Johnson on Caleb Williams' impact in wanting to coach the Bears |
CHICAGO - Typically, a team coming off a five-win season that included a 10-game losing streak is not an appealing option for a head coach prospect like Ben Johnson who had multiple options.
However, Johnson found Chicago’s roster to be appealing, especially quarterback Caleb Williams who is coming off his rookie season. “This roster is absolutely loaded with talent already and I look forward to building it with (general manager Ryan Poles),” Johnson said. “Everyone wants to talk about the quarterback and Caleb. I’m excited to work with (him), but it’s going to take more than just (him) and there are a lot of pieces already in place and I can’t wait to get to work with the rest of (the team).” There were five other teams still looking for a head coach when Johnson signed his deal with the Chicago Bears. However, the quarterbacks for some of those teams are unknown such as the New York Jets and Las Vegas Raiders. Because Chicago found their quarterback of the future last year and he showed a lot of potential, this separated the Bears from the other teams. “Modern football in the NFL is quarterback-driven. That is no secret. You can look at analytics. Right now, quarterback success is a higher predictor of winning and losing than turnover ratio, which it’s been for 20 plus years. That’s changed. So, there’s no doubt Caleb played a large component into my decision,” Johnson said. “He is a phenomenal challenge that had, as many quarterbacks do, an up and down rookie year. Where I see my role is as a supporter of him. This offense will be calibrated with him in mind. We’re going to build this thing. This is not simply a dropping of a previous playbook down on the table. We’re ripping this thing down to the studs and we’re going to build it up with him first and foremost and then with the pieces around him next. I really look forward to challenging him and pushing him (to) continue to grow and develop.” The relationship between a quarterback and their play caller is essential for a successful offense. That is something Williams was lacking with Shane Waldron when he was the offensive coordinator. It seemed better with Thomas Brown as the play caller before he was promoted to interim head coach, but still not great. This is something Johnson seems to be working on right now and focused on going into spring training, so there is promise this relationship could be better next year. “The play caller and the quarterback have to be integrated. The quarterback needs to be able to see the game through the play caller’s eyes. In my opinion, that’s the only way it works and so, we’re going to spend a lot of time together this spring time,” Johnson said. “Certainly during training camp, we’ll be able to see how much headway we can make. But, there’s already things I’ve talked to him about that I’ve noticed in his game that I want to address and I want to go ahead and take a look at early and often here.” No matter how much chemistry there is between Williams and Johnson, that will not do a lot of good if the offensive line does not improve. That is something Johnson identified right away and is focused on developing a plan to improve the offensive line unit. “I think offensive line is certainly an area that we need to get better play from going forward, something that Ryan and I have already talked about. We will develop a plan of attack for how to get that done,” Johnson said. “But, I’m looking forward to getting an excellent offensive line coach into the building to help develop the young talent that we already have on the roster and we will certainly talk about acquiring talent to bolster that unit as well.”
