People Miss Why Caleb Williams And Ben Johnson Are A Great Pairing

Some were skeptical when Ben Johnson was hired as the new head coach of the Chicago Bears. While they didn't doubt the former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator is one of the sharpest minds in the game, they had reservations about whether his style of offense would fit Caleb Williams. Johnson ran a more classic pro-style system with lots of work under center. Williams made his name in more new-wave schemes built around shotgun and spreading the field. Some aren't sure the two can mesh.

Johnson isn't worried about that. He is confident he can build an offense that fits Williams' play style just fine. His offense in Detroit was never "his" preferred type. It was merely the one that fit Jared Goff best. A better way to look at this is through tendencies, and there is one thing Johnson does that should work wonders for Williams. Johnathan Wood of Da Bears Blog pointed it out in a recent column.

Johnson is perhaps the greatest champion of play action in the NFL.

His accuracy and completion percentage both improved a bit, and his yards/attempt with play action took a huge leap, when he used play action. To be fair, his accuracy was still sub-par in both samples, but better is still better, and the yards/attempt went from one of the worst without play action to around average when play action was used.

Williams also had fewer turnover-worthy plays and a steady sack rate on play-action plays, meaning there was basically no downside to using him in a heavy dose of play action.

Given that, it is infuriating that Chicago’s collection of offensive coordinators called play action only 17% of the time last year, one of the lowest rates in the league.

Smart offensive play callers understand that play action makes QBs better and use play action at a high rate. Chicago’s play callers last year were not smart, but Ben Johnson, Chicago’s new head coach and offensive play caller, definitely is. Jared Goff, Johnson’s QB in Detroit, utilized play action on 37% of dropbacks in 2024, the highest rate in the league.

Caleb Williams didn't get much help last year.

The Bears were 25th in rushing last season, and that was with him adding 489 yards of his own. It is criminal that the coaches only had him throw 85 passes off of play action despite constantly getting harassed by pass rushers. Meanwhile, fellow rookie Bo Nix threw 117 passes off play action, showcasing how smart head coach Sean Payton was at protecting his young quarterback. It probably isn't a coincidence he had more touchdowns (29), a higher passer rating (93.3), and was only sacked 24 times.

Johnson hopes to create a similar climate for Caleb Williams. First, he wants to run the ball. Each of the Bears' big additions on the offensive line is geared toward that. Next is beefing up the running back room, which will likely happen in the draft. Once done, the play action game should be far more deadly for Chicago. If it works as intended, Williams won't be nearly as easy to stop.