At some point during the offseason, coach Ben Johnson said, almost every single [Bears](https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears) player has walked into a coordinator’s office — or that of the new head coach — and said they wanted to be coached with intensity.
“The great ones, they want to be coached hard,” Johnson said. “That’s really the assumption we’re making with all these guys.”
This is the time of year when the coaching staff can see who means it.
That includes quarterback [Caleb Williams](https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears/2025/05/23/bears-caleb-williams-ben-johnson-quarterback-ryan-poles-best-left-foot-forward-nfl), who is in the midst of his second week of voluntary OTA practices with the new head coach.
The Bears will open practice to the media again Wednesday and it’s unclear whether Williams will go to the podium to answer what has become the Bears’ looming offseason question. It’s up to Williams will explain the report that he wanted to be drafted by the Vikings — and that he and his father debated whether or not to trash the city of Chicago to get there. He’ll also have to answer — eventually — just how happy he is in Chicago after a rookie season that saw he and his father Carl’s biggest fears come true.
On the field, he’s likely just as uncomfortable as he will be whenever he answers those questions. Johnson is not afraid to make his players uneasy during practice. He showed as much last week, barking loudly at tight end Cole Kmet for lining up in the wrong spot. Asked how typical showing such agitation was, Johnson smiled, saying that he thought that was normal.
“Everyone seems to be really intent, intense and focused,” guard Joe Thuney, who won Super Bowls for the Chiefs and Patriots, said last week.
That wasn’t the case last year. After only three games, the Bears’ leadership council met with offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and practically begged him to coach them with more intensity and hold players accountable for their mistakes.
It’s only May — but they’re not asking that question anymore.
“We’ve got really good teachers here, and we got people that hold people really accountable — like Ben,” special teams coach Richard Hightower said. “He don’t mess around.”