The Chicago Bears hired Ben Johnson as their next head coach in large part to mentor and develop quarterback Caleb Williams. Williams, drafted No. 1 last year and seen as a generational quarterback prospect, endured a rough rookie reason.
Over Williams's rookie year, his offensive coordinator and head coach were both fired midseason. He was sacked a league high 68 times last season—16 more than the next most-sacked quarterback—and was unable to find consistency during the year. Following the season, general manager Ryan Poles acknowledged that "steps were skipped" in Williams's preparation for his rookie season, and Williams's dad, Carl, said to Seth Wickersham of ESPN that his son told him nobody gave him guidance on watching film as a rookie.
In Johnson, Williams is getting a coach that not only provides stability, but is guiding him to take the next steps as a pro. While talking to reporters at the start of training camp Tuesday, Johnson detailed that he and Williams have talked all throughout the spring and summer, and have exchanged "constant" phone calls with each other.
Johnson also shared that he gave Williams "homework" to work on during the break between mandatory minicamp in June and training camp.
“He took some homework with him over the course of the summer and he’s come back ... we’ve noticed some improvements along the way," Johnson told reporters.
"Some of it was footwork, some of it was not necessarily homework, but helping guideline the offseason," Williams said to the media. "Get through the playbook 30 minutes, 40 minutes, an hour each day. There's 24 hours in a day, if you can't give up an hour or 30 minutes of your day to go over the playbook, you probably shouldn't be in the position. ... Homework-wise it was mainly the footwork and then some left short throws that in OTAs I was missing. Worked on those every single day that I threw, and worked on my footwork every single day I was out there."
Caleb Williams shares his offseason homework ‼️ pic.twitter.com/8US4vsilVE
— Bears on CHSN (@CHSN_Bears) July 22, 2025
This homework should ideally help Williams improve his fundamentals and play over his second NFL season. They could potentially also allow Williams to achieve some of his goals for the season—to complete 70% of his passes, become the first Bears quarterback to throw for 4,000 yards in a season, and lead the Bears to wins.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Caleb Williams Details 'Homework' Ben Johnson Gave Him Before Bears Training Camp.