New ‘1920 Football Drive’ Clip Shows Growth Of Ben Johnson, Caleb Williams’ Bond

Both Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams talked about it as last season went on: it took a little time for the Chicago Bears’ dynamic head coach-quarterback duo to properly mesh.

In fact, Williams even mentioned he wasn’t sure if the uber-intense Johnson was a fan of him.

“At certain parts, it felt like our relationship was pretty fra-gee-lay [fragile], from my perspective," Williams told ESPN's Courtney Cronin. "It was like, gee, this dude, doesn't seem like he likes me."

But sometimes, as with deep shots down the field and quarterback play, in general, all you need to do is give things time to develop properly. And those early growing pains have to happen in order to achieve real growth.

“That's who he's been. That's how he's going to be,” Williams added about the hard coaching from Johnson.

"So when you can sit back and realize that's who somebody is, the respect, the trust, the loyalty grows, and then you go out there on the football field, and what he's saying works and the plays work and the alignments and assignments, they work. That trust and loyalty starts to grow, and you build more of that, and then the bond and all of that starts to grow a lot more."

The Bears’ latest episode of “1920 Football Drive” illustrates just how far the coach and quarterback have come since those early days of camp—and how much their bond has driven the team success.

“I really go back to the partnership between quarterback and coach,” Poles said in a clip of the episode. “Coach was really hard on Caleb in the beginning because he knew what he was capable of, but he knew that Caleb had to get to a certain point to operate our offense in a way that we could win football games. Through that process, you saw him grow each and every week.”

When it was all said and done, Williams, while struggling with his completion percentage, had nonetheless surpassed the Bear’s single-season passing yards mark with 3,942 and led the Bears to seven comeback wins in total, including a last fateful one in the playoffs against Green Bay.

He couldn’t have accomplished any of that without his nonstop dedication to getting better.

“I still remember back in the spring time where, I think for one particular play, we had to break the huddle about five times before we finally got it right,” Johnson said of Williams. “Fast-forward to the end of the year there, and some of these play calls are ridiculous, and he’s crushing it. That’s a credit to his development, his growth, the coaching staff, the players around him.”

Now, Williams and Johnson have become the talk of the NFL, from players currently on the roster to experts around the league remarking how the Bears have nailed the most important two positions in their organization. As long as they keep growing together, there’s no reason this partnership can’t take the Bears to new heights—perhaps even back to a Super Bowl sooner rather than later.

And just think: this was only Year 1. Get your popcorn ready for the sequel.

More Chicago Bears News:

Matt Miller Thinks This Year’s Edge Rusher Class Is Ideal For Bears In 2026 NFL Draft

Could The Chicago Bears REALLY Be About To Move To Indiana?

Caleb Williams Is Reaching Icon Status With Latest Honor

Why Pass-Rusher Isn’t The Most Important Priority For The Bears