The tactic almost never works. Yet the Chicago Bears were about to try it for a third time. Drafting a quarterback under one coach, firing that coach, and hiring a new one had not done the organization favors. They drafted Mitch Trubisky, fired John Fox the next year, and hired Matt Nagy. That worked for one season, soured, and Trubisky wasn’t kept around. Nagy then drafted Justin Fields, only to be fired the next year and replaced with Matt Eberflus. That didn’t work either, but Eberflus was still allowed to oversee the drafting of Caleb Williams. Sure enough, that partnership was a fiasco, and the coach was fired midseason. Enter Ben Johnson.
Critics were furious. The Bears were treading the same path again, hiring a new coach who had no hand in drafting the quarterback. What if Johnson didn’t like Williams’ playing style? What if Williams didn’t like Johnson’s more pro-style system and notoriously intense coaching? It felt like a powder keg just begging for a match. Yet almost a year later, the two are in the playoffs with Williams operating like a top 10 quarterback. At some point, their relationship clicked. Williams was asked how it happened.
“The constant meetings, the constant communication, his consistency in who he is. He wasn’t on one day and off the next or on one week and off the next. That’s who he’s been. That’s how he’s going to be. So when you can sit back and realize that’s who somebody is, the respect, the trust, the loyalty grows, and then you go out there on the football field, and what he’s saying works and the plays work and the alignments and assignments, they work. That trust and loyalty starts to grow, and you build more of that, and then the bond and all of that starts to grow a lot more.”
Ben Johnson didn’t tell Williams. He showed.
That is often a mistake many coaches make. They tell players what to do without being able to back up their words with proof. Williams knew Johnson had a reputation for success in Detroit. However, coming to Chicago and duplicating it without Dan Campbell’s oversight had many skeptical. Williams was not the same type of quarterback as Jared Goff. Could the coach mold his system to fit what the Bears starter did best while also teaching him how to play the more traditional style?
The obvious answer is yes.
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Once Williams saw plays starting to cross up defenses, leaving receivers and rushing lanes open, he knew the Bears had the right guy. Ben Johnson had the expertise necessary to make Williams a star. What he needed was the trust and commitment to learn what was a complex and detailed system—the quarterback dove in headfirst. Now Williams has over 2,000 yards, 16 touchdowns, and two interceptions in his last nine games. The Bears are 7-2 in that slate.
