Dave Canales reacts to Caleb Williams' controversial remark after Bears-Panthers
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Dave Canales reacts to Caleb Williams' controversial remark after Bears-Panthers originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Chicago Bears totally annihilated the Carolina Panthers in their first game of the NFL regular season on Sunday. Quarterback Caleb Williams and the Bears towered over the Panthers with a 59-37 final score.
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With a lopsided score like that, it would seem ridiculous for someone from the winning team to compliment that losing team on their defense. But, that's exactly what Williams did after the game.
Following the matchup, Carolina Sports Live shared a video clip of the post-game exchange between Williams and Panthers head coach Dave Canales. "Y'all are a great defense, man," Williams said. For real?
Was Caleb Williams trolling the Panthers coach?
Because it seemed so crazy for Williams to compliment the team's defense after the Panthers lost so badly to the Bears, some speculated that he was trolling the coach. That would not be very sportsmanlike, but this is the NFL, and people don't always play nice.
So, was it a dig? On Monday, Canales spoke with reporters and was asked about that moment. He stood up for Williams and said that he didn't take the comment badly.
"To me, it was just a common post-game humility," he said in the news conference. "It was the same thing from my exchange with Ben Johnson. It's Caleb just talking about preparing for the guys that we had and all that, the type of defense that we were able to play down the stretch last season. He was aware of it. They took advantage of things and they executed better than we did."
He added that he "didn't take that as a dig at all. I thought it was a good kid just being respectful and just kinda making a comment about just, 'Hey, we prepared and you guys played hard.' And he didn't have to say it, 'We played better today.'"
So, there you have it. Canales isn't offended, and it's time for the Panthers to simply move on and look ahead to Week 2. They play the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.