Changes and challenges coming for Bears veterans who are expected to return back to the facilities this week under a new coaching staff
Welcome to the official start of the Ben Johnson Era and a new beginning for the Chicago Bears which kicks off today.Monday is the start of the offseason program, at least voluntarily, for the team with returning veterans expected to be back in the building. Starting today, the entire staff will have the opportunity to […]
Welcome to the official start of the Ben Johnson Era and a new beginning for the Chicago Bears which kicks off today.
Monday is the start of the offseason program, at least voluntarily, for the team with returning veterans expected to be back in the building. Starting today, the entire staff will have the opportunity to fully meet the new coaching staff coming in and start building toward the 2025 season.
The beginning of this phase will take place inside, where players and coaches will begin establishing connections and ironing out the process/culture for 2025. On May 12th, the work will move outside where head coach Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Dennis Allen will start implementing the new schemes on the field.
Before we get to that point, let's look into some of the big changes and challenges that the new coaches have already been laying out for the returning players.
Under center, play-action, + more for Caleb Williams
The player who will see the biggest changes in 2025 is easily quarterback Caleb Williams, and for good reason. The Bears failed their franchise quarterback in a multitude of ways in 2024 and Ben Johnson will be in charge of building him back.
That starts by limiting the people in direct communication with him, followed by changing some of his techniques and comfortability within the offense.
"I don't know if there's any undoing, but there are some things that we're going to encourage that he looks to do a little bit differently," Johnson said. "He's been predominantly a shotgun quarterback for most of his high school and college career, and so he's very comfortable there. We're going to work to see the comfort level under center and how much of that applies. We had a lot of success [in Detroit] that going under center for the run game did translate in play-action."
Johnson also added that if the under-center move doesn't work out for Williams, he's fine with altering the plan to his best interests. But, Williams has already been putting in the work getting back into being an under-center QB.
From Caleb Williams’ IG, is that a seven-step, play-action drop from under center…
— Kevin Fishbain (@kfishbain.bsky.social) March 4, 2025 at 3:19 PM
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More accountability, higher expectations for D'Andre Swift
Speaking of the play-action and feeding into the run game, that's what this offense is built on. Being successful, and efficient, on the ground inside and out.
That's something the Bears struggled with after signing D'Andre Swift to be the lead back last offseason. Swift had major consistency issues and a lack of vision running inside, which constantly held up the entire offensive operation.
Ben Johnson still believes in Swift, someone he's worked closely with before in Detroit. But, the man responsible for getting Swift back on track in 2025 and being an effective runner isn't going to be Johnson, it's running backs coach Eric Bieniemy.
“Now, more than anything, we gotta make sure that he understands that he can find 4 and a half [yards] between the tackles but also hit the home run when he needs to," Bieniemy explained.
Emphasis and higher usage out of the slot
Another staple of the Ben Johnson offense is utilizing the slot as the primary area of the passing game. In Detroit, Amon-Ra St. Brown became one of the best wide receivers in the NFL by dominating the slot in Johnson's offense.
In Chicago, who that player will be is still uncertain. DJ Moore would be an intriguing option given his size and matchup possibility. Another option would be newly signed wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus, whom Johnson praised for his slot ability.
"I think that's to be determined, it's a little bit different right now," Johnson explained. "Can DJ (Moore) play inside? I think he can, can Rome (Odunze) play inside? I think he can. Both those guys showed those traits last year on tape. To what degree? I don't know yet, we have to hit the grass and see what they're really capable of and what they do well. I feel really good about the two guys [Zaccheaus and Devin Duvernay] we brought in free agency and what they bring to the table…"
"That's a very important point of emphasis for us is to get that spot right," Johnson added. "It doesn't matter if we make [the slot] primary or not, the ball tends to find its way there. So, we got to make sure we have a guy that's running very distinct routes at that position."
Getting Cole Kmet back on track by moving him around
This seems to be another major point of emphasis as well in the passing game. Tight end Cole Kmet had frustrating usage in 2024 under the previous staff and ideally should have been a high-target safety value for his rookie quarterback.
