It didn’t take long to realize Ben Johnson had no intention of easing Caleb Williams into anything this training camp. The new Chicago Bears head coach had a timeline in mind for his young quarterback and they would stick to it. That meant some tough lessons were coming. Johnson immediately threw huge portions of the playbook at him, expecting Williams to digest it as quickly as possible. However, it didn’t stop there. Things never go right all the time for quarterbacks. That isn’t how the sport works. Johnson had to find ways to prepare Williams for those off-script moments.
The first pop quiz came during a red zone period, when defensive coordinator Dennis Allen was told to blitz. Johnson wanted to see how the quarterback responded to free rushers. It didn’t end well, but it was an important lesson. Now, it sounds like the head coach hatched another dirty trick on Williams during a recent practice. The quarterback explained during his press conference on Thursday. Apparently, Johnson caused a malfunction with the communication equipment, forcing Williams to think without immediate help from coaches.
“We were marching down the field and the headset started going out on me and I got kind of frustrated. Ben came over to me after and he was like ‘Have a few plays in mind if that ever happens.’ That’s more of accountability to me and to this team and having a few plays that if the clock’s running down, headset goes out or it’s spiking or something – you can’t hear the play call – it’s a have a few plays, go out there and don’t go out there palms up and complain and things like that. Keep going.”
Johnson continues to show he understands Caleb Williams’ biggest flaws.
Last season, the Bears quarterback frequently failed to handle immediate pressure. Rather than getting the ball out fast, he’d resort to scrambling. Sometimes he’d Houdini his way out of it, but too often it led to sacks. Johnson had to teach him how to prepare for those situations. As for the communication issue, this likely stems from the fiasco on Thanksgiving last year when Caleb Williams failed to finish a drive in the final seconds that could’ve forced overtime against Detroit. Matt Eberflus drew most of the criticism for not calling a timeout, but Williams deserved additional blame for not having any solutions in mind. The resulting loss of critical seconds cost Chicago the game. Johnson’s uncanny memory and attention to detail now has the Bears quarterback prepared for that scenario as well.
