Caleb Williams sharp in preseason debut as Bears dominate Bills

Quarterback Caleb Williams’ first drive of the preseason started at the Bears’ 8-yard line and ended in the end zone. In the 92 yards in between, an offensive unit that has been desperate for momentum all training camp found reason to be hopeful.

Williams was sharp in what likely was his only action of the preseason, completing six of his 10 passes for 107 yards, one touchdown and a 130 passer rating in the Bears’ 38-0 blowout of the Bills on Sunday night at Soldier Field. It was the most lopsided preseason shutout by any NFL team in almost two years.

‘‘I think it sets the tone for us as a team,’’ Williams said. ‘‘It sets a tone for how we expect ourselves to play and go out there and perform.’’

His touchdown pass was a 36-yard catch-and-run by wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus, who caught a pass at the Bills’ 29 and sprinted past the defense.

To set up the touchdown, Williams completed a play-action pass to rookie tight end Colston Loveland, found tight end Cole Kmet up the seam for 28 yards, and threw a five-yard out route to wide receiver DJ Moore. After a holding penalty on center Drew Dalman — the Bears technically needed to gain 102 yards on the drive — Williams found Loveland for 19 yards. A handoff and an incomplete pass set up the touchdown pass to Zaccheaus on third-and-five.

‘‘Caleb made a couple of big-time throws, in my opinion, to keep that drive going,’’ head coach Ben Johnson said.

Williams came out for a second drive and gained a first down on a 10-yard pass to Moore on third-and-five. He couldn’t duplicate it on the next third-and-five, however, throwing a pass on the left sideline to diving wide receiver Rome Odunze that went through his hands just beyond the first-down marker.

‘‘[Williams] has really been locked in,’’ Johnson said. ‘‘Anytime you’re a young player, there’s usually a couple of steps forward and one step back. That’s really been the story of this training camp. The three days of practice we had this week and this game were the most he’s stacked up [in terms of] good days in a row.’’

All the preseason caveats apply: The Bills started their backups on both sides of the ball. Williams took only 13 snaps, a small sample size compared with the thousands he has taken in the last three weeks at Halas Hall. Schemes were vanilla on both sides.

All the Bears had to do to remind themselves of the potential for false positives in the preseason was to look across the sideline. Mitch Trubisky, who was once their franchise-quarterback hopeful, didn’t even get into the game for the Bills until the second half.

Still, Williams’ efficiency was a welcome sign for Johnson after a camp that laid bare the Bears’ growing pains in his offense. Williams and the offense have struggled during practice with their pre-snap operation — be it calling the play quickly, getting to the line of scrimmage, identifying the middle linebacker, sending players in motion, calling an audible — without taking a delay of game. The first-team offense committed no such penalty against the Bills.

Williams wasn’t sacked, either, a refreshing change after he became the third-most-sacked quarterback in NFL history as a rookie. Johnson put Williams in the shotgun seven times, even though they want him to be comfortable under center to run the ball and sell play-action passes better.

Johnson has been blunt in his evaluation of the offense not being good enough during camp, but it certainly was against the Bills. The Bears led 28-0 at halftime after backup quarterback Tyson Bagent led them to three touchdown drives. Bagent went 13-for-22 with one touchdown and a 103.6 passer rating before coming out late in the third quarter. Offensive coordinator Declan Doyle, not Johnson, called the plays in the second half.

The Bears practically begged to be coached hard during Williams’ lost rookie season. Johnson has done exactly that, with most of his persnickety coaching points focusing on the quarterback who was the No. 1 overall pick in 2024. If it felt overwhelming, that was by design: The Bears wanted to overload Williams at the start of camp. The installation portion of their offense is over.

It probably will take months for the Bears to figure out exactly what they have in Williams under Johnson. A sharp, brief preseason showing doesn’t fast-forward that timeline one bit. But it’s better than the alternative: the first-team offense struggling and having to think about it for another three weeks.

The Bears will spend the time leading up to their regular-season opener Sept. 8 whittling the playbook down and focusing on what Williams does best. That will take place on the back fields of Halas Hall and not on national television.

‘‘It’s just being able to keep that mindset, the growth mindset,’’ Williams said.

Williams’ indoctrination into Johnson’s offense is about to end. The real work, however, is about to begin. The next time Williams sets foot inside Soldier Field, the NFC North rival Vikings and mad-scientist defensive coordinator Brian Flores will be waiting.