Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson stated from the beginning that one thing he would be with his players, above all else, is honest. Lying won’t make them better football players. Quite the opposite. That was especially true for quarterback Caleb Williams. Too many coaches are afraid to truly coach quarterbacks because of how much power that position holds over organizations. They try too hard to make guys comfortable and not hard enough telling them what they need to hear.
Johnson had no intention of making that mistake. So you can understand why Williams was initially uncertain about Johnson at first. He wondered if the coach didn’t like him because of how ill-tempered he could get. However, it didn’t take long to realize that Johnson was merely holding him to a high standard. Good enough is not good enough to him. He wants perfection and isn’t afraid to demand it. Williams and the offense got a taste of that wrath after a recent practice. Dan Pompei of The Athletic was fortunate enough to be in the room when it happened.
Ben Johnson did not let Williams skate by from a bad mistake.
Then he gets to the Stevenson interception of Williams that bothered him in the meeting. He raises his volume and spits his words.
This is a different Ben Johnson than you’ve ever seen.
“I fucking hate this clip. More than anything. All right? I fucking hate it. It’s not what we’re about. All right? It’s a shit play. He’s not open, all right? It’s a bad interception. And what I see, I see fucking 11 guys moping. That’s what I see. Someone tell me I’m wrong. Anybody in the room? The one guy that’s closest to the football at the end of the play is our 33-year-old guard. There should be 11 guys in the fucking frame right now.”
Somehow, his delivery is both calculated and from the heart, and it shakes the room.
Williams needs to hear that, and keep hearing it.
The moment Johnson stops reminding him about careless interceptions is the moment Williams starts throwing them more often. That cannot happen. Not if the Bears aim to win the Super Bowl. The quarterback has said he’s not a pick guy. This is true. His 13 interceptions through his first two seasons are the lowest rate of any quarterback in NFL history. Still, that doesn’t mean Johnson will stop letting him have it when he throws bad ones. You must always, always be smart with the football.
Chicago’s head coach has never proclaimed himself passive in his approach. He promised to coach Williams and his players hard. What we probably didn’t fully grasp is how much he undersold it. That singular moment Pompei caught is probably what the Bears get on a weekly basis. That is not to say Ben Johnson is a strict disciplinarian. He praises guys when they earn it, and finds creative ways to entertain them. No coach gets away with nothing but criticism for long. He’s smart enough to know that.
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Johnson knows he is doing the right thing.
If you follow the track record of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history, most of them worked with coaches who were both smart and not afraid to criticize. You saw it with Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, Bill Walsh and Joe Montana, and Tom Landry and Roger Staubach. Those three quarterbacks have openly said how difficult it was to play for those coaches during their careers. At the same time, all admitted that the tough love approach made them better players. Williams has acknowledged the same.
This has nothing to do with having a power trip. Johnson wants to win. He believes, based on years of experience, research, and personal belief, that he must maintain a firm hand with his players. While all of them are adults, the fact is that most locker rooms can’t police themselves. They’re too big with too many different personalities. It falls on the head coach to set the standard and deal out consequences to those who don’t meet it.
