Look What I Got

I'm not afraid to admit it... I love to pre-judge people. And even though you might be scared to say it, you probably like to do it to. But even though I have my initial thoughts on what somebody is about, that doesn't mean I'm not gonna give them a chance to show me who they really are.

When Roy Williams signed with the Bears this summer, we already had our idea of what this cat was about. Somebody who was drafted very high and never panned out to be a dominant football player. We knew about his excessive first down celebrations and the ridiculous amount of draft picks that Jerry Jones gave up to make him a Cowboy. And we also knew that he was "a Martz guy," just like Brandon Manumaleuna was before him.

Admit it... before Roy Williams ever stepped foot at Halas Hall you did not like him.

You might have even hated him. I didn't really like him either, but I still saw it as a low risk -- high reward addition to the Bears roster. I knew he wasn't the elite receiver that he was projected to be out of college, so my expectations were tempered. And most people didn't have huge expectations for him either.

It wasn't until Martz told the media that Roy Will could catch 70-80 passes this season, that expectations like that came out of anybody's mouth.

Now please read that sentence again... It was Mike Martz, and only Mike Martz, that put that ridiculous number into conversation. And yet everybody held it against Roy Williams when he didn't even say shit. This is when everybody really started hating him because we knew he had no chance to reach those numbers.

And when everybody that you know starting talking mad shit about Roy Williams, before he ever put on a Bears jersey, that's when I started paying attention to him. I always get drawn to the athletes that most people don't like (Grossman), because I can't stand when everybody has the same generic opinion about someone. It's called groupthink and it's fucking annoying.

I know Roy Williams is not a special player, but the fact that people won't admit that he has contributed to the Bears success this season shows that you can't put your feelings aside and talk real football. He has definitely struggled with drops, with 5 on the season, and his drop against KC was one of the biggest factors in that that loss. But because he has a history of drops, our reactions are magnified anytime that he drops one.

So how about a stat for you...

A stat that shows, more than anything, what he has contributed to the Bears this season. When the Bears are in 3rd down situations, Roy Williams has 10 catches for 1st downs, which leads the team. Second in that category is Johnny Knox with 7, then Matt Forte with 6, Earl Bennett with 6 and Dane Sanzenbacher with 6. When the Bears are only converting on 32% of 3rd downs this season, that's a significant impact on the offense in terms of sustaining drives.

On 8 of those 9 first down conversions, the Bears ended up scoring on that same drive. Without any of these conversions, the Bears are either punting or they're taking a FG instead of a TD that came after the drive was extended. These catches came over the course of 5 games, 4 of which were wins:

1. win vs ATL
2. win vs TB
3. win VS PHI
4. win vs SD
5. loss vs DEN

I'm not saying that Roy Williams has been the Bears best receiver this season. I'm not denying the fact that he's frustrating to watch or that he drops too many passes. All that I'm saying is that the people who have been calling for the Bears to cut Roy Williams are completely off-base and are blatantly ignoring the fact that he's been an important part of the team. Roy Will has contributed just as much as the other WRs on this team have. Of all the Bears WRs, he's second on the team with 33 catches and second on the team with 447 yards. Most importantly, he leads the team with 15 FDCs on the season.

So the next time that Roy Will comes up with a big catch this season, don't just run to Twitter and RT the 40 people on your timeline that say "OMG Roy Williams actually caught the ball?!" Maybe you can appreciate the fact that he's making plays for the team you love so much.

Roy Williams 2011 3rd down conversions that lead to scores:


vs ATL 3rd-6, CHI26 - J. Cutler passed to R. Williams to the left for 23 yard gain, leads to FG
vs ATL 3rd-6, ATL32 - J. Cutler passed to R. Williams to the left for 15 yard gain, leads to FG


vs TB 3rd-7, TB25 - J. Cutler passed to R. Williams to the left for 25 yard touchdown
vs TB 3rd-11, TB33 - J. Cutler passed to R. Williams to the left for 12 yard gain, leads to TD


vs PHI 3rd-2, PHI37 - J. Cutler passed to R. Williams down the middle for 14 yard gain, leads to FG


vs SD 3rd-8, CHI16 - J. Cutler passed to R. Williams to the right for 15 yard gain, leads to FG
vs SD 3rd-4, CHI23 - J. Cutler passed to R. Williams to the left for 11 yard gain, leads to TD


vs DEN 3rd-2, CHI45 - C. Hanie passed to R. Williams to the left for 17 yard gain, leads to FG


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