On paper, the idea made all the sense in the world. If you want your young quarterback to thrive, the smart thing to do is pair him with a sharp offensive mind as the head coach. The Chicago Bears had tried it with Mitch Trubisky and Matt Nagy. It had some early success. Unfortunately, the pair seemed to lose chemistry as the seasons went on, and the Bears’ hopes went with it. Some experts felt the Caleb Williams-Ben Johnson combination threatened to do the same because of the coach’s preferred style of quarterback play.
Williams was a world-class improviser, known for going off-script and making insane things happen. Johnson was far more structured, wanting everything to be run on time and in rhythm. Skeptics didn’t believe the head coach would have the patience to see if Williams could adapt to that style. Even the quarterback himself sensed early on that Johnson didn’t like him. He admitted this to the media during his press conference on Tuesday. It wasn’t the type of coaching he was used to.
Johnson gave Caleb Williams exactly what he needed.
There is a great quote from the Academy Award-winning actor George C. Scott when playing General Patton in the biopic of the World War II icon. When asked about the fact that several soldiers in his army hated him for his sometimes gruff leadership style, Patton merely shrugged.
“Damn it, I don’t want these men to love me. I want ’em to fight for me.”
That is essentially the approach Johnson took as head coach when he took over. His goal wasn’t to get the players to love him. That wasn’t important to the task. He wanted them to execute at a high level on the field. If that meant having to be tough on them, so be it. Caleb Williams would not get any preferential treatment just because he was the quarterback. Previous head coaches may have treated him like royalty because of his elite talent, but that doesn’t work in the NFL.
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The best head coaches hold everybody accountable, whether they are stars or not. Once Williams grasped Johnson’s methods, it became clear that he could reach new heights if he embraced the work. A few months later, the Bears are headed to the playoffs for the first time in five years. Williams delivered one of the most epic comebacks in franchise history against Green Bay. Their relationship appears stronger than ever.
