Ben Johnson has only been the head coach of the Chicago Bears for barely a year and a half. He doesn’t have any kind of legacy just yet. That takes time. What he does have is a reputation. It didn’t take long to realize Johnson is a driven man. His attention to detail and high standard of excellence became apparent from the first time he spoke to the media. He told players to get comfortable being uncomfortable. The man kept his word, putting the Bears through a grueling training camp, both mentally and physically. His reasoning was clear. If he could make the practices hard enough, games would become easy by comparison.
You can’t say it didn’t work.
The Bears went from 5-12 the previous year to 11-6, winning the division and beating Green Bay in the playoffs. It was characterized by a run of resilience few teams have ever seen, including seven 4th quarter comebacks. One would think that success might get Johnson to ease up on his approach, if only a little.
No such luck. Quarterback Caleb Williams can attest to that. He admitted to Kay Adams on her Up & Adams show that Johnson sat down with him this offseason and went through every single incompletion Williams threw last season. That is 281 passes.
🔥 Subscribe to the Untold Chicago YouTube channel to hear Chicago legends tell stories you’ve never seen in headlines — real moments, real experiences, straight from the athletes themselves.
Ben Johnson will not cut corners.
His objective remains to make Williams the best possible quarterback he can be. Last season was not good enough. The quarterback had the league’s lowest completion percentage (58.1%), and more importantly, the Bears didn’t win the Super Bowl. Johnson said his goal was to get Williams up to 70%, which he believes is the range necessary for true contenders. The quarterback fell way short of that mark, leaving a lot of plays on the field. The only way to correct that is by doing the homework to find out what went wrong.
Now, not all of those incompletions are on Williams. More than a few of them were throwaways, some were dropped passes, and some came from mistimed routes by the wide receivers. Make no mistake. Ben Johnson is just as committed to getting those cleaned up as well. His goal was to ensure Williams understood that there is a lot of room for improvement. Throwing for 3,941 yards and 27 touchdowns is a good start. The problem is it probably should’ve been well over 4,000 yards and 30 touchdowns.
Somebody has to keep Williams honest.
It would be so easy for a young player to get a big head after what happened last season. Williams had the best season of any quarterback in Bears history. He was an overtime away from the NFC Championship. He’s on the cover of Madden and reached #51 of the top 100 players in the league. Some guys would start thinking they’ve arrived. It falls on Johnson to humble his young quarterback, reminding him that, in the grand scheme of things, he hasn’t accomplished anything. This game is measured through trophies, like MVPs and Super Bowls. Williams has neither.
A great way to keep his mind focused on the right things is by giving him a painstaking reminder of his faults. Dragging him through every incompletion last season is a great way to do that. The quarterback may not like it, but Johnson doesn’t care. He needs Williams to understand that if he wants to catch Tom Brady, he’d better start preparing like Tom Brady. That means putting in the extra work. Never be satisfied. Don’t be afraid to confront your faults. Quarterbacks who do that tend to achieve greatness.
