Phil Thompson: Caleb Williams didn't just black out the logo on his cleats. He blocked a growing controversy.

Phil Thompson, Chicago Tribune on Nov 5, 2026

Published in Football

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CHICAGO — Thankfully, Chicago Bears fans, you didn’t have to wait for the other shoe to drop.

On Monday night, Caleb Williams averted a potential Cleat Crisis — escalating a battle of wills between himself and the NFL — by covering the unauthorized logo of the Caddix cleats he has been wearing since at least the preseason.

“Yeah, just to calm things down, man,” Williams said after the Bears beat the Seattle Seahawks 34-17. “It was a big week and not here to create any BS toward the team. I want to keep that to a minimum from my side. Obviously I get a lot of media and so just trying to minimize that as much as possible.”

Media buzz had increased — and would’ve kept building — with each fine issued for displaying a logo that violated the league’s branding policy.

According to Rule 5, Section 4, Article 7 of the NFL’s 2026 rulebook, “players (are) prohibited from wearing, displaying or orally promoting equipment, apparel or other items that carry commercial names or logos/identifications of companies, unless such commercial identification has been approved in advance by the league office.”

Under the collectively bargained on-field code of conduct, the league fined Williams $11,941 for not obscuring the Caddix logo in the Bears’ Week 6 game against the Atlanta Falcons and $23,882 for the Week 7 game against the New England Patriots for a total of $35,823.

Williams initially had vowed to keep displaying the logo despite the fines, citing how beneficial the shoes have been to his health in preventing long-term injuries.

But when you’re a burgeoning superstar, these aren’t ordinary fines that go unnoticed and undebated, and Williams apparently came to realize this.

Cincinnati Bengals backup quarterback Joe Flacco — a Caddix investor and “athlete adviser” — had very publicly offered to pick up the tab.

“If Caleb gets fined again for wearing Caddix, I’ll pay the fine myself,” Flacco told ESPN in a statement.

Caddix put up a billboard last Thursday on the Tri-State Tollway just south of Foster Avenue in Schiller Park that read, “Caleb, we’ll pick up the tab — Caddix.”

However, you could sense annoyance from Bears coach Ben Johnson — in the midst of a stretch of three prime-time games that culminates Sunday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — with having to field questions about his star quarterback’s choice of cleats.

“I’m aware of it,” Johnson said last week.

League uniform inspectors had the authority to remove Williams from games, and officials could penalize the Bears 5 yards for any uniform violation.

According to NFL Operations, “For many violations, a player cannot go back into the game until the problem is corrected. Teams can be penalized 5 yards if — after receiving a warning — the player enters the game anyway. Failing to comply with league warnings can result in hefty fines.”

Posed a question about this possibility, Johnson said, “He’s all about the team and I know he’s not going to hurt the team.”

Sounds less like a hope and more like a command.

A league source said the NFL wasn’t going to back down and likely would’ve sought a meeting with Williams or his representatives to quietly resolve the issue. Based on past examples, the source said, the NFL didn’t want to become embroiled in a lingering conflict with one of its budding stars — with fines escalating by $11,941 each week and drawing more and more attention.

But it couldn’t budge on this rule either.

The league and the NFL Players Association collectively reap revenue from their licensed apparel partnerships with Nike, Adidas and Under Armour, and the players share in that.

Of course, Williams blocked out the building noise by doing what he could’ve done from the beginning: blacking out the logo.

He still can wear the cleats that make him most comfortable, with the minor inconvenience of altering their appearance.

If there’s a winner in all of this, it’s Caddix, which couldn’t have bought this much publicity — and from such a fervent advocate — if it had paid Williams directly.

But Williams’ last message after the Bears’ statement win over the Seahawks was a final word that he understands his preference in footwear doesn’t outweigh the needs of the teams’ needs.

“They’re all blacked out. Yeah, matte black,” Williams said of the cleats, before signing off with his customary “Da Bears.”

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