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Courtney Cronin
LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Chicago Bears coach Ben Johnson has a specific goal for quarterback Caleb Williams’ second NFL season, and it’s one that the team will begin to measure when training camp practices begin Wednesday.
“I told him I would love for him this season to complete 70% of his balls,” Johnson said. “So, you would like to think that over the course of practice that we’re completing 70% or more, or that’s hard to just magically arise in a game. It’s a lofty goal, but it’s one we’re going to strive for. Because of that, we’re going to use that as a benchmark and kind of work from there.”
Reaching the 70% threshold would require considerable improvement for Williams in the accuracy department. As a rookie, the 2024 No. 1 pick completed 62.5% of his passes (31st out of 36 qualified quarterbacks) for 3,541 yards, 20 touchdowns and six interceptions. That marked the fifth-best season by a Bears quarterback, but Williams’ completion percentage still fell below league average (65.3%).
In fact, only five quarterbacks completed 70% of their passes in 2024, including Jared Goff (72.4%), who had Johnson as his offensive coordinator since 2022. Only one quarterback crossed the 70% threshold in 2023: Cincinnati’s Jake Browning. No first- or second-year quarterback reached that mark in either of the past two seasons.
Lofty or not, it’s one of two specific goals that Williams also said he has for himself at the start of his second season with the Bears. The other? One that has never been achieved in Chicago.
“[Being] the first 4,000-yard passer in Bears history,” Williams said. “That’s a goal of mine. 70% completion, that helps the team, keeps [the offense] on the field, puts us in better positions. And then other than that, just trying to go down and score the most points that we can with each drive that we have. That’s kind of my self-goal, and obviously other than that you’ve got to go win. That’s success for me, that’s success for the team.
“That’s all we wish for and I wish for.”
Only four quarterbacks threw for 4,000 yards while completing 70% of their passes in 2024: Goff, Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow, Tampa Bay’s Baker Mayfield and Seattle’s Geno Smith. To help Williams take steps toward reaching those feats, Johnson sent the 23-year-old quarterback into the offseason with several objectives for training and guidelines to hone his preparation.
“Get through the playbook 30 minutes, 40 minutes, an hour each day, 24 hours every day,” Williams said. “If you can’t give up an hour or 30 minutes to go over your playbook, you probably shouldn’t be in this position. It was just small things like that. Homework-wise it was mainly the footwork and then some left, short throws that in OTAs [that] I was missing. So worked on that every single day that I threw and went through my footwork every day that I was out there as well.”
One main objective within those homework assignments is to help Williams cut down on the 68 sacks he took as a rookie.
While the Bears have improved the pass protection around Williams with the offseason additions of guards Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson and center Drew Dalman, along with a three-player competition at left tackle about to take place at training camp, the quarterback shoulders responsibility for avoiding unnecessary hits and aims to put his offseason training into action.
“Part of it is my footwork and that lining up with the play,” Williams said. “That helps accelerate the clock for me. The other part is being decisive, making a decision. And then the other part is taking what the defense gives me and not trying to find that big play every time, not being that young cat and wanting to go and get that big play, that big scramble play or anything like that. Sometimes that’s just a checkdown of the ball in the flat, or the second read that may not be something more than 5 yards.”
