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WGN Chicago
Ben Johnson: Repetition will lead to precision for Caleb Williams
- Story byWGN Chicago
- Ben Johnson: Repetition will lead to precision for Caleb Williams
LAKE FOREST, Ill. ( WGN ) — On the second day media could lay their eyes on Chicago Bears mandatory minicamp, Ben Johnson's attention to detail was on full display, and the new Bears head coach offered some insight on the progress Caleb Williams has made.
From the get-go, Johnson's command of Bears practice this offseason has been a stark departure from how some of his predecessors have handled business. Any time a player has been caught out of position, running the wrong route or blocking the wrong man, he's blown the play dead and had everyone run it back from the beginning.
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Johnson was asked if that's a trait he's inherited from past head coaches he's worked under—whether it be Dan Campbell in Detroit , or Joe Philbin and Adam Gase in Miami . From his perspective, the trait has developed more from the football he's seen played on the field, as opposed to learning from his superiors.
"I don't know. I've probably seen more bad football than I've seen good football over my time in this league," Johnson said with a laugh. "It's trying not to make the same mistakes as the people I've been around, maybe in the past, that I perceived as mistakes. I don't think you can let things slide.
"I think offensive football is about precision. It's a constant communication of what that should look like. When they hit the mark, we love them up, and when we fall short, then we have to let them know so that we get it better."
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Wednesday's action at Halas Hall saw Johnson and his staff work everything from situational drills to unscripted plays, with 2- and 4-minute drills sprinkled in between. "It felt more like football," according to Johnson, who said they'll have to review the tape afterward to see who's outperforming the pack.
At this point in the offseason, Johnson described the defense as the better unit when going head-to-head with the offense—a theme that was also common last year under Matt Eberflus—but the offense and Williams were able to "stack some plays" Wednesday that highlighted the type of quarterback Johnson thinks he can become.
"I know you haven't been to every single OTA so far, but I would say the defense has gotten the better of the offense more often than not in all of those two-minute [situations], whether it's end-of-half or end-of-game," Johnson said. "So, it was good to see the offense stack a few plays together. That's a very tough situation. I think it was 90-plus yards in under a minute with no timeouts, so it was cool to see them stack some plays.
"Caleb, what we thought about him was, when the lights are bright, that he was going to show up. It felt like the game slowed down a little bit for him, and he was able to just go out and find an open guy and get a completion. That was good to see."
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At face value, Williams' rookie stat line was quality, compared to the average Bears quarterback over the decades. The former USC Trojan finished last season 351-562 (62.5%) for 3,541 yards and 20 TD passes to just six interceptions.
Where he struggled was deep ball accuracy and taking sacks—the latter not being entirely his fault though.
According to Pro Football Focus , Williams finished second-to-last among NFL quarterbacks in deep ball completion percentage (passes that traveled 20-plus air yards) at 26.7%, ahead of only the Indianapolis Colts ' Anthony Richardson (26.0%), among QBs who hit the 50% threshold for deep pass attempts.
Williams' deep ball accuracy heading into next season was a topic of conversation on Wednesday. It's something Johnson believes comes with constant reps, and has experience helping with in years past.
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"Repetition. Repetition, repetition," Johnson said of how to improve Williams' deep ball accuracy. "I had that narrative in Miami when we drafted [Ryan] Tannehill in 2012, 2013. He struggled with the deep ball and you just keep focusing on it, you get close with your receivers. It doesn't matter if you're throwing the ball deep, throwing it short, but it takes some time to develop chemistry.
"Once you get that done, then, usually, it becomes clockwork after that. The more repetitions that we get as a unit, the better off we're going to be."
Williams' last season in college suggests he's capable of finding his deep ball accuracy in the NFL too. In 2023, he finished fifth in deep ball completion percentage among FBS quarterbacks with at least 50 deep passes (53%) and second among the same group with 20.3 yards per deep attempt.
A deep ball completion percentage of 53% would have ranked second in the NFL last year, behind the Pittsburgh Steelers ' Russell Wilson (54%).
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As for the sacks, it's a stat that's been well noted. Williams was the NFL's most sacked QB last year at 68, a number that only David Carr exceeded in 2002 with 76 (in one less game played).
The best way to avoid sacks is to get the ball out quicker than the defense can get off the line of scrimmage. In order to do that, Johnson said he and Williams will "need to see the play the exactly the same" and execute faster than he did last season, which is still a work in progress.
ESPN's Courtney Cronin referenced a specific 7-on-7 play where Williams hit running back Roschon Johnson in the flat. According to Johnson, Williams was late and "needs to get there faster."
But at the same time, that play isn't representative of where Williams is at as a whole, but rather just an example of him still having room to grow. It's a challenge Johnson said his young QB has handled admirably.
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"Awesome. He's doing a great job. He's very coachable," Johnson said. "It's like anything, it's a new play so, we're just communicating what the expectations are and we want to see it show up on the tape."
When asked if today was the best he's seen Williams look so far this offseason, Johnson deferred to the tape and left a weather-themed pun as food for thought.
"Hard to say. You have to look at the tape to be sure about that, but it certainly felt like he had some good moments in there. Maybe we need just a little bit of drizzle every day and we'll pull out the best."
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