Bear Digest

Possible Bears passing stat fails to impress numbers guy Ben Johnson

The Bears coach was as much of a numbers guy as anyone and ever studied math in school but if you think he cares about 4,000 yards passing guess again.
Gene Chamberlain|
Caleb Williams looks downfield for a target against San Francisco in Sunday night's 42-38 loss by the Bears.
Caleb Williams looks downfield for a target against San Francisco in Sunday night's 42-38 loss by the Bears. | Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Ben Johnson was a math and computer student in college, so arguing with him about numbers is pointless.

Anyone worried about Caleb William throwing for 270 passing yards against Detroit Sunday to become the first Bears quarterback to reach 4,000 yards in a season will probably be terribly disappointed by what Johnson said Wednesday at Halas Hall.

Williams is 109 yards from breaking the Bears' franchise record of 3,838. Hitting that 4,000-yard mark is apparently a big thing for numbers geeks and people without lives, but not Johnson. 

"I think it's an arbitrary number," Johnson said.

Once Johnson had been reminded of the Bears' history as the NFL's only franchise without a 4,000-yard passer, he didn't exactly alter his stance.

"OK. There are probably some who don’t have a 5,000-yard passer. Right?" Johnson said. "So. It’s just a number."

Told it was a big thing to some people, Johnson added, "Apparently it is. Apparently it is."

He's obviously not one.

"Critical factor for me really comes down to turnovers, takeaways," Johnson said. "I think critical downs—so I’m talking third down, fourth down, red zone plays a little part of it. I think those are probably the biggest ones I look at.

"There are games this year when we’ve had great time of possession. There have been other games where we haven’t. I don’t know how much (4,000 yards is involved) with winning to be honest with you. Yeah, I think those are the two things that stand out to me first on the stat sheet."

It's somewhat ironic because it was Johnson who said prior to his first season as Bears coach that the metric expected-points added was the most important determiner in victories instead of turnovers.

A season with this team has shown him otherwise, as the Bears lead the NFL in takeaways and in fewest turnovers.

Williams wasn't going to take an entirely different path from his coach at this point in the season regarding 4,000 yards. They are, after all, only one game from preparations for the team's first playoff game since 2020.

"In a hundred or however many years, it has never been done, so it symbolizes something," Williams said.

The Bears explained why there have been none to Williams when he came to Chicago.

The explanation didn't included the simple and most honest one—that they didn't have quarterbacks good enough to do it.

"I don’t exactly remember what they told me or what the answer was, but a lot of it comes from the weather and all these different things," Williams said. "And kind of how Chicago has been with running the ball and all these different things.

"I think they ended up choosing right. I have a strong enough arm to cut through the wind, and I’ve been blessed with that."

It's just not going to be an arm good enough to crack 4,000 yards this year unless he throws for 270 yards, and that's usually a big chunk of passing yards to ask for from most teams, particularly one as reliant on the running game as the Bears.

Detroit's defense hadn't allowed 270 passing yards all year until Jameis Winston threw for 366 against them on Nov. 23. Then, in the next three games, Dak Prescott and Matthew Stafford did it against them. So it is possible.

Last week the Lions allowed 3 passing yards to the Vikings and lost the game, as they were eliminated in the playoff chase. That's right, 3 passing yards.

Nevertheless, it's a mathematical possibility and Johnson the math guy couldn't debate this.

"If it were to happen that’d be great," Johnson said. "But he (Williams) would agree with me when I say that our No. 1 objective is to win this ballgame. Whatever that takes, that’s our goal.

"We’ll see where it’s at at the end of the year. That’s a tertiary goal, if you will."

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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.