The NFL, Caleb Williams shoe dispute takes center stage on Monday night

Published November 2, 2026 05:23 PM Monday night’s game between the Bears and Seahawks in Seattle comes with a subplot. Other than the ongoing Joe Buck and Troy Aikman drama.The league has twice fined Chicago quarterback Caleb Williams for displaying an “unauthorized logo” (i.e., “the logo of a company that doesn’t pay us”) on his shoes. After the Week 6 game against the Falcons, the league fined Williams $11,941. After the Week 7 game against the Patriots, the league fined Williams $23,882 — twice the amount of the first fine.Williams has said he will continue to wear the Caddix cleats, citing safety considerations. Unlike most if not all other NFL players who use Caddix footwear, Williams declines to cover the identifying markings with tape.While the controversy calls back to former Bears quarterback Jim McMahon’s battles with the league over his Adidas headband during a playoff game (after being fined $5,000, he went with “ROZELLE” for the NFC Championship and “POW-MIA” for the Super Bowl) and to Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher’s whopping $100,000 fine for wearing a VitaminWater hat to Super Bowl XLI media day, Williams’s choice of footwear is rooted in the basic belief that the shoes promote player safety.As to the refusal to cover the shoes with tape to hide the Caddix markings, it’s unclear whether he’s concerned about undermining the performance of the shoe or whether he’s simply trying to prove a point. The NFL is clearly trying to prove a point, by fining him repeatedly. And while both prior fines are pending on appeal, a third fine is inevitable unless Williams bends.Regardless, the next chapter arrives tonight. Neither of the fine letters threaten Williams with preventing him from playing if he doesn’t tape over the logos and markings. If the league decides to do that, Williams will have a pretty big decision to make.Coach Ben Johnson was asked about that possible outcome on Saturday. “He’s all about the team, and I know he’s not going to hurt the team,” Johnson said.The question of whether Johnson would be “hurting the team” is a matter of perspective. Williams wouldn’t be “hurting the team” by refusing to play; the NFL would be “hurting the team” by refusing to let Williams play in his preferred shoes.Either way, both sides have been stubborn. It seems that a compromise could be reached, somehow.