Bear Digest

Ben Johnson's goal: Tearing down Caleb Williams and building him back up

The fix is in for Caleb Williams, and it's going to be done for the Bears' second-year QB by his new head coach.
Gene Chamberlain|
Ben Johnson on Caleb Williams and O-Line.mp4
Ben Johnson on Caleb Williams and O-Line.mp4

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Chicago Bears

Ben Johnson is excited about Caleb Williams' weaknesses.

Sure, he loves Williams' ability to rifle a football into a small window, but there's a good reason Johnson likes pondering the down side. It's because the new Bears coach loves challenges.

"What excites me as a coach and what I'm gonna challenge our coaching staff to do is to find weaknesses within their game that we can work to develop and highlight," Johnson said Wednesday in a private chat with reporters. "Something I've been a part of in the past and will implement here is, each guy is gonna have an individual action plan of what he’s put on tape, how we can get certain elements better.

"That’s already something we're working on with Caleb right now. Whether he knows it or not, I dunno. He's gonna find out when he comes in for the sprint. There are gonna be elements for the game we're really gonna focus on him getting better at."

"He is a phenomenal talent that had, as many quarterbacks do, an up-and-down rookie year."
Ben Johnson on Caleb Williams

After hearing of Johnson's hiring and getting charged up about it, the two had a talk after Williams checked out that it really was his new coach and not another 12-year-old with a cell phone prank. Johnson said the two of them would be spending a lot of time together as they attempt to correct those weaknesses.

"I think part of it is going to be ways to grow for me," Williams said. "And then I think the other half and, for me, but also mainly for the team. That's the most important thing here. It's me being able to grow."

Although Johnson has plenty of hats to wear as a head coach now rather than only an offensive coordinator, he is targeting Williams for a turnaround.

"Listen, it's clear that modern football in the NFL is quarterback-driven," Johnson said. "That is no secret. You can look at analytics right now, quarterback success is a higher predictor of winning and losing than turnover ratio, which has been for 20 plus years. OK? That's changed."

Apparently Matt Eberflus never got the message.

Johnson called the challenge of doing something he has never done and developing a young quarterback part of why he wanted the job.

"So there's no doubt Caleb played a large component into my decision," Johnson said. "He is a phenomenal talent that had as many quarterbacks do an up and down rookie year, where I see my role is as a supporter of him. This offense will be calibrated with him in mind."

Williams already has a good idea what he and Johnson will discuss.

"So, being able to be in the right spot, being able to do the right things on the football field and lead these guys the right way and play well consistently for 17-plus games is important," Williams said "And that's what we'll talk about. I definitely think that's what we'll talk about and make sure that that's set and that the rules are set.

"And then from there, we'll get into the whole football aspect and dive into that and then obviously start doing things how they did (in Detroit). And not specifically how they did it but just super creative things that fits our scheme and our players and our personnel and all these different things. I think we'll dive into that. And it starts with the base stuff and being able to master the base plan of this offense and this team. And then from there, you'd be able to grow."

By then, in an ideal world, the weaknesses would have become strengths.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.