In This Story
Buffalo Bills
Chicago Bears
Aug 18, 2025 11:17 AM EDT
Through most of his rookie season, Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams spent his postgame press conferences explaining what just went wrong. So, it must have been a relief following the Bears’ 38-0 thrashing of the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night for Williams to talk about what went right for once.
Yes, it’s preseason, but for the first time, we got to see Williams really flourish in new head coach Ben Johnson’s offense. The former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator was hired in part because his passing concepts and route spacings helped Jared Goff become more of an elite quarterback than most people ever expected, and Williams deserved a better fate after a 2024 season in which he had to wade through two different head coaches and three offensive coordinators.
Williams’ day wasn’t perfect — he completed six of 10 passes for 107 yards and a touchdown before backup Tyson Bagent took over — but he looked far more comfortable in Johnson’s offense than he ever did with the coaching musical chairs he had in 2024.
The first big play came with 14:10 left in the first quarter; the Bears wasted no time. On second-and-2 from his own 16-yard line, Williams took the snap, diagnosed the Bills’ coverage switch, and had it on lock with tight end Cole Kmet for an easy 29 yards.
Oops! We’re unable to load this content right now.
View directly on 𝕏
“They tried to, at first, show a 1-high and then the weak safety rotated back,” Williams said. “Cole saw it, did a great job seeing the middle of the field being open, and made the adjustment on the route. Other than that, just dropped back, threw a nice ball to Cole.”
Then, with 12:33 left in the first quarter, and the Bears pushed back to second-and-14 after a holding call on center Drew Dalman, Williams ripped a deep pass over to rookie tight end Colston Loveland for 18 more yards. Loveland navigated Buffalo’s Cover-3 like a veteran, and once again, Williams had the completion set up for success. This is where you started to see the benefits of Johnson’s abilities regarding routes all over the field, and how they can create clearer pictures for quarterbacks.
Oops! We’re unable to load this content right now.
View directly on 𝕏
The capper on the first drive came with 11:09 left in the first quarter, and the Bears at the Buffalo 36-yard line with third-and-5. Here, Johnson called a switch release with receivers Olamide Zaccheaus and Rome Odunze from the inside of trips right, and safety Cole Bishop was late to the party on Zaccheaus taking his route back inside. Another timing throw which Williams hit perfectly.
Oops! We’re unable to load this content right now.
View directly on 𝕏
“It’s been great,” Williams said of his chemistry with Zaccheaus. “That’s my guy on and off the field. I think on-the-field wise, what you all see mostly, but I think after practices, being able to get extra reps with him. Even if it’s not maybe physical reps, it’s mental reps of him and I just having open communication that I’ve talked about before with the wide receivers and where I expect him to be, how he runs this and all of that. I think it shows.”
More than the plays themselves, it was how comfortable Williams was in making the throws that were there for him in some iffy situations — backed up at his own 16-yard line on the Kmet catch, second-and-14 on the Loveland play, and third-and-5 on the Zaccheaus touchdown. A less conversant quarterback may have dumped down to easier throws, but Williams was in his element on that first drive.
Williams also learned from the stuff that didn’t work, which is important. His last pass came with 6:59 left in the first quarter; an incompletion to Odunze. Williams was hurried by a four-man pressure that looked like a six-man blitz pre-snap, and he missed Odunze outside as a result.
Oops! We’re unable to load this content right now.
View directly on 𝕏
“On that play, I think everybody did right except for me. I believe on that play, I ended up flipping the protection, and I didn’t have full belief. That’s what it comes down to. They had a blitzer come in an open gap and the back picked him up perfectly, did his job, and I didn’t stand and deliver the right ball. Took a few too many steps, retreated back, trying to gain a little bit of ground instead of standing there delivering the ball. Everybody did their job, all 10 guys, except for me, and that’s delivering the ball to Rome for the first down.”
Well, the idea in this offense is for the quarterback to get the ball out on time and in rhythm, so maybe don’t take too many liberties just yet.
With the standard preseason caveats in place, it’s important that Caleb Williams feels as comfortable as he does in this new offense. Not because it will automatically erase all the issues that came up in his rookie season — those that were on him and those that were not. More because it gives Williams a way forward that he had to struggle to imagine before.
“I would say so,” Williams said postgame, when asked whether he’s in a different place mentally now. “I think every year will be that for me. Being able to grow, being able to learn from everything. The good, bad, indifferent, from last year and years from now the years before. So, I think being able to have that mindset, being able to keep growing, keep learning and be the humble guy and keep learning, I think is the most important thing for me throughout the years.”
Progress is progress, and in the case of any Chicago Bears quarterback through the years, nothing is more important… and for the most part, more unusual!
About the Author
Doug Farrar
NFL writer, analyst