Ben Johnson Reacts To Caleb Williams’ Shocking Chicago Bears, Film Report

Caleb Williams’s father Carl spoke to Wickersham before the 2024 NFL Draft about the Bears and them taking his son. He also reportably told agents in the league he didn’t want Caleb to be with the Bears. 

“Chicago is the place quarterbacks go to die,” Carl Williams said to Wickersham before the 2024 NFL Draft. 

According to the book, Caleb around this time himself even had doubts about being able to succeed in Chicago, citing former Bears offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. Waldron, along with Bears coach Matt Eberflus, were fired midseason during Caleb’s rookie year.  

“Do I want to go there?” Caleb Williams said. “I don’t think I can do it with Waldron.”

After his final season at USC, Williams met with Kevin O’Connell and the Minnesota Vikings. It was a meeting that went very well, with Williams even telling his dad that he wanted to play for them. This would have involved a trade and the Bears were not going to give up, who they thought to be the best player in the entire draft class to a division rival. 

Caleb eventually decided that he wouldn’t be holding out and would go to the Bears, saying he could “do it for this team.” It was a rough rookie campaign for Caleb, who according to the book, told his dad that there would be times that he would be watching film by himself without any coaching instruction. 

“No one tells me what to watch,” Caleb Williams said. “I just turn it on.”

Dan Orlovsky, Ben Johnson Give Reactions To Caleb Williams Report

ESPN football analyst and former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky weighed in on social media about some of the early excerpts to come out of the book, such as the Bears allegedly not watching film with Williams during his rookie season. 

“No one taught him what to watch tape wise and how to?,” Orlovsky said. “If that’s true, what a complete joke and total failure by the staff for that young man…This infuriates me!”

It is stunning for a franchise to take a quarterback No. 1 overall and seemingly not put in their full effort to making sure he is in the best position to succeed. Hopefully for Williams and the Bears, this is a thing of the past. 

The Bears hired offensive guru Ben Johnson as coach this offseason. He will look to maximize Williams’ potential in Chicago. Johnson gave his own response on The Herd to the negative reports on the Bears and Williams.

“I don’t know what’s gone on prior to him joining the organization, but he is a very proud Chicago Bear, Johnson said. “He’s really excited to get to work right now and be the best version of himself for 2025.”