For some odd reason, that wasn't the case. And thankfully Ben Johnson plans to change that and he has great history getting his tight ends involved at a high level going back to his time working with T.J. Hockenson and Sam LaPorta in Detroit.
“We’re going to put [Kmet] in a place where he can succeed,” Johnson said. “He’s done some things where, call it branch routes, out breakers by No. 3 in the formation that have been really impressive, but we might try to move him around to different spots all the way outside the numbers to attached (in-line) and everywhere in between. I’m excited about working with him.”
Overhauling the OL and overall process to keep Caleb Williams standing
This was priority #1 for the entire organization after hiring Ben Johnson. What happened in 2024 and the process of building the offensive line was inexcusable.
The Bears responded by trading for two interior starters in Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson followed by signing the top ranked free agent center in Drew Dalman. More work needs to be done in terms of depth, as the Bears learned the hard way in 2024.
There's also still a question mark at left tackle, where Ryan Poles and Ben Johnson still believe in Braxton Jones as a starter, but still want to see some competition there.
“It takes a village,” Johnson said. “I don’t know what the number was in terms of seconds that [Williams] held on to the ball before releasing it. But we would certainly like to bring that number down. Part of that is how well can we can scheme No. 1 or No. 2 in the progression open for him? The protection up front can get better. The route runners get to their spots faster. We can move the pocket a little bit more. There’s a lot of things that we have at our disposal that can help with that process.”
Integrating waves of dominant pass rushers
This is something the Bears aimed to deploy in 2024 under former defensive coordinator Eric Washington, who has had long success working with the defensive line. Even with additions being made, the pass rush still fell short of expectations.
With defensive coordinator Dennis Allen coming into town, the plan remains the same on the defensive front. The Bears want waves of pass rushers attacking the quarterback, off the edge and more importantly on the interior.
Additions in Dayo Odeyingbo and Grady Jarrett help accomplish that, but the returning players need to step up, mainly Montez Sweat. Another step forward from Gervon Dexter and added weight to help Austin Booker breakout goes a long way too.
"We want to take the fight to the offense and not let the offense dictate the tempo to us. We're going to be aggressive," Allen said. "We're going to challenge everything. We're going to play the game the right way. We're going to play a tough, physical brand of football, the brand of football that you come to expect at the Chicago Bears."
Exciting young pieces to continue developing in the secondary
One of the best things Ryan Poles has done as the Bears general manager is building the secondary with young talent. Jaylon Johnson and Kevin Byard are proven high-level veterans but there's a lot to love about the other young guys behind them.
Kyler Gordon and Jaquan Brisker were the first two picks of the Ryan Poles Era and have each brought a level of high energy and physicality to the defense. Then there's Tyrique Stevenson and Terell Smith, who have impressed early on in their career.
Both Johnson and Allen have praised the development and hunger of these young players who will be cornerstone players on this defense for years to come, but there's still need a little more coaching and refinement needed to be had for these guys.
"Kyler Gordon is an outstanding nickel player," Allen said. "I have a vision for how we can utilize him. I think the foundation for what we want to do is there, and then I'm just excited about finally getting these guys in here and us having the opportunity to work with them and see exactly what we have. And then we have to be creative with how we want to do things."
“[Brisker's] a guy that you’ve got to know where he is,” Johnson said. “You’ve got to account for him. He likes to play down in the box. He likes to get involved. The one thing that I always thought that we could take advantage of was you could get him to have some bad eyes at times. So that’s the one thing we’ll take about, is to make sure he stays sound and he’s playing disciplined football. But he’s got a great skill set. I think he’s a heck of a football player.
“[Stevenson's] a young player that’s still learning, he’s still growing, he’s still maturing,” Johnson added. “But you see all the athletic traits and you see the potential. That’s always a dangerous word to throw out there, but I’m really encouraged.”
Bears Draft History: Breaking down the success rate of Ryan Poles and his draft decisions through each round since 2022
He’s had some big swings and some bad misses.
