How Caleb Williams' Command of Ben Johnson's Offense Will Take Him to the Next Level

Despite a breakout season in 2025, one in which Caleb Williams fell agonizingly short of Chicago Bears history, the third-year quarterback knows that he has plenty of growing yet to do. Most notably, His 58.2 completion percentage last year was nowhere close to acceptable. He has to get better in that area, and so far through OTAs and minicamp, he does seem to be improving on his ball placement, Jaylon Johnson's two-interception minicamp performance notwithstanding.

However, there's another area of growth that's arguably much more important for Caleb Williams, something that can't be tracked on a stat sheet. As his command of the offense has grown with a year of familiarity now under his belt, Williams can be more than just a quarterback running the plays as they are called. Now he can begin to be the kind of on-field coach that all great quarterbacks inevitably become.

Caleb Williams is already making Ben Johnson's offense his own

As ESPN's Courtney Cronin reported on Thursday, Williams has always been a vocal leader for the Bears. Indeed, in the Bears' Wild Card game against the Green Bay packers in January, he was seen on the sidelines berating the offense to clean up the details after several stalled drives. But starting this offseason, he's showing the kind of mastery of the offense that will enable him to take this team to the next level.

"It's a hell of a lot more fun for me than it was last year," Williams said, as reported by Courtney Cronin for ESPN's NFL minicamp updates. "Now this year, it's being able to start where we finished last year, playcalls and words and verbiage and speak the same language, and now it's being able to grow more from an earlier stage than maybe doing it a little bit earlier in the season or halfway through the season, speaking on things that really help throughout the year."

In the Bears' final minicamp practice this week, Williams uncorked a beauty of a deep ball to Luther Burden III, who ran into the endzone and began to celebrate a touchdown. What Burden hadn't noticed was that the referee signaled that he was down short of the endzone. Williams hustled his offense up to the new line of scrimmage and got visibly frustrated with Burden for wasting time.

And it's not just his teammates that Williams expects more of this year. He doesn't ask of them anything that he doesn't demand of himself, and he holds himself to a very high standard. In speaking to the media on Thursday on what's next for him, Williams said, "Get my completion percentage up, keep the offense on the field more... and just score to help our team win as many games as possible and keep our turnover rate low."

This is how a good quarterback leads his team. He continues to work on the finer points of his craft, such as accuracy and footwork, while simultaneously mastering the offense. It's one thing to know the offense, to be able to relay a playcall to the huddle and know what's expected of you. Actually understanding the concepts and seeing the flow of a game in your mind is something else entirely, and that's what Williams is working towards.

The Bottom Line

Caleb Williams and Ben Johnso — Chicago Bears QB Caleb Williams talks with head coach Ben Johnson at practice. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

Caleb Williams has the potential to be an all-time great quarterback, but he has a long way to go in his development before he gets there. He knows what he needs to work on, and you can bet that he's going to remain hard at work perfecting his craft even during this 'summer break' between minicamp and training camp.

But it takes more than flashy plays, accurate ball-placement, and a quick mind to be a great quarterback in the NFL. You also have to be a leader, and to be a leader, you need to have full command of and comfort in the offense. That's what Williams seems to be developing in Year 2 in Ben Johnson's offense, and that's an encouraging sign for Bears fans.

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