Chicago Bears Lineman Jonah Jackson Applauds Caleb Williams' Toughness As A Rookie

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams was sacked a league-high 68 times during his rookie campaign in 2024, which is tied for the third most in NFL history.

The former USC Trojans signal-caller had a frustrating first season in the Windy City. Chicago headed into the bye week with a 4-2 record in mid-October and appeared ready to compete in a daunting NFC North division, however, the season flipped in the opposite direction.

The Bears proceeded to lose 10 consecutive games, before defeating the Green Bay Packers in the regular season finale on a game-winning field goal from Cairo Santos at the buzzer.

Through it all, Williams showed his toughness, not only physically, taking big hits and consistently picking himself off the ground, but also mentally. He never threw his coaches or offensive linemen under the bus and owned his mistakes. He proved to be durable, despite the hits taking his toll on his body every week.

Whether the sacks fall on poor offensive line play or Williams holding onto the ball too long, that disastrous rookie season is behind the 23-year-old quarterback and now he and the rest of the organization is focused on the future.

In order to get the former Heisman Trophy winner on the right track in his second season, the Bears made significant changes, starting with hiring former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson to be their next coach.

Next, Chicago upgraded the interior of its offensive line by trading for four-time All-Pro guard Joe Thuney, trading for guard Jonah Jackson and signing center Drew Dalman during free agency.

"He took 68 sacks and was still fighting, still clawing," Jackson told Go Long's Tyler Dunne. "You keep him safe, you keep his eyes downfield and away from the rush, he can have fun back there and slice and dice things up."

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Johnson took the Lions offense to new heights in his three seasons as offensive coordinator, thanks to well balanced attack from under center.

"I don't know if there's any undoing, but there are some things that we're going to encourage that he looks to do a little bit differently," Johnson said. "He's been predominantly a shotgun quarterback for most of his high school and college career, and so he's very comfortable there. We're going to work to see the comfort level under center and how much of that applies. We had a lot of success [in Detroit] that going under center for the run game did translate in play-action."

Like Johnson said, Williams has primarily operated from the shotgun since he started playing for USC coach Lincoln Riley. During his freshman season at Oklahoma, Riley's final season in Norman, Williams only had one pass attempt from under center and then just six over the next two seasons for the Trojans.

It’s where he thrived at and allowed him to play freely and make jaw-dropping plays on a weekly basis. In an attempt to make their No. 1 overall pick comfortable in his rookie season, the Bears followed the same approach. Williams had just 84 dropbacks from under center and a whopping 575 from shotgun.

The Lions were first in play-action rate last season (36.1 percent) under Johnson, while the Bears ranked 30th (18.5 percent) under offensive coordinators Shane Waldron and Thomas Brown. Jared Goff, the former No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft found a home in Detroit and blossomed in Johnson’s offense. Johnson will attempt to the same with last year’s No. 1 overall pick.

Jan 22, 2025; Lake Forest, IL, USA; Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson answers questions during a introductory press conference at PNC Center. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images | David Banks-Imagn Images

Williams has been working with his private quarterbacks coach this offseason, Will Hewlett, taking snaps from under center and working on the new footwork to prepare for the changes coming to the Bears offense in 2025.

"He's done it," Johnson said. "It's just the comfort level. It's time on task. It's, how many reps can we get under his belt where he feels better and better about taking drops under center?"

The Bears began their voluntary offseason program last week, but those activities are limited to strength and conditioning and rehab. Only strength and conditioning coaches are allowed to work with the players on the field, but Williams can begin throwing to his receivers, granted they are not covered by defenders.

Johnson and Williams won’t begin field work together until Phase 3 of the offseason program, which begins May 12.

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