Bears' Caleb Williams receives praise for making noteworthy practice decision

While the Chicago Bears wrapped up their mandatory minicamp last week, they continued to hold voluntary springtime workouts through Wednesday that were mostly for rookies and first-year players. 

As Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic pointed out, Bears starting quarterback and second-year pro Caleb Williams also participated in the team's final practices before its summer break. 

"He’s committed to learning the offense," first-year Bears head coach Ben Johnson said about Williams on Tuesday. "We’re not where we need to be yet as a team, and he understands that. Any chance he gets to get a few more full-speed reps, it sounds like he wants them."

Questions about Williams' dedication to the Bears arose after it was learned earlier this spring that he and his family looked into attempting to prevent the franchise from making him the first overall pick of the 2024 draft. Both Johnson and Williams have seemingly put that potential controversy behind them, and the 23-year-old is working on learning a new offense after he took a league-high 68 sacks as a rookie. 

"We’ve tried a number of different things: long play calls, multiple plays at the line. Tempo," Johnson said about what he and his staff have presented to Williams during practices. "We’ve dabbled here, there and everywhere really throughout the spring time, and some come a little bit more natural than others for him, but I do think we’ve seen him get better in really all facets. We’ll have to sit down as a staff before we leave and when we come back, just to make sure we’re honed in on what direction we want to go all together, but I feel pretty confident the things he’s put on tape that we can go ahead and get after it a little bit."

Williams' debut pro campaign didn't go as planned. Per Pro Football Reference, he ended the 2024 regular season ranked 31st in the league with a 46.7 adjusted QBR and 33rd with a 40.3 percent passing success rate. He suffered through a 10-game losing streak as the Bears fell to 4-12, and he also dealt with the in-season firings of offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and head coach Matt Eberflus. 

Chicago rookie linebacker Ruben Hyppolite II noted on Tuesday that Williams showed with his latest actions that he's a team leader who cares about winning and about improving as an overall player. While it's still early in the process, it sounds as if the Williams-Johnson marriage is in a good place ahead of the start of summer.