The Bears won the NFC North in Ben Johnson’s first season as head coach, with quarterback Caleb Williams showing plenty of progress throughout the season — culminating with his stunning fourth-down touchdown throw to force overtime in Sunday’s divisional round matchup against the Rams.
In his Wednesday press conference, Johnson told reporters that he feels like Williams demonstrated some traits to build upon in 2026. But Johnson also wants Williams to take some time for himself.
“We had a good exit interview. Just my main message to him was he needs to get out of football for a little bit,” Johnson said, via transcript from the team. “He’s done a phenomenal job in terms of staying focused all year long. He put a lot of time, a lot of effort. I thought he grew up as a professional. I thought his communication to the coaching staff grew. I thought his communication to his teammates grew. But we will certainly have a number of points of emphasis that he can dive into when he comes back this springtime. It’s important for really all of us coaches, players, support staff — we get away for a little bit. We hit the reset button. I think everyone needs that here at this point.
“The things that we highlighted for Caleb to start the season, I did think they improved as the season went along. We revamped the footwork a little bit last spring, and I think the comfort level grew from that. He certainly got more comfortable with the concepts that we were running over the course of the season. That’s something that we can build upon, and yet there’s still a lot more that we can push through in that regard. And so, I’m really encouraged about the steps he took this year. I’m Caleb Williams’ No. 1 believer. I have a lot of faith in him, what he’s capable of doing, and the player that he’s still striving to become.”
Williams completed 58.1 percent of his passes for 3,942 yards with 27 touchdowns and seven interceptions in 17 regular-season games. In the postseason, he completed 52.2 percent of his throws for 618 yards with four touchdowns and five interceptions.
