Caleb Williams Could Fix His Biggest Bears Flaw With One Huge Year 2 Advantage

Caleb Williams enters Year 2 under Ben Johnson with a major edge: familiarity, which the Bears believe could finally boost his accuracy and efficiency.

Caleb Williams throws last offseason. His familiarity with Ben Johnson's attack is being cited as a reason for better accuracy. | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

Almost nothing has changed for Caleb Williams heading into Year 2 under Bears coach Ben Johnson.

Nearly of all his coaches are the same and the offense is, as well. In this case, doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result is not the definition of insanity but a way to be better.

With Williams, a better completion percentage and efficiency could merely be a matter of another training camp operating Johnson's offense. Quarterbacks coach J.T. Barrett returns for his second year in this role and sees repetition as the ultimate answer for Williams' past inaccuracy issues.

"Now the information is not foreign to him," Barrett said. "He has better understanding of why we do things and what’s the reason. For him, you’ll just be able to see a growth of operation and execution of the offense, just from the efficiency standpoint and getting us in the right plays and being able to communicate.

Caleb Williams connects with Kyle Monangai on a Short Pass pic.twitter.com/xRvrwXM7Qk

— BearsMuse (@ChiBearsMuse) May 20, 2026

"All of that is going to improve being that he has more ownership of it.”

Last year the Bears spent much of the first training camp under Johnson simply lining up properly and getting the play called out so everyone understood it. Johnson interrupting and sending them back to the huddle when they couldn't line up properly became a common sight. They still experienced problems with this at times on into the regular season.

When sky cleared or Caleb Williams

By midseason, the fog seemed to vanish as Williams had become more comfortable.

They'll be on the field running the offense against the defense in non-padded work for the first time this offseason next week, as OTAs ramp up. It could be more apparent if they're ahead of the game at that point.

“I had one objective in this draft…and it was to walk out with Caleb Williams.”

On the pod, @benjaminsolak and I discussed the Bears QB’s growth and why he took him 8th (!!) overall. pic.twitter.com/IE0DKElrsF

— Mina Kimes (@minakimes) May 20, 2026

The fact Williams' receivers know the offense like Williams does now can also make a difference for him. Last year not only did Rome Odunze need to learn the attack, but Luther Burden and Colston Loveland didn't know the league or the offense, and hadn't established timing with Williams after missing virtually all offseason work due to injuries.

“No doubt, there are countless reasons why," Barrett said. "Some of that is just better familiarity with everything around routes and also the guys he’s throwing to, having the guys returning, knowing Colston, Luther, Cole (Kmet), all those guys being a big part, Rome, of course.

NFC North starting QBs

After 2 NFL seasons

QB	Comp/Attempts	Pct.	Rating
Kyler Murray	724/1100	65.8%	90.8
Caleb Williams	681/1130	60.3%	89.0
Jared Goff	262/408	59.8%	89.4
Jordan Love*	36/62	58.1%	68.7

*Sat out entire rookie year

"That is going to be something as well, where he has another year throwing with these guys with these route concepts and understanding what we’re trying to do."

There's no guarantee familiarity automatically leads to an upgrade. When injuries and schedule difficulty are involved results can be altered.

However, when a quarterback completes only 58.1% and leads all starting NFL quarterbacks in off-target throws (109) the way Williams did, a factor like familiarity can be impactful. How much it improves last year's numbers can be the difference between another playoff bid or something less exciting than 2025.

141 seconds of ridiculous Caleb Williams throws pic.twitter.com/DGtzvm2RhF

— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) May 13, 2026

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