As Bears coach Ben Johnson sat in a conference room at Halas Hall one morning during training camp and dreamed out loud about the upcoming season, he rocked with energy in his swivel chair. He leaned forward and talked with no hesitation about going after not only this Super Bowl, but many, and shattering the scoring record.
And then he brought up Caleb Williams, the quarterback he believes can help him do it.
“I get excited about what this team can become because you’ll see Caleb take the next step,” Johnson told the Sun-Times. “I get goosebumps thinking how far he can go as he masters what we’re asking him to do.”
That’s where the engineer and artist must come together to create something beautiful. Williams makes stunning plays with his improvisational skills and throws that make you question physics. Johnson’s play designs are all about precision, spacing and timing.
It’ll take both.
While Johnson coached Williams like a rookie in their first season together, their second one is about meeting somewhere in the middle. It won’t be exact halfway between their styles, of course, since Johnson still runs this show, but they’re crafting a blend blend as they head into the season opener Sunday at the Panthers.
As Johnson rose to become one of the NFL’s elite offensive coaches with the Lions, he was fortunate to have a quarterback in Jared Goff who was wired perfectly for him. Everything was clockwork and automatic. He was the physical representation of Johnson’s brain.
Williams isn’t Goff, but Johnson wants to say two things on that subject:
1. “That doesn’t mean that he can’t share more of those attributes, though.”
2. “It’s been fun to coach this guy because… his skillset is different than anybody in the league, much less anybody that I’ve been around.”
Johnson and Williams’ connection will define the Bears’ season. The offense can be a powerhouse if Williams transfers Johnson’s coaching to the pocket by throwing more accurately, recognizing low-risk, high-reward opportunities that are woven into this offense and deciphering defensive coverages deftly.
All of that would boost his completion percentage from the league-worst 58.1 he posted last season toward Johnson’s benchmark of 70%. The Bears would have their first 4,000-yard passer. Points would pile up. Wins would stack.
Williams believes it. After a season of Johnson pushing him paid off with progress, he said, “Coaching matters… And then you have to have the person on the other side to receive the coaching.”
But Johnson’s requirements are exactly that: required. He was dumbfounded when asked at the start of training camp if Williams completing 70% of his passes was still the standard, saying, “It’s always going to be the goal… Always 70%.”
His conviction runs deep, but so does his creativity, and he saw something irresistible in Williams’ stunning highlights from last season that stirred his imagination. It opened a part of his mind that he’d never explored as a play caller.
Johnson isolated the 120 plays in which Williams broke the pocket and it turned into a free-for-all. That produced some of his most epic passes, but overall, less than 40% of the time he did that resulted in “good plays for us.”
That led to two key observations:
1. Johnson showed Williams instances in which it was completely unnecessary to scramble, and a simple sidestep would’ve allowed him to still hit the primary receiver on time.
2. Williams can be amazing on the fly, and Johnson needs to make better use of it.
The first point fits with everything Johnson has said since he took the job, but the second is him moving Williams’ direction. He basically built that into the offense this season by creating second layers to plays that are activated once Williams scrambles.
“We’ll do some things a little bit different,” Johnson said. “He needs to be more accurate, sure, but we need our route runners to come alive to create separation for him also. As a coach, you’re dedicated to teaching the playbook, [but] we don’t want to fully shut that off. We see opportunity there. It’s not that we want to take those 120 plays down; I want to see that 40% go up.
“It’s a two-way street. That’s what’s been fun about coaching this guy, and it’s also a big part of the challenge, too.”
The Bears believed Williams was a rare talent when they drafted him No. 1 overall and thought the same of Johnson when they hired him last year. But it’s really about what they could become in tandem:
1. Johnson maximizing Williams’ gifts.
2. Williams applying Johnson’s expertise.
They want the same things, and they’re essential to each other’s aspirations. Williams saw last season how much better Johnson can make him, and Johnson saw a unique weapon that could make him a more potent play caller. And after months of working behind the scenes, it’s finally time for everyone to see what they’ve built.