George McCaskey couldn’t be more thrilled with the state of the Chicago Bears going into 2026. They’re coming off a division title and beat the Green Bay Packers in a playoff game. It was the perfect tribute to his late mother, Virginia McCaskey, who died in February of 2025. At the heart of that resurgence was quarterback Caleb Williams and head coach Ben Johnson. That pairing produced fireworks unlike anything Bears fans have seen before, including seven 4th quarter comebacks and the first top-10 offense seen in 12 years.
All signs to this point suggest the two have developed a strong relationship built on trust and like-minded thinking. Both want to win and are willing to do everything possible to make it happen. That should continue moving forward. However, if there is one thing we know about football, it is that big egos are always involved. Those egos tend to get hurt when they feel they’re not getting enough credit. So one must wonder how the Williams-Johnson dynamic will work if their success grows. Especially when McCaskey throws out quotes like the one he gave to ESPN.
The swagger, the “good, better, best” chants after wins, the trash talk all conspire to mold Johnson into the type of coach who epitomizes a city and fanbase that sense something special might be happening.
It’s why McCaskey describes Johnson in the simplest — and most reverential — way: “He’s the face of the franchise.”
George McCaskey inadvertently touched on an interesting subject.
Presuming the Bears’ success continues in the coming years, who will get the majority of credit? This is something that has soured relationships between coaches and quarterbacks in years past. Roger Staubach retired after the 1979 season in part due to ongoing issues with head coach Tom Landry over the team’s offensive success. Bill Walsh and Joe Montana grew distant with each other, even as they won a third Super Bowl in 1988, because of Walsh’s constant insistence on playing Steve Young.
By far the most famous breakup was that of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. Here were two men who won six Super Bowls, establishing themselves as the greatest QB-coach duo in history. Yet it reached a point where debates rose about who was more responsible for that success. It got to a point where Brady was tired of Belichick’s constant prodding and insecurity about it. That is why he left in 2020, signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. If the Bears reach that point where they achieve championship success, what happens if Williams or Johnson gets most of the credit?
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The Bears aren’t strangers to this.
They’ve had coaches and quarterbacks deal with fractious relationships before. Mike Ditka and Jim McMahon were famous for not getting along during their peak years in the 1980s. Jay Cutler and Lovie Smith had their disagreements about how the team should be operated during their four seasons together. We all know what happened with Mitch Trubisky and Matt Nagy. Truth be told, the Bears haven’t had a truly harmonious relationship between head coach and quarterback since George Halas and Sid Luckman in the 1940s.
George McCaskey has every reason to be thrilled with the relationship between Johnson and Williams going into their second season. What he said wasn’t meant as a slight to his young quarterback. Still, it did raise an uncomfortable topic that may become something more a few years down the line. We always talk about relationships weathering failure. Can the Bears’ most important one in years weather success? We’ll find out over the next few seasons.
