Caleb Williams under microscope as head coach demands more than ‘flashes’ from QB1

Caleb Williams will be firmly under Ben Johnson’s microscope following his breakout second-season in the league.

The Madden 27 cover athlete enters the 2026 NFL season with high expectations, and an excellent review from his head coach Ben Johnson.

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“I mean, he’s got it all, Stacey [Dales]. There’s really nothing I don’t think he can’t do,” Johnson told reporters as the Bears reported to training camp.

“Elite arm talent, playmaking ability. Escapability. He has his legs that he can hurt a defense with. There’s just so many layers to who he is as a player.”

The 2025 season saw Williams prove why the Chicago Bears selected him No.1 overall in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Williams was mentally exhausted after his tumultuous rookie season, and some were concerned that this would translate to 2025 after his training camp performances.

However, when the regular season started, he quickly silenced his critics and took the Bears to uncharted territory.

Williams threw for a franchise-record 3,942 yards with 27 touchdowns, leading the Bears to an 11-6 record and their first playoff victory since 2010 – over their rival Green Bay Packers.

Head coach Ben Johnson turned the Browns from a 5-12 team to Super Bowl contenders in his first season in charge, and he wants to see Williams improve on his consistency 2026.

“I think that word consistency comes up over the course of a 60-minute game or more, if we need it, to where we’re playing high-level quarterback play throughout that game,” Johnson added.

“You see flashes of it, and yet we’re trying to tap into that where we’re just consistently delivering the ball to where it needs to go.

“Giving it to our guys around us, and then we all know that he has that ability to put on that Superman cape when the time calls for it.

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“He’s done a great job over the spring and summer, just looking at himself, body position-wise, from an accuracy standpoint, are my feet aligned to where I want to throw the ball?

“The ability to see where I should go with the football, to process a little faster, that’s where I’m hopeful that we see another step in terms of the processing speed.”

Despite the breakout year, Williams completed just 58.1 percent of his passes, which put him last in that specific ranking.

Top of that list was MVP runner-up Drake Maye, with the New England Patriots quarterback successfully completing 72 precent of his passes.

Williams is the centerpiece of Chicago, which enters the 2026 season facing the Carolina Panthers, Minnesota Vikings, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Jets to start a new year.

Johnson citied Williams as one of the main reasons that he swapped the Detroit Lions for the Windy City.

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While a completion percentage of 70 percent might just be to big of a target, Johnson certainly has the belief that his quarterback can do anything on the field.

With the team reporting back for training camp this week attention will also shift to preseason games against Cleveland, Cincinnati and Tennessee when Johnson will finetune preparations to go at least one better than last season’s run to the Divisional Round.

The Bears begin their season against the Panthers in Week 1 with all eyes on their QB1 and whether he can make another huge stride forward.