LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams walked into Halas Hall dressed, in his words, like he was in the movie “The Matrix.”
This wasn’t an illusion. It’s reality for Williams. The Bears hired Ben Johnson, the coach considered the best offensive mind available, the play caller who has taken the league by storm since 2022. Williams returned to Lake Forest from Florida to see the introduction in person.
Williams sat next to wide receivers DJ Moore, Rome Odunze and tight end Cole Kmet and listened to his new head coach, who turned to Williams during his opening statement to say, “Everyone wants to talk about the quarterback and Caleb, I’m excited to work with you, but it’s gonna take more than just you. And there are a lot of pieces already in place. And I can’t wait to get to work with the rest of you guys.”
This is the team’s latest attempt at getting the coach and quarterback right, and while Williams would certainly say all the right things no matter who was chosen, he hadn’t been shy about his thoughts on Johnson previously.
“Extremely excited,” he said Wednesday.
Williams got the call from the Bears’ decision-makers while driving on the highway. He hung up and let out a yell of excitement.
On Monday, he met his new coach in person.
“You can see the competitiveness in his eyes,” he said. “The fire in his eyes. It was really cool seeing that.”
Johnson plans to both build an offense around Williams and coach him hard.
“We talked about how (Johnson’s) a no-nonsense guy, but he’ll always have my back, he’ll always give me support,” Williams said. “Holding me accountable and us being on the same wavelength.”
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Said general manager Ryan Poles, “He’s going to be challenged to be a professional football player, to do the little things the right way. That foundation, I know Ben is going to hit that early and often, get that foundation strong because you’re going to build everything off of there. So once that’s there, now we can continue to get better and play more consistently.”
It’s no secret that the type of tough coaching wasn’t evident last season, whether it came from former head coach Matt Eberflus or former offensive coordinator Shane Waldron.
Johnson didn’t seem like someone who’s going to treat his quarterback with kid gloves.
“Another big part was he said he’s going to hold me accountable and said ‘I want you to hold me accountable’ for a multitude of things,” Williams said. “We talked about other things about my play, what he’s excited about and what he wants to change and correct and if not change and correct, but just (be) better.”
As Johnson surveyed his options, the presence of Williams was a major factor in him opening his interview with chairman George McCaskey, president/CEO Kevin Warren and Poles by saying, “I want this job.”
“There’s no doubt Caleb played a large component in my decision,” Johnson said. “He is a phenomenal talent that had, as many quarterbacks do, an up-and-down rookie year. Where I see my role is as a supporter of him.”
Ben Johnson on Caleb Williams: pic.twitter.com/SgoWs5JFyZ
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) January 22, 2025
We say it’s a quarterback-driven league, but Johnson points to the numbers. He said “quarterback success is a higher predictor of winning and losing than turnover ratio,” a shift in the sport over the past two decades.
Now it’s about setting up the right offense for Williams, as opposed to asking him to run what Jared Goff did in Detroit. That’s been a problem in Chicago of late, whether it was Matt Nagy and Mitch Trubisky, Luke Getsy and Justin Fields or Waldron and Williams.
“This offense will be calibrated with him in mind,” he said, not realizing that would be music to Bears fans’ ears. “We’re going to build this thing. This is not simply a dropping of a previous playbook down on the table and starting there. Nope, we’re ripping this thing down to the studs, and we’re going to build it out with him first and foremost, and then with the pieces around him next. I really look forward to challenging him and pushing him, as I said before, to continue to grow and develop.”
That philosophy resonated with Williams, and he harkened back to his college coach, Lincoln Riley.
“The way I see things, the way I throw this, the way I do this, the way I do that, wasn’t the same for other guys,” he said. “Not every player is Jared Goff, but you’re yourself. That goes into that. Being able to have a coach that understands that and wants to build around me and the other personnel that we have on this team … I think it works in our favor and works in his favor.
“It’s great that he knows that and understands that because that brings another level of excitement because now it’s ours. It’s not your previous offense, it’s not what you did or anything like that.”
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Johnson specifically told Williams, “This will be your offense.”
“He’s going to build around me, but also, he’s going to test me,” Williams said. “He’s going to challenge me in the offseason … to what’s worked and what works in the NFL and things he may want me to get better at, but at the end of the day, if that doesn’t fit me, if it doesn’t work with me, it won’t be there.”
That’s how it’s supposed to be. That’s what it looks like when it’s done right. We don’t know what the scheme will look like, or how Williams will perform, or how much better the offensive line and run game will be to complement him, but the process is there.
Poles said that having a plan to develop the quarterback would be a critical part of the interview process. What does Johnson’s plan look like?
“I think it’s time on task,” he said. “It’s trust. I’ve already talked to Caleb. We’re going to have to spend a lot of time together. The play caller and the quarterback have to be integrated. The quarterback needs to be able to see the game through the play caller’s eyes. In my opinion, that’s the only way it works.
“And so we’re going to spend a lot of time together this springtime, certainly during training camp and we’ll be able to see how much headway we can make. But there’s already things that I’ve talked to him about that I’ve noticed in his game that I want to address and I want to go ahead and take a look at early and often here.”
Johnson certainly talked up Williams, but he wasn’t afraid to point out the rookie’s “up-and-down” rookie season or, albeit in general terms, discuss what he needs to work on.
That’s what Williams needs, and that’s what the Bears need.
A theme since Monday has been that the Bears landed Johnson. They won the contest for the most highly coveted coordinator available. And their quarterback was both a big part of it and the reason to think the Bears can start winning.
When Johnson was asked about the factors that “tipped the scales” in Chicago’s favor, he reiterated his confidence in the people in charge, their alignment and the “family atmosphere.”
But what about the quarterback, how about that factor? Johnson smiled.
“Having a quarterback helps.”
(Photo of Caleb Williams: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
