Johnson-Williams experiment needs more time than Bears fans hope

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams. Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

Ben Johnson-Caleb Williams experiment may need more time than Bears fans hope

By Clark Dalton | Last updated Aug 3, 2025 6:57 PM ET

Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson and quarterback Caleb Williams may not deliver a high-flying offense in their first season together.

The coach admitted the unit needs work after Sunday's practice.

"Sloppier than we were hoping we would be at this point," Johnson said, via The Athletic's Kevin Fishbain. "We had a really good couple of practices over the last two, and then [it] took us a little while to get going and hear the pads clicking. I thought toward the end we picked it up and got pretty competitive here."

Not all of the session was awful. During a red-zone drill, Williams faked to wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus and tossed a short pass to tight end Cole Kmet. He subsequently scored a touchdown.

Ben Johnson casually cooking up a misdirection TD to Cole Kmet from Caleb Williams….2 guys are wideeeee open.

Gonna be a fun season in Chicago pic.twitter.com/NXLLP44lH2
— Chase Daniel (@ChaseDaniel) August 3, 2025

Several delay of game penalties, however, overshadowed the positive plays.

"It's something that we're going to have to address for sure," Johnson said of the pre-snap issues. "It showed up more today than it has in practice. This was more like a real game, and if it continues like that, we're not going to win many games."

The delay of game penalties are fixable, but they suggest Williams and company still aren't getting a grip on the new playbook. That shouldn't be a shock. The coach's system is complicated.

Johnson's offense emphasizes pre-snap motion and precise route running. When executed correctly, it produces impressive results. In 2024, the Detroit Lions scored the league's most points (33.2) when the coach was their offensive coordinator.

However, Detroit featured stars like wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and running back Jahmyr Gibbs. The Bears, meanwhile, went 5-12 last season.

Williams has said he wants to become the first QB in Bears history to eclipse 4,000 passing yards in a season while also completing 70% of his passes. The 2024 No. 1 overall pick may want to lower expectations.

The Bears offense still has to work out the bugs. It probably won't solve all of them before the team's season opener against the Minnesota Vikings on Sept. 8 at home.

Clark Dalton

Dalton is a 2022 journalism graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. He gained experience in sports media over the past seven years — from live broadcasting and creating short films to podcasting and producing. In college, he wrote for The Daily Texan. He loves sports and enjoys hiking, kayaking and camping.

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