Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson set out a list of objectives for quarterback Caleb Williams last season. They were ambitious. It involved improving his footwork under center, upping his completion percentage, taking greater command of the huddle, and mastering pre-snap recognition of opposing defenses. All of this must happen while he’s trying to absorb a massive and complex new offense. It wasn’t a shock that Williams was a little uneven through the first several weeks of the season. However, things really started clicking in the second half.
He was probably playing his best football down the stretch. So when Johnson took to the podium for the start of training camp, he was asked what the goal was for his quarterback this time. Johnson had the answer ready, and it is something that is probably the final hurdle to Williams’ ascent to true elite status.
“He’s had two offseasons and one training camp so far, and a full season, obviously, to where he’s had a lot of the similar concepts repeat for him and now we’re at the point where he’s not thinking about the play call. He’s not thinking about the cadence, the motion, and all the jigamarole before the snap. Things are starting to slow down. And so what we need to see here in camp is that anticipation take it up a notch. I think with that, the coverage recognition gets taken up another notch.”
Lots of quarterbacks can find the open man and hit them. The problem is that this style of play requires an excellent offensive line to function at a high level. The truly great quarterback understands how to throw where their receiver will be. They know what routes are being run and what adjustments are made based on the coverage. The quarterback then throws the ball to a spot they expect the receiver to be. It’s almost impossible to defend when it’s clicking.
Ben Johnson knows the championship pedigree.
If you look at the past ten Super Bowl champions, the vast majority of the quarterbacks were at least very good in the anticipation department. Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, and Matthew Stafford can be called elite. Sam Darnold is very good. Nick Foles and Jalen Hurts aren’t overly good but benefited from great offensive line play, so it didn’t matter. Johnson doesn’t need a Harvard education to recognize reality. If you want to win championships in this league, you need a quarterback who can throw with anticipation.
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The good news is that Williams demonstrated signs of this capability last season. While it wasn’t always present, there were some key moments where he ripped some top-tier passes without a single pause in his drop. His game-winning touchdown to Colston Loveland in Cincinnati is one example. The trick is getting it to where he can do that by instinct. This is the challenging part for Ben Johnson since Williams is also so good at improvising outside of the offensive structure.
Williams is right on schedule.
Typically, quarterbacks don’t start manifesting legitimate anticipation until around their third or fourth seasons in the league. This is supposed to be when they’ve gotten used to NFL speed and have a firm footing in whatever offensive system they’re part of. Williams is approaching that point. This will be his third season in the league and second in Johnson’s system. He should know all the basics by now and have begun taking the advanced courses. As things slow down, he’ll get much better at knowing where to go with the ball.
The other key is the receivers. Johnson didn’t hide his frustration with them after last season. Their route discipline wasn’t anywhere close to good enough. Too many miscommunications. Too many dropped passes. For all the talk about Williams’ improvement, no passing game can function as intended if the receivers are constantly making mental mistakes. So rest assured, the quarterback won’t be getting the harsh discipline alone. It will be team-wide.
