passing plays, but let it hang on handoffs. He added that, by his count, that pattern showed up on all but one fourth-quarter play. “On some plays, I couldn’t tell,” he admitted.
Benjamin Allbright said he had seen a similar tell before. “A former Broncos WR/returner used to do this.
I pointed it out in preseason to someone on staff who didn’t believe it initially. Guy got waived and signed to another team PS two days later.
Was still doing it with them,” Allbright wrote.
The reaction online quickly split between concern and conspiracy. One user suggested Bears head coach Ben Johnson may have built the habit in on purpose. “Ben Johnson probably told him go do this so teams clue in on it so he can get a trick play out of it,” they wrote.
Another fan pushed back by pointing to passing snaps. “Been plenty of pass plays where’s it’s dangling though.”
And one more theory floated the idea that the whole thing could be a long game. “I bet this is a season long intentional ploy by Ben and Caleb just to flip in during a playoff game’s 4th quarter,” someone else shared.
Whether it was a tell or a setup, the Bears got the result they wanted. It didn’t cost them the game.
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