Ben Johnson sets the record straight on QB Caleb Williams after previously expressing frustrations with the Bears’ passing game
He likes what he’s seeing out of his quarterback.
The Chicago Bears, to many people’s surprise, have jumped out to a 9-3 start to the 2025 regular season and currently hold the top spot in the NFC going into Week 14 with five weeks remaining.
There’s still a lot of football left to be played, and the Bears still have a daunting schedule ahead with a ridiculously tight conference with every team looking up to see if the Bears can slip up in any way.
On the Bears’ side of things, no one is paying attention to the record or the standings. It’s all about going 1-0 each week and finding ways to improve. Right now, improvement needs to be made in the passing game, something head coach Ben Johnson made crystal clear while speaking with the media on Monday. But, when you call out the passing game as a whole, the message tends to get twisted.
Ben Johnson made sure to defend Caleb Williams after his comments on Monday
“When I made that comment yesterday it’s easily construed as I’m not happy with the quarterback. That’s not the case whatsoever,” Johnson explained to reporters on Tuesday. “He continues to get better each and every week and I couldn’t be more pleased with how he played last week. And I know what the stats say. Throw those out the window. He’s doing a really good job managing the ballgame. That’s step No. 1 for the quarterback.”
Truthfully, people don’t seem to grasp what successful football is expected to look like from the quarterback position, especially in a scheme like this built on the run game and highly-specific reads in the passing game. When Williams finishes under 200 passing yards, everyone seems to lose their minds, even when the Bears come away with a win.
What the Bears are doing offensively is highly complicated by design. On Monday, Johnson had nothing but praise for the way Williams is commanding the huddle and operating at the line of scrimmage. What he took issue with was when Williams misses open receivers or when receivers aren’t being where they’re supposed to be on certain designs in the passing game. As he said, that part of it falls on everyone, not just one person.
And success is going to look different each week for this offense. Right now, what’s working is the ability to run the ball and control the game without any real opposition. But, back in camp, Johnson noted his offense has prepared to run the ball 50 times a game or throw the ball 50 times a game. Obviously the stats will look very different in either situation, so the numbers are hard to go off of.
“The process is really good right now with how he approaches the week, the way he’s taking the coaching and what he’s applying to coaching, I’m very pleased with that,” Johnson added about Williams. “I think we’re going to continue to see him ascend. Whether the stats tell the story or not.”
Frankly, Johnson is running this offense right now with Williams as the point guard and not the focal point, and it’s something that’s working. And while he’s still missing some gimme throws here and there, he continues to deliver when it matters most to secure a win. And that should be the goal, right?
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