How Bears' Caleb Williams plans to help offensive line after rough rookie season

Chicago Bears second-year quarterback Caleb Williams made it known on Tuesday that he wants to become the first 4,000-yard passer in franchise history. However, he likely won't achieve that goal if he continues to take beatings, as he did during what became a rough rookie season. 

Williams also discussed how he intends to help the improved offensive line during the upcoming campaign, specifically in avoiding unnecessary hits.

"Part of it is my footwork and that lining up with the play," ESPN's Courtney Cronin shared. "That helps accelerate the clock for me. The other part is being decisive, making a decision. And then the other part is taking what the defense gives me and not trying to find that big play every time, not being that young cat and wanting to go and get that big play, that big scramble play or anything like that. Sometimes that's just a checkdown of the ball in the flat, or the second read that may not be something more than five yards."

In December 2024, Williams accepted blame for taking "stupid sacks" that resulted in his offense "losing 10, 14 yards" in certain instances. In total, the first overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft was sacked a league-high 68 times last season. 

The Bears made numerous offseason moves with Williams in mind, starting with the hiring of advertised offensive guru Ben Johnson as their next head coach. The club later acquired guards Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson, along with center Drew Dalman. 

Per Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic, 2022 fifth-round draft pick Braxton Jones, rookie Ozzy Trapilo and second-year pro Kiran Amegadjie will spend the summer competing for the Bears' Week 1 starting left tackle job. 

Nevertheless, stats show Williams was to blame for far too many sacks last season. According to Pro Football Reference, he ended the 2024 campaign ranked 31st among qualified players in the NFL with a 46.7 adjusted QBR. 

Johnson and Co. hope that having Williams more prepared for games this fall will result in the 23-year-old reaching the expectations many had for him at this time last summer. 

"Get through the playbook 30 minutes, 40 minutes, an hour each day, 24 hours every day," Williams said about how he spent portions of the offseason. "If you can't give up an hour or 30 minutes to go over your playbook, you probably shouldn't be in this position. It was just small things like that. Homework-wise, it was mainly the footwork and then some left, short throws that in OTAs [that] I was missing. So worked on that every single day that I threw and went through my footwork every day that I was out there as well."

As of Wednesday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had the 2025 Bears at +160 betting odds to make the playoffs. Chicago opens the regular season with a "Monday Night Football" game against the Minnesota Vikings on Sept. 8.