Why Bears' Caleb Williams gave up his fight against the NFL over his unapproved cleats

For the first time this season, Caleb Williams actually followed the NFL's uniform policy

Nov 3, 2026 at 4:02 pm ET • 2 min read

After taking on the NFL over the past two weeks and getting hit with more than $35,000 in fines, Caleb Williams has finally given up the fight over his cleats. 

During Chicago's 34-17 win over the Seahawks on Monday, Williams covered up the logo on his Caddix cleats for the first time this season. Following the game, the Bears quarterback said he gave in because he didn't want it to be a distraction anymore. 

"Just to calm things down," Williams said after the game. "It was a big week and not here to create any B.S. towards 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."

All eyes were on Williams going into Monday's game because he was heading into uncharted territory. Under NFL rules, there are only three companies that currently have a partnership with the NFL — Nike, Adidas and Under Armour — and the logos from those three companies are the only ones that are allowed to be on the field during a game. 

Players are allowed to wear a pair of cleats from a different company, but if they go that route, they have to cover up the logo. Williams has been wearing his Caddix cleats all season and the NFL finally hit him with a $11,941 fine in Week 6. In Week 7, not only did Williams wear the cleats again, but once again, he knowingly violated NFL protocols by not covering up the logo. The league responded by hitting him with a $23,882 fine. 

After being fined $35,823 over two weeks, Williams still wasn't ready to back down. In the lead-up to Monday's game against the Seahawks, he actually told ESPN that he would not be covering the logo on his cleats. 

The problem with that plan is that the NFL is actually allowed to keep a player from participating in a game if the player keeps violating the league's uniform policy, so there was a chance that Williams wouldn't be allowed to play if he didn't cover up his cleats for Monday's game. Williams clearly got the message, because when he came out for warmups, the Caddix logo was covered up. 

Bears coach Ben Johnson was asked about the cleat controversy over the weekend and he seemed pretty confident that his star QB was going to make the right decision. 

"He's all about the team and I know he's not going to hurt the team," Johnson said last Saturday.

Williams wears the Caddix cleats because he thinks they're safer than other brands. 

"As we've known for the past couple of years now, I'm huge into my body, I'm huge into trying to stay on the field, I'm huge into trying to be healthy," Williams said last week. "It's a rough game and things like that. The cleats, they've been great, they've been super comfy and they've worked. They are a science type of cleat."

The Caddix cleats, which are known for their patented "SmartStuds" technology, are now worn by dozens of NFL players. Joe Flacco was the first NFL player to wear them back in 2024, and he liked them so much that he's now an investor in the company. He actually offered to pay any fines that Williams might incur for getting them. Caddix also offered to pay the QB's fines, according to ESPN, so there's a good chance that the Bears QB won't end up losing out any money despite getting fined more than $35,000.