Recently, we learned that Caleb Williams had a desire to land with the Minnesota Vikings in the 2024 NFL Draft before he was eventually selected by the Chicago Bears with the No. 1 overall pick. Williams and Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell hit it off in their pre-draft meeting, and the current Bears quarterback quickly fell in love with the idea of playing for Minnesota.
Unfortunately for him, Chicago wasn't willing to pass up the opportunity to draft him, and instead, he now has to watch from afar as J.J. McCarthy gets to learn from O'Connell and throw passes to Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, who teamed with Williams in college at USC.
Williams' dream of playing for the Vikings was carried out by McCarthy on Tuesday as the current Minnesota signal-caller took part in the team's voluntary OTA practice session.
Things might be better for Williams in Chicago this year with Ben Johnson taking over as the team's head coach, but it probably won't ever get as good for him as it would have if he wound up with the Vikings in 2024 instead.
J.J. McCarthy gets to immediately prove to the Minnesota Vikings that he's better than Caleb Williams
The people who make the NFL schedule each year know exactly what they're doing, so it's definitely not a coincidence that McCarthy and Minnesota will be taking on Williams and the Bears in Week 1 of the upcoming 2025 season.
Not only will McCarthy get to prove to the Vikings that they wound up with the best quarterback from the 2024 NFL Draft, but he'll get to do it on a national stage, as the opening-week NFC North showdown between Minnesota and Chicago will be broadcast on ESPN's "Monday Night Football".
Both McCarthy (Michigan) and Williams (USC and Oklahoma) played in big games during their college careers, as they each attended some of the storied programs in college football history. However, it was the current Vikings quarterback who actually led his school to a national championship, while Williams was unable to help his school come even close to sniffing a national title.
Minnesota will be hoping that McCarthy's track record on the big stage will continue when they open up the 2025 season with a primetime battle against Williams and the Bears.