Caleb Williams reboot? ESPN expert raves about Chicago Bears’ offensive facelift

Here in 2025, new head coach Ben Johnson will be concocting the game plans (phew!), and one of ESPN's top football minds is super-optimistic.

Dollar Bill

In his team-by-team breakdown of the NFC’s offseason moves, ESPN NFL guru Bill Barnwell pegs the Bears offense as a unit that will put up a goodly number of points, especially if, as he predicts, they incorporate play-action passing into their playbook, citing Johnson’s offensive coordinating in Detroit as precedent:

“In 2024, Detroit's Jared Goff threw just under 36% of his attempts with a play-fake attached, the highest rate for any quarterback. Caleb Williams and the Bears, meanwhile, used play-action on only 18.5% of their dropbacks, which was the league's third-lowest rate. Johnson leaned into play-action to make Goff's life easier, using those fakes to create throwing lanes and vertical space for all the dig and other in-breaking routes Goff throws so well”

That said, Barnwell is a tad concerned about whether Chicago’s revamped offensive line can roll with the plan:

“Of course, a great play-action game isn't as simple as importing a playbook. The Lions had excellent tackles in Taylor Decker and Penei Sewell. The Bears did not have excellent tackles last year, and for all they did on the interior, the only tackle addition they made is second-round pick Ozzy Trapilo. Can the edges hold up long enough for Williams to turn his back, get to the end of his dropback and identify where the ball needs to go without being pressured?”

Great question, Mr. Barnwell, but I think we can all agree that thanks to the new playbook and improved O-line, at the very least, Caleb won’t eat nearly as much turf as he did in '25.

And that’s a huge W.