The part of Lions quarterback Jared Goff’s career that everyone seems to forget about — his five seasons with the Rams after they drafted him No. 1 overall — would’ve made him the most celebrated Bears QB in recent history.
Long before Ben Johnson got his hands on him when they were with Detroit, Goff went to two Pro Bowls and helped the Rams make the playoffs three times, including a run to the Super Bowl in only his third season. He would’ve held the Bears’ top three spots in passing yards.
That success, combined with the intel gleaned from four seasons with Sean McVay, gave Johnson quite a starting point when he began working with Goff in Detroit.
His current endeavor is much different. Bears quarterback Caleb Williams was the No. 1 overall pick last year after a spectacular college career, just like Goff, but Johnson is trying to build him into an NFL quarterback from the ground up. At only 23, there’s little that’s definitive about Williams because of his limited track record as a pro.
“There’s some foundational work that he had to work through . . . so there’s some growing pains that happened,” Bears general manager Ryan Poles said of Williams’ training camp. “When I put the whole timeline together starting from when he walked on campus from last year to this year, there’s been a ton of growth.
“They loaded him up, and they were really hard on him, which is going to be great for his development. He’d rather go through that tough time in order to have success later.”
From the start, Johnson said there was little to no carryover from what Williams was taught as a rookie last season by former coach Matt Eberflus and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, both of whom were fired in November. Williams got 1,123 snaps against NFL defenses and gained some insight from that, but that was about it.
Johnson’s scheme and his overarching philosophy on offense are more layered than what the Bears ran last season. Also, the pre-snap details are complicated. The lens through which he views decision-making in the pocket is different. He wants Williams under center so the threat of a run play is ever-present to keep the defense uncertain. He even changed Williams’ footwork, too, to better suit the timing of his offense, so it’s truly from the ground up.
It sure would’ve made more sense for Williams to get that “foundational work” when he first arrived at Halas Hall, but better late than never.
That’s why it won’t be as easy as plug-and-play this season, which opens Sept. 8 against the Vikings, as the Bears combine the top pick at quarterback with the top pick among coaching candidates.
For comparison, Goff was up and down in his first 10 games with Johnson as the play-caller in 2022 — and that was as a seven-year veteran who had some familiarity with Johnson from the previous season when he was the passing-game coordinator. He had six games with a passer rating of 83 or lower and four at 108 or higher.
Then he dropped the hammer. Goff closed with a 107.5 rating in the last seven games, including 14 touchdown passes and no interceptions, to help the Lions snap back from a 1-6 start to 9-8, a hair short of the playoffs.
From there, all he did was skyrocket. The Lions went 27-7 the last two seasons and are once again championship contenders. Last season, for the first time in his career, Goff was an MVP candidate and finished fifth in the voting.
Over the last three seasons, Goff threw more touchdown passes, piled up more yardage and produced a higher passer rating than Patrick Mahomes.
It’s a steep climb from where Williams stands to the height Goff has reached.
Williams showed potential last season, but his progress was uneven and lagged well behind No. 2 pick Jayden Daniels, who outplayed him across the board and took the Commanders to the NFC Championship Game.
With better coaching and a sturdier offensive line, he probably would’ve played better, but that’s projection. Going off the evidence as it stands, there’s a lot of work to do.
Williams finished his rookie season with an 87.8 passer rating (24th among quarterbacks who threw at least 200 passes), 3,541 yards (17th), 20 touchdown passes (15th), six interceptions (10th-fewest) and a 62.5 completion percentage (33rd). Not surprisingly, one of the first benchmarks Johnson set for Williams was raising his completion percentage to 70.
The Bears’ near future hinges on Williams. There’s no bigger catalyst for improvement than a quarterback catching fire. If Johnson is able to ignite him the way he did Goff, Williams can fuel the resurgence he has been talking about since before the Bears drafted him.
