Chicago Bears coach Ben Johnson is obsessed with every detail, especially when it comes to his second-year quarterback Caleb Williams. And why shouldn’t he be.
The expectations around the new coach-quarterback duo in Chicago are sky-high. On one side you have a young, bright, offensive genius in Johnson and the other side it’s the former Heisman Trophy winner and No. 1 overall pick in Williams, who was labeled a “generational talent” coming out of the USC Trojans.
There was a moment during the 7-on-7 period, where Johnson got on Williams when was late checking it down to the running back. Johnson was asked after Wednesday's practice how the former USC Trojans signal-caller has responded to his tough coaching.
“Awesome, he’s doing a great job, he’s very coachable,” Johnson said. “It’s like anything, it’s a new play so we’re just communicating what the expectations are and we want to see it show up on the tape.”
Johnson has been working during offseason practices to build up a franchise that has a history of being anemic on offense. They remain the only franchise in the NFL without a 4,000-yard passer or have a quarterback throw 30 or more touchdowns in a single-season.
The quickest way to flip the narrative is stressing attention to detail in every facet of the offense. Two weeks ago he stopped practice to demand a better alignment from tight end Cole Kmet.
“That’s just an example of Ben not letting up on those things and making sure everybody’s on the details,” Kmet said. “It’s funny, on that play with the alignment, I’m kind of cheating myself out of getting the ball the way I was aligned."
“So afterwards, he’s kind of joking. He’s like, ‘I was trying to get you the damn football.’ … I mean, he’s not just yelling at you because he doesn’t like you. He wants things right, and he wants to win, and he knows that’s what you have to do. And I think guys have been really receptive to that so far,” Kmet continued.
Last week, he stopped practice again and made the offense huddle up again after they were slopping coming out of the break. Johnson got on Williams and made him restart the process.
“There’s a certain way that the play needs to get communicated in the huddle,” Johnson said. “There’s a certain way that the break should sound around us that means we’re ready for business and we’re ready to get going. And if it doesn’t sound that way, then we’re just not going to allow practice to go south. Fatigue is something that we’re going to combat. The longer practice goes, the more fatigued guys get and the mental toughness has to come through still doing the little things correctly.”
The Bears completed day two of mandatory minicamp on Wednesday, where they focused on situational drills in 11-on-11 situations. It’s been a steady progress on offense.
“Really everything that had been installed over the last few weeks was up, and we’ll see the tape to see who handled it and who didn’t,” Johnson said. “Some guys (did) better than others. You could tell out there. But it was good to see. It felt more like football even though we don’t have the pads on.”
Johnson offensive coordinator Declan Doyle and quarterbacks coach J.T. Barrett have been working with Williams over the past month to improve his game, both physically and mentally. Williams has changed his stance in the shotgun, he went from having his right foot up to now having his left foot up.
They have been showing Williams film of Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford to improve his pre-snap procedure and preaching better body language, something that was a concern coming out of USC and evident during his rookie season.
Chicago will wrap up mandatory minicamp on Thursday, June 5. The official start date to training camp will be announced at later date but will begin sometime in late July.
