Bear Digest

Ben Johnson finally made Chicago a place where QBs go to flourish

Analysis: The narrative about Chicago as a place for defense and running, but not passing, has been destroyed during a season when Ben Johnson delivered on promises.
Gene Chamberlain|
The Ben Johnson offense is fully equipped now for passing or running and Caleb Williams' pursuit of a team record is proof.
The Ben Johnson offense is fully equipped now for passing or running and Caleb Williams' pursuit of a team record is proof. | Mike Dinovo-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

The transformation is complete.

Over the course of this season, Ben Johnson took the Bears from their archaic past and turned them into a modern, mechanized offense, one capable of scoring through the air as easily as on the ground. It had been attempted before and always met with failure, the last time by Matt Nagy.

Today's game with the Detroit Lions is not even the punctuation mark to  end the statement they've made. It's about seeding and also numbers and satisfaction, because the real results with Caleb Williams and the offense all began to show after they lost 52-21 in Week 2 to his old team, the Lions.

“I think that one in particular is a little different," Johnson said. "That's our first time being on the road in the regular season. You don't really know what to expect. You don't know the limits yet of how much is too much and things of that nature.

"We were still plagued at that point with a lot of pre-snap issues. I think we've cleaned those up to a degree. They still pop up every now and then, but I think from a shift and motion standpoint we're able to do so much more now. I think our quarterback has a lot to do with that. I mean, he's grown immensely in terms of what he can handle. I think the rest of the guys are a lot more comfortable with some of that as well. So longer play calls, using more cadences now. I think it's helped our offense.”

The possible milestones

It gradually improved from that point  to where Caleb Williams is really on the verge of the much-sought Bears passing milestone of a 4,000-yard season. Williams is 270 yards short. He's 109 short of breaking Erik Kramer's team record of 3,838 yards, and four touchdown passes short of the team record of 29 by Kramer.

The last three game, and actually back to the start of the second half of the loss at Green Bay constitute a jump forward for Williams. He has six TD passes, no interceptions, only three sacks and an average of 274 yards, for a passer rating of 103.1.

They have built a real live quarterback operating a real live offense. They're third on offense and haven't finished that high since at attack in 1977 based solely on Walter Payton's running.

"I think he continues to get better in terms of the ball placement on a number of throws, short, intermediate and deep and I would like to see that trend continue," Johnson said. "I think that it takes place over the course of the last few months, it takes place over the course of this week where he comes up to the office after practice and the first thing out of his mouth is, 'Yeah, I’ve got to that ball about a foot further out in front of that guy.'

"That's where he is, just so self-aware now of where he can improve. It's been really encouraging to see.”

The end result is an offense capable of competing against top teams, as they showed in beating the Eagles, Packers, and Steelers, and even while losing to the 49ers and Packers.

Coach of the year?

The offense hasn't carried them to 11-5 and a division title. A defense leading the league in takeaways and special teams that produced in critical moments four or five times set it up, as well.

However it's the offensive turnaround like this that no one in Chicago has experienced, and if Williams is right it is going to continue to get better.

"I want to be the best quarterback, not only for Chicago, but in the league," Williams said. "That starts with consistency. That starts with me preparing the right way. It's important to me because I don't get up to be mediocre.

"I don't get up to not come to work and be at my best and go on the football field and do what I do. I want to keep growing. I want to keep growing for myself. I want to keep growing for my legacy, but I also want to keep growing for this team.”

As a result of this success turning around the way Chicago thinks about offense, Johnson's name is mentioned prominently for coach of the year. He definitely is not guaranteed this honor as the league is rife with tremendous coaching performances this year, New England's Mike Vrabel, San Francisco's Kyle Shanahan and Seattle's Mike Macdonald being prime examples.  

That award is no more important than some of the numbers the Bears are shooting for as they try to finish the regular season the right way against Detroit.

How do you like me now?

What they have established is what's important and how to achieve it. It's even more important than Johnson's "how do you like me now" moment today facing his old team after the blowout loss in Week 2.

"I think I said a few weeks ago, it's a special group," Johnson said. "I love how they go about their business. They love to compete, they have that right balance of being serious and dialed in, wanting to do all the things the right way.

"But at the same time, we really enjoy being around each other too. I think it's a very close knit group. It's one of those things; you break meetings the night before the game and guys don't just grab their snack and go straight up to their rooms. They sit down there in the meal room, and they enjoy spending time together. I think that's really the cool thing about this particular team that I didn't know when I took the job. To see that come to light, I think that's pretty cool.”

They only needed someone to show them the way to this point, and Johnson and his staff did. We'll find out in the next few weeks the limits of one year's worth of work with them—if any.

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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.