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Advancement in Bears Offense Now Obvious to Caleb Williams Himself

In so many ways, Caleb Williams is seeing his own growth within Ben Johnson's offense as the Bears continue to move the ball and put up points.
Gene Chamberlain|
Caleb Williams warms up prior to Monday's game against the Seattle Seahawks.
Caleb Williams warms up prior to Monday's game against the Seattle Seahawks. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Chicago Bears

Much like parents will chart the growth of a child with marks on a wall denoting their height at a specific age, there are ways of measuring the effect of time and the passing process on quarterback Caleb Williams.

Williams is sprouting up before the very eyes of Bears fans, and it's obvious from several things, especially the way he has learned to throw the shorter passes after going through his progression. He's learning to make the game easier.

“I would say I've grown in that area," Williams said late Wednesday at Halas Hall. "I think if you go back to high school, all I did was take shots. I went to college and scrambled around a little bit, I took a few checkdowns, very little. Then my first (NFL) year was very little. I got sacked a lot, all of that.

"Then this past year (2025), found a few more scrambles a little bit. Then this year it's just being a lot more comfortable with the playbook and understanding it and what we want to do with certain plays. Then from there, when they don't give us a specific coverage, just being able to check the ball down and keep the drive alive.”

Accepting less and moving the chains

Williams' average intended air yards on throws is longer than only five other starting quarterbacks and his air yards per completion is longer than only seven other starters. Last year he was in the top half of the league for both length of completion and intended distance.

No one wants to give up on the deeper throws and he has made those effectively when necessary, but more checkdowns than in the past helped the Bears establish some of the possession time which helped in their three straight wins.

The wild plays when he runs around in and out of the pocket have been occurred with less frequency, and this also brings down the downfield distance. He sees it as another growth sign.

“I had a couple of pretty cool scrambles, I'd say," he said of Monday night's win. "I still do all of that. I wouldn't say that I look different.

"I think I've just grown in certain aspects. I think I've tried to maintain the things that I've done well. Then the things that I haven't done well, just try and up those to the level of the other things that I have done well. So I wouldn't say different. I think part of it's just comfort with the offense also. I think that's a really big piece on my side. And then just finding ways to keep pushing myself and trying to be better for the guys.”

Line communication

Cleaner pass plays to wide receivers are part of it, he said. In other words, the ball coming out in time and giving them the chance for yards after catch. Another is the way he directs things at the line of scrimmage for teammates before a play. This was very apparent in the noise at Seattle on Monday.

"The communication maybe seemed a little bit more emphasized, I would say, this past week overall," he said. "Just knowing the environment, playing in some loud games before in my career, I think that's what it showed.

"But we communicate. That's one of our biggest things as an offense is being able to communicate. It doesn't waver depending on home, away, crazy crowd or not."

The communication at the line is truly a sign of Williams advancing in Johnson's offense. It's the type of thing the better quarterbacks have done well over the years.
Peyton Manning yelling "Omaha!" is an example of this type of thing.

All of these things are examples of being doing the uncomfortable to become better. After all, Johnson said when hired that they all need to become comfortable with being uncomfortable.

"That's how you grow," Williams said. "That's how you get better. I think you get in season sometimes and you want to run things that maybe fit you a little bit more, then I will practice a few times. And I obviously trust Ben with it.

"When he calls something and I don't like it, we go up in the office, we sit down, we talk about it, he shows me clips. And if I still don't like it, or I still don't see it, he won't call it because it's kind of butchering me out there. He's awesome with that. But a lot of times, we'll go up in the office, we'll talk about it. We'll watch multiple clips. Then at the end of it, I typically feel pretty good about it and where we want to go with the ball.”

This might all sound like assumed duties for any quarterback in any NFL city.

In Chicago, anything leading to an advanced state of quarterback play is foreign and even startling. It's not a place where quarterbacks have come to grow over the years.

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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.

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