Caleb Williams didn’t want to become a member of the Chicago Bears ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft, with a new book reporting that the quarterback and his family sought ways to avoid heading to the Windy City last offseason.
However, new Bears’ head coach Ben Johnson isn’t too concerned about how Williams might have felt in the past. In an interview on “The Herd,” Johnson, who was hired by Chicago in January after three seasons as the Detroit Lions offensive coordinator, suggested that whatever feelings Williams had about the Bears’ organization in the past are water under the bridge.
“I don’t know what’s been going on prior to him joining the organization, but he is very proud to be a Chicago Bear,” Johnson said on Thursday. “That’s what our conversations have included. He’s really excited to get to work right now and be the best version of himself for 2025.”
The upcoming book “American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback” reported that Williams and his father, Carl, had fears about joining the Bears due to their lack of historical success at quarterback. Chicago remains the lone organization in the NFL that’s yet to have a quarterback throw for 4,000 yards in a season. Additionally, quarterbacks Mitchell Trubisky and Justin Fields didn’t get second contracts with the Bears after being drafted in the first round in the last 10 years.
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Williams might have been spooked by the same ghosts that haunted Bears quarterbacks of the past as a rookie, too. The highly-touted No. 1 overall pick had a respectable statline in 2024, completing 62.5% of his passes for 3,541 yards, 20 touchdowns and six interceptions to go with an 87.8 passer rating and 489 rushing yards. However, Williams was sacked a league-leading 68 times and Chicago’s offense ranked last in total yards. It was also 28th in scoring.
On top of Williams leading the league in sacks taken and quarterbacking one of the league’s worst offenses, there was some turmoil behind the scenes. The Bears fired head coach Matt Eberflus and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron during their 10-game losing streak. As Chicago parted ways with both coaches during the year, Williams told his dad that he often watched film alone because no one instructed him what film to watch, according to reporting in “American Kings.”
The Bears tabbed Johnson as the guy to try and unlock Williams’ potential as one of the top quarterback prospects in recent years. Prior to becoming the Bears head coach, Johnson became one of the top coaching commodities thanks to his impressive tenure with Detroit, where he oversaw an offense that ranked top-5 in both points scored per game and total yards per game in each of his three seasons.
While there’s a lot of potential in the Williams-Johnson partnership, there’s obviously still the possibility that the Bears could fall short. Johnson is working with Williams on his mental state, to help with any issues he might have when the going gets tough.
Ben Johnson on year 2 expectations for Caleb & Bears’ schedule
“You talk about fears and I don’t see it quite the same way,” Johnson said. “I see this as, ‘What a great opportunity we have to do something that really has never been done.’ There hasn’t been a 4,000-yard passer here in this franchise and I think Caleb is going to be the first one, and one of many years, many seasons to come where he’s able to accomplish that feat. I see a chance for greatness here for him. He’s been communicated that way and he feels the same way.
“There’s no question we’re going to face adversity,” Johnson added. “We want to see growth from [lower] to here [higher] over the course of the season and it’s not going to be linear growth. It’s going to be a little bit of ups and downs and stair steps along the way, but we want to see from Game 1 to Game 17 that we’re getting better as a whole. And that’s not just him, that’s us as a team as well. That’s what makes coaching fun is when the hiccups occur, when the adversity strikes, how do we respond to it? That’s when you find out who you are as a man.”
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In order to help quell any fears Williams might have this season, the Bears bolstered the offense around Williams. They remade the interior of their offensive line, adding guards Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson, along with center Drew Dalman. In the draft, they added tight end Colston Loveland and wide receiver Luther Burden III with their first two picks.
As the team has improved around Williams, Johnson’s gotten a chance to see what his quarterback can do over the last month or so in the offseason program. He’s liked what he’s seen so far, saying things have gone “really well” with Williams. When Colin Cowherd asked Johnson if there was any particular moment that’s stood out to him during Williams’ offseason, he couldn’t pin it down to just one.
“He’s got such great God-given ability that we’re trying to tap into. You see it every day right now. It’s going to be more fun when we get the competitive nature of offense vs. defense in OTAs.”
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