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Caleb Williams Says He's No Longer Drowning in Ben Johnson's Offense

Caleb Williams says he no longer feels like he's drowning in Ben Johnson's offense, a sign the Bears QB is entering Year 2 with real command.
Gene Chamberlain|
Bears quarterback Caleb Williams walks on the field during minicamp at Halas Hall for stretching.
Bears quarterback Caleb Williams walks on the field during minicamp at Halas Hall for stretching. | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Caleb Williams came to the start of offseason work in April full of optimism about how much easier it was all going to be for him now in Year 2 of Ben Johnson's offense.

All of the OTAs and three days of minicamp only boosted the optimism as he emerged from practices with confidence soaring — even after a few interceptions thrown to Jaylon Johnson and one to Coby Bryant this week.

"It’s a hell of a lot more fun for me than it was last year just because it was — I was saying it to (running backs coach Eric Studesville) Stude — I feel like I was drowning trying to breathe or stay alive and wait for a boat to come around last year,’ " Williams said.

Fast forward and the feeling is he is in command of the ship. He signed off on offseason work Thursday with a perfectly thrown deep ball into a pocket coverage to Luther Burden, settiing up a Cairo Santos field goal in a four-minute driill.

"Now this year it’s being able to start where we finished last year, play calls 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," Williams said. "That’s the advantage.”

Caleb Williams the mind reader

Williams says he understands Johnson's scheme and what his coach wants to do with it so well that he's closing in on reading his mind.

“I think getting to the point now there’s times where he’ll be saying something and it’s full agreeance and kind of finish his sentence on some of these things on his mentality and how he wants to win, how he wants to play and who our identity is going to be and being able to build towards that,” Williams said. “He’s obviously a lot more mature than me. He’s older than me by many years.

"So he brings a lot of wisdom to me. He notices things that I may not notice in the moment or things like that. So his information, his knowledge, his wisdom and things like that, it goes a long way for me and I’m 110% in on whatever he says.”

It's not just Johnson's offense or knowing what his coach wants. It's also simple maturity in his third season. He's in command now.

“Yeah. I think that's a part of growth," Williams said. "Being in a position, you don't just get those nuggets just because of the position. You’ve got to work hard, you’ve got to grow and you’ve got to go win games on Sundays.

"I've said that before, and that's always my mindset. Win games on Sundays, be the same guy every day. Come in here and work. Do all the things right that I'm supposed to do. If there's extra that I need to do, if it's sitting down and talking to them, if it's on the field and you’ve got to yell and get them back to the huddle or any of those little things. It's whatever it takes to get to the end goal.”

It's that kind of an attitude that makes it easy to see how Williams wouldn't let things like being on the cover of Madden or even being a player who could wind up in the NFL top 100 this year affect his mindset week to week.

"There’s so much to unlock," Williams said. "There’s so much to get better at, there’s so much left of ball for me and us and accolades that we’ll have as a team and things like that. So, I think that’s the part.

"And then having a good support system around me, having Ben and my teammates and things like that I got to look in the face and make sure I’m doing the right thing every single day to accomplish our goal."

The old accuracy issue

Besides, there's the matter of getting better at throwing the football. At 58.1% completions, he was 11.9% short of the goal from last year. Johnson has had him working hard with QB coach J.T. Barrett at putting the ball in particular places for receivers so they can run after the catch.

"Yeah, ball placement, being able to put the ball in the best position for the wide receivers, it first starts with a completion then from there you’ve got to grow and the confidence from completing the ball, completion, completion, completion," Williams said. "Then it grows to how can I place the ball better for these guys in these situations and moments throughout the games and practices?

"It starts in practice; it starts with the mindset of that. From there you keep growing. Another thing for me is just always getting better with procedure. Being able to see defenses, pre-snap and have an idea of what they'll be in or if I need to make an adjustment. It's always going to be those couple things for me.”

It's a simple thing but definitely something for Williams to work at come training camp and even during the next six to seven weeks off.

"For me it's just get the completion percentage up, keep the offense on the field more, score as many points as possible, be the highest score in offense," Williams said. "That's part of my part in the team, going out there and orchestrating it. Then being able to go out there and score, whether it's handoffs or passes, whatever.

"That doesn't matter. It's just being able to put up as many points as possible to help our team win as many games as possible. Then keeping the turnover rate low.”

Nothing in there about being on Madden or a top 100. Johnson never expected that anyway.

“Well, it goes back to my first conversations I've had with Caleb and those were he wants to win here in Chicago and he wants to win Super Bowls,” Johnson said. “That's really his motivating factor. He's been very clear and consistent with that message over the last year and a half that I've gotten to know him.”

It's only been a little over a year for that but Johnson can't complain about how the two have worked together so far.

"I think he's stepped up and he's continuing to get better every single day, and it's just a matter of how many reps can we continue to pile on over the course of training camp," Johnson said. "But no, he's certainly is a vocal presence within our offense and our entire team."

It's enough to generate plenty of enthusiasm for Williams' second season with his coach, as if there wasn't plenty of that already.

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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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