Bears' Ben Johnson Details Specific Areas Where Caleb Williams Can Improve in 2026

While Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams took a step forward in his second season in the NFL, there's no question Williams has more work to do to reach his ceiling.

Williams threw for more yards and touchdowns in 2025 than he did in his rookie campaign, but he also saw his completionn rate go down by over 4% and he tossed one more pick.

Sure, drops certainly played a part in Williams' worse completion rate, but his accuracy was also lacking at times, and more specifically when he was on the move.

According to ESPN's Courtney Cronin, head coach Ben Johnson mentioned that as something he would like to see Williams get better at.

Johnson also discussed Williams improving his decision-making when it comes deciding when to hang in the pocket and when to leave to extend plays.

"That's where Caleb comes in handy ... he can bail us out when we are wrong, which we're going to be wrong each and every game," Johnson said. "I'm going to mistime some calls, or they're going to throw something at us that we weren't prepared for. And that's on him and his athletic ability to bail us out.

"And so that's what I'm looking forward to, is we're going to be able to have those conversations in the quarterback room of when can we hang in there and get this ball out to the primary or the No. 2 receiver, and when do we need to extend, and naturally, I think we got to get better when we extend plays, capitalizing on those as well."

Caleb Williams wasn't shy about 2025 struggles

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams scrambles against Los Angeles Rams defensive end Kobie Turner. — Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams. | David Banks-Imagn Images

Johnson isn't pointing out anything we didn't already know.

In fact, Williams admitted at times last season that he needed to get better with his decision-making for when to hang in the pocket and when to run, and he wasn't totally pleased with his accuracy with his throwns on the run, either.

“I missed about five or six on the run, which is extremely frustrating for me, especially just how my nature has been for the past couple years of my career,” Williams said last October, per Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic.

“It’s just being able to understand in those situations that even if I’m not hitting … how a QB run in those situations where maybe the defense calls a good call or a perfect call, the QB takes off and gets positive yards, I think I’ve done a good job with that so far this year," Williams added. "I think today I did not.”

The good news for Williams and the Bears is that he has shown in the past he can be extremely effective when throwing on the run, so the ability is certainly there.

And, as things continue to slow down for Williams with more and more experience in the NFL, that should help improve his decision-making, also.