“Bears fans believe in Ben Johnson (and Caleb Williams), and most importantly, the team believes in him"
A trip to the NFC Championship is on the line when the Los Angeles Rams take on the Chicago Bears in the Divisional Round. The Rams haven’t won at Soldier Field since 2003, and are 3-2 against the Bears under Sean McVay.
Before both teams freeze their keisters off in the Windy City, I spoke with Bill Zimmerman from Windy City Gridiron to gain some insider knowledge on Ben Johnson, Caleb Williams, Chicago’s insane comeback ability and more.
Q – From taking his shirt off to give Chicagoans free hot dogs to guiding the Bears to an NFC North title, Ben Johnson has changed the culture during his first season in the Windy City. Could you dive deeper into what Johnson’s impact has meant to the Bears’ organization and the city of Chicago?
A – This is certainly nothing we’ve ever seen in Chicago. Not only has Ben Johnson changed the culture in the locker room, but he’s changed the culture in the city. Chicago is a Bears town. When the Bears are good, it’s like nothing you’ve seen anywhere else. The issue is, the Bears haven’t truly been consistently good since the 1980s. They had a few years of solid success, including a Super Bowl appearance, but they weren’t true contenders with the likes of Rex Grossman at quarterback.
Bears fans believe in Ben Johnson (and Caleb Williams), and most importantly, the team believes in him. He coaches them hard. This isn’t a country club atmosphere at Halas Hall. You show up early, and you show up to work. You have to understand, most of the players on this Bears team really didn’t understand how to win at the NFL level. There weren’t any players on the team that were old enough to have been here the last time the Bears had a winning record (2018), and even a lot of the veterans that were here weren’t guys that came from winning clubs (DJ Moore experienced his first winning season this year since high school). Ben Johnson had to show this team how to be winners. He did so, establishing a strong work ethic, establishing accountability among the coaches and players and an extreme attention to detail to make sure everything is being coached to limit mistakes on the field.
Q – Caleb Williams has seemingly proven to be the long-awaited answer at quarterback that Bears fans have been longing for. Williams set the franchise’s single-season passing record, yet had the worst completion percentage among qualified passers who’ve started all 17 games at 58.1%. Where has Williams grown the most this season under Johnson and where must he improve?
A – Caleb Williams does throw an errant ball more than he should on the gimmes. That’s something he definitely needs to improve upon to help elevate his game to the next level. I think Bears fans are confident that he will improve and that will continue to elevate his game. Most of us think the completion percentage is overrated and that Caleb may continue to have a lower percentage than most quarterbacks because of how they attack the field. Ben and Caleb hunt for explosives. They throw the ball down the field a lot. So I don’t worry too much about the completion percentage, I would rather look at yards per attempt that gives you an idea of how much success they are having per throw. Caleb’s Y/A on the season was 6.9, which is too low and needs to improve, but significantly up from the 6.3 he had as a rookie. In his last 5 games, his Y/A is at 7.6, which would put him in the top ten in the league when you look at the season leaders. The box score scout will see Caleb only having a 50% completion percentage in the game against Green Bay, but they also had nine explosive pass completions. This is a far different passing attack than the high completion/short yardage passes most offenses focus on these days.
There has been improvement in a lot of areas for Caleb. His sack rate plummeted this year. He has the lowest turnover rate in NFL history through a player’s first 1,000 attempts, and that’s what makes him so unique. He throws the ball down the field frequently but doesn’t turn it over. He’s also electric when he’s throwing on the move. I’m sure Rams’ fans have seen all the highlights over the last few weeks, including the fourth down throw to Rome Odunze last weekend that saved the Bears’ season and is one of the most athletic throws anybody has ever seen a quarterback make.
The strides this year have been impressive, and Bears fans are very excited about the direction things are headed with Caleb.
Q – Let’s talk comebacks, as Williams has led seven game-winning drives, most recently against the Packers in the Wild Card Round. How do the Bears keep pulling them off?! Bonus question: Why do you think they keep starting so slowly?
A – I wish I had a better answer as to why they start slowly. It’s frustrating for sure. They started great against the Philadelphia Eagles on Black Friday, and we all look at that game and go, why can’t we see more of that? But the early part of the games has been frustrating for sure.
The comebacks are amazing, and there is certainly a belief that Ben Johnson has instilled that they are never out of a game, but I do think it goes beyond that. It goes to coaching. I’ll use one example from the Packers Wild Card game. The Bears used a 3 WR bunch formation multiple times in the game. Each time they threw out of that formation, they did a WR screen or a quick slant, or something very short at the line of scrimmage. In the screen passes, DJ Moore was the lead blocker for Luther Burden on more than one occasion. On the game-winning touchdown to DJ Moore, the Bears came out in that bunch formation, Burden showed like it was going to be a screen, DJ showed block for a split second, the defense bit, came up, and Moore released behind them for the touchdown.
Everything Ben does is with purpose. He’s a brilliant play caller, and I think Dennis Allen is similar on the defensive side of the ball. I think they absorb as much information as they can through the first half or first three quarters and make the adjustments needed to help out their units, but also, it’s a coaching chess match, and in the fourth quarter, the coaches are putting their players in a position to succeed.
It also doesn’t hurt that Caleb Williams certainly seems to have the clutch gene because these crazy throws just seem to keep happening late in the fourth quarter.
Q – Chicago’s defense led the league with 33 takeaways. They are 9-0 when forcing two or more turnovers, and 3-6 when logging one or fewer. What should be the best gameplan for Matthew Stafford and crew against a very opportunistic unit?
A – I certainly have my concerns about what Stafford can do to this secondary. I think the Bears’ secondary is okay, and it would be very good if everyone were fully healthy. The biggest issue is how much they struggle generating a pass rush, and everyone knows you can’t let Stafford have all day to throw the football, or he’s going to destroy any defense.
I don’t think you can rely on getting turnovers against the Rams. The Bears will attack the football like they always do, but I think the Rams will hold onto it because that’s what the Rams do. I think the Bears need to find a way to get pressure on Stafford without bringing the house, but I think as long as Stafford has time, he’s going to be able to have success with short passes and the occasional explosive play as well, which the secondary can give up from time to time also.
Q – The Bears are an underdog for the second game in a row in these playoffs. What must they do to advance to the NFC Championship?
A – I don’t think the Bears can afford to fall too far behind the Rams. I understand the Rams let the Carolina Panthers back in the game last week and haven’t been firing on all cylinders the last few weeks, but I think with an MVP-caliber QB, an experienced team and a Super Bowl-winning head coach, you can’t fall behind 21-3 again and expect to win.
I think the Bears need to get off to a good start; they don’t need to have a lead early, but they need to make sure they keep it within a touchdown. I think the offense needs to have a big day. The run game didn’t click too well against the Packers last week. I would like to see them establish the ground game better and shorten the amount of time that Stafford and the offense are on the field. I think the Rams’ secondary can be exploited, so I do expect Caleb Williams to have some success in the passing game as well. This one feels like a shootout to me. Maybe the first one to 30 wins the game? It’ll be interesting for sure, but nobody is too concerned that the Bears are a home underdog. That’s been the case frequently throughout this season. A lot of people don’t believe in the Bears, and I think they like that that’s the case.
Category: General Sports
