The Chicago Bears have prioritized building around quarterback Caleb Williams this offseason, But the most important move was landing the most-sought after head coach candidate in Ben Johnson, who will be key in the second-year quarterback’s development.
If there’s anyone who can maximize Williams’ potenital, it’s Johnson, who turned Jared Goff into a Pro Bowl quarterback with the Detroit Lions. But, as Johnson indicated in his introductory press conference, it’s going to be uncomfortable.
But Williams has been high on Johnson since Day 1, according to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, and their first face-to-face conversation happened during Johnson’s introductory press conference. Since then, Williams has been around Halas Hall working with Johnson, offensive coordinator Declan Doyle and quarterbacks coach J.T. Barrett. And the coaching staff hasn’t shied away from the cold hard truth with Williams.
There were two areas where the coaches wanted improvement from Williams. Both related to how he carried himself as the quarterback, based on what the 2024 season showed. One was body language. The other was presnap procedure.
On the former, while the coaches understood the beating he took, they showed film to emphasize how he’d been slow to pull himself up off the ground. It was a long year. People got fired in-season. And in adverse circumstances, the staff explained, having a quarterback who was rolling with the punches would go a long way. On the latter, there was a smattering of small things—like on the first play of one game, he turned to his left, thinking the motion was coming, when it was actually coming from the right—that needed to be cleaned up.
According to Breer, Williams welcomed every criticism thrown his way, and the coaching staff was able to use Matthew Stafford film to show Williams what they’re looking to work on with him as far as technique and fundamentals.
While it’s still early on in the process, it certainly seems like the Williams-Johnson partnership is working at this point of the offseason.
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This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Where Bears coaches want Caleb Williams to improve
Reporting by Alyssa Barbieri, Bears Wire / Bears Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
