Last offseason, Ben Johnson had to stop practice to bark at quarterback Caleb Williams and the rest of the Bears offense before they even broke the huddle. The way the Bears operated before the snap disturbed the head coach as much as what happened after it.
Not so much this year.
When the Bears held their first practice of their two-week-long OTA Wednesday, Williams knew what Johnson wanted: a quick play call, a huddle broken with urgency and confidence under center.
“The communication in the huddle, what it looks like to break the huddle, the urgency to the line of scrimmage, the tempo that we want to stress the defense with, the quarterback plays a huge part in that,” Johnson said Thursday before their second practice. “He orchestrates the whole operation. And those guys have taken that to heart and so from that aspect, feel really good about where we’re at.
“Now, it’s the next level of each concept. ‘What are we trying to do?’ And potentially expanding on, ‘Hey, here’s your progression, 1, 2, 3,’ to how can we accelerate our eyes, our vision? What are we looking for? Some coverage indicators to where we might take more alerts.”
Having the time to focus on the next level of the Bears’ offense is another benefit of continuity. The Bears lost their offensive coordinator this offseason, but not the play-caller who doubles as their head coach.
That’s good news for Johnson — and for Williams.
“I know our quarterback room is at a different place than it was a year ago,” Johnson said.
