Ben Johnson has been clear-eyed and straightforward throughout his first season as Bears coach, especially with quarterback Caleb Williams. And while he’s seen a lot he’s liked so far, he spoke up Monday about one of his team’s biggest red flags: Williams absolutely must play better for the Bears to have a chance in the playoffs.
Johnson told the truth about the passing attack, which ranks 16th in the NFL with Williams checking in at 22nd in passer rating, and while there’s plenty of blame to share, it starts with the quarterback.
“We’re winning in spite of our passing game, not because of it,” Johnson said. “And none of us are pleased with that right now.”
That was at the end of a long answer to a question about Williams’ throwing accuracy — he has a league-low 58.1 completion percentage — as Johnson highlighted issues across the board.
He seemed to brush off Williams going 17-for-36 in the victory over the Eagles on Friday because it was unusually windy, but had broader concerns to address as the Bears move forward to a game at the Packers on Sunday and said, “It’s all hands on deck for us to clean up this passing game to make it more of a weapon.”
Johnson said the passing offense as a whole has “got to be fundamentally correct.” Williams needs to be decisive and accurate when the primary receiver pops open. The staff drilled down on route precision Monday because receivers’ depth and timing have been off sometimes.
“Ben keeps bringing up the issues, and guys take the coaching really well,” tight end Cole Kmet said. “Facing those things head on is the only real way that you’re going to get it fixed.”
Johnson consistently has said he likes the way Williams is seeing the field and going through his progresssions. His operation of the offense, including everything from breaking the huddle and handling pre-snap motions, was a mess in training camp, but has improved. He frequently has pointed to subtle aspects of growth even if it hasn’t shown up in Williams’ statistics.
Throwing accuracy remains the biggest hindrance, though. Pro Football Reference charted 62.1% of his passes as on target, which ranks 32nd out of 32 qualifying quarterbacks. In fairness to Williams, it also counts 18 dropped passes by the Bears, which is the sixth-most.
Accurate passes that not only hit the receiver in stride but lead him to additional yards are essential for Johnson. Before the season, he set a goal for Williams to complete 70% of his passes.
In Johnson’s three seasons as Lions offensive coordinator, quarterback Jared Goff completed 68.1%, so that’s what he’s expecting. Williams hasn’t hit that number in a single game this season.
He completed 63.4% of his passes over the first three games, but has been at 56.4% since. He doesn’t necessarily need to be completing 70% this soon, but he’s not even trending the wrong direction. He posted passer ratings of 98 or better in three games in which he completed fewer than 60% of his passes, offsetting his misses by making big plays to average 7.8 yards per throw, but inefficiency is unstainable.
The Packers are about to test it. They’re eighth in the league in total run defense and allow just 3.9 yards per carry. It’ll be very difficult for the Bears to run all over them like they did against the Eagles.
That means Williams will have to step up and beat a defense that has allowed the sixth-fewest passing yards (186.5 per game) and 12th-lowest passer rating (89.3).
The last time the Bears stacked up wins “in spite of” their passing game was 2018, and that quickly unraveled, both in the playoffs and in the big picture. Williams is the key to vaulting them to the next level, and the sooner it clicks for him, the more dangerous the Bears will become.
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