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The Question About Bears QB Coach Ben Johnson Simply Wouldn't Answer

Ben Johnson said Caleb Williams wouldn't play against the Browns Saturday in the preseason opener but his answer to another question was indeed a guarded one.
Gene Chamberlain|
Ben Johnson's decision with Caleb Williams was not to play him in the preseason opener, but the Bears coach wouldn't say if his QB will even start any game in preseason.
Ben Johnson's decision with Caleb Williams was not to play him in the preseason opener, but the Bears coach wouldn't say if his QB will even start any game in preseason. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Chicago Bears

Ben Johnson announced some starters would not play Saturday, including starting quarterback Caleb Williams.

What Johnson didn't answer was the bigger question. He seemed to dodge the issue Thursday of whether the Bears would even use Williams in the preseason. In fact, the tone of his answer sounded almost as if he leaned toward keeping him out of preseason games.

“I don't know that I need to see game snaps," Johnson said. "What we're trying to assess is the volume throughout the week and making sure we're hitting our benchmarks to make sure our team is ready to go for a 17-plus game season. That's what we're looking to do. Each individual is a little bit different.

"I get it. We work closely with our sports science department. We get feedback after every practice. Where we stand, guys that have high workloads, things of that nature. Next week we can address when it gets there, but we have a plan in place of the reps, the workload we want to get as a team between the joint practice with Cincinnati and the game reps as well. That all plays a part together, and everything's really, really fluid on how we're handling that."

Then he turned even more away from the idea of letting Williams get some plays.

"Do I need to see Caleb Williams in the preseason? No, I don't," Johnson said. "I see him every single day in practice and I know what we're going to get come the season.

"Yet, at the same time there is a workload and there's a number of reps that we want to hit as a team, and so we'll make sure we even that out whether that's game reps or not.”

Caleb Williams sat last year's preseason opener

Williams did not start last year in the preseason opener, just as he won't in this year's opener. However, he did start preseason Game 2, a 38-0 win at Soldier Field over Buffalo. He also started the preseason finale at Kansas City.

The situation is completely different now. Williams hadn't played a down in Johnson's offense, was struggling to get plays off without penalties early in camp, and needed the work. After seven fourth-quarter comebacks last season, and coming into his second year in the same offense, the need to see him in game conditions is greatly diminished.

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In fact, not playing him at all makes much more sense for the sake of preservation.

The quarterback who will start Saturday against Cleveland, Tyson Bagent, calls second-year familiarity with the attack a real asset. It's easy to see why they wouldn't want to risk Williams in that case.
"I think just watching practice you can really see that just overall with the whole offense we're able to peel back more layers than we were able to last camp," Bagent said. "All you can compare it to is where we were at at this point last year and I think we're in a really good spot because of that."

It's not as if Williams misses practices. He is still taking snaps and running plays. He'll practice against Cinncinati and against Tennessee prior to those preseason games and this could also affect the decision to hold him out.

The last time the Bears didn't play a starting QB in preseason

The Bears have usually played their starting quarterback in preseason to a small extent under past coaches. Williams played the first two preseason games of his rookie year under Matt Eberflus but needed the work as an NFL rookie.

Justin Fields started the first and third preseason games in his final Bears season and all of them in 2022 when he was learning Luke Getsy's offense in 2022. He didn't start the preseason opener in 2021 as a rookie, but that's because the starter had that duty. Andy Dalton was the starter in 2023 and started the first two preseason games, with Field starting the finale.,

The last time the starting Bears quarterback didn't start the preseason opener was 2019 under Matt Nagy, when Mitchell Trubisky sat and Chase Daniel played.

Something else happened in that preseason with the quarterback position. Trubisky didn't play a down in any of the preseason games.

Could this be the year Ben Johnson repeats what Nagy did with his quarterback? The Bears were coming off a division title in 2019 just like they are now, and were in their third-year quarterback's second year in that offense. They now have the same scenario and, at least for Week 1 of preseason, they're repeating that procedure.

The starting quarterback and backup didn't play at all in 2020 preseason. Then again, neither did anyone else because no preseason was held due to the pandemic.

Fans, of course, want to see their No. 1 QB play but it doesn't seem to really be necessary. Then again, maybe they should start him one preseason game just to say they didn't repeat what Nagy did with Trubisky in 2019, which eventually turned into a really nothing season.

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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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