Ben Johnson isn’t bothered by the Bears’ troublesome quarterback history, nor does he seem overly concerned about an upcoming book detailing Caleb Williams’ desire to avoid becoming a part of it before the 2023 NFL Draft.
Instead, the rookie head coach sees a chance to take the storyline and flip it on its head.
“I love it. I love the opportunity to come on in and change that narrative,” Johnson told reporters Wednesday. “That’s where great stories are written. So, we’re looking to write a new chapter here -- 2025 Chicago Bears -- and looking forward to the future.”
The narrative, posited ahead of the '23 draft by Caleb's father Carl in Seth Wickersham's American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback, is that Chicago is where quarterbacks go to die. It was a belief that led Caleb and Carl to explore ways to avoid the younger Williams being selected by the Bears at No. 1 overall, according to the book.
Such a power move never came to be, Caleb Williams was anointed the team's newest hope for a franchise-saving quarterback, and the 23-year-old, by all appearances, went through his rookie year acting the consummate professional.
But as seen in decades of tortured Windy City quarterback play before, Williams endured his fair share of struggles under center between a smattering of tantalizing displays of talent. He threw 20 touchdowns and just six interceptions, but he also missed far too many open throws, led the league in sacks taken with 68 and at one point lost 10 games in a row.
Chicago fired Williams' offensive coordinator, Shane Waldron, following a Week 10 defeat; head coach Matt Eberflus met the same fate after playing a part in bungling the end of a Week 13 loss.
Regardless of rookie hiccups, though, Williams still accomplished the fifth-best passing season in Bears history in terms of yards. He threw for 3,541.
His quick trip up the single-season leaderboard despite a rookie year in which he was overshadowed by multiple signal-callers from his class is representative of the history stacked against Williams and Johnson: The Bears, in existence since 1920, are the only NFL franchise that has never had a QB throw for 30 touchdowns or 4,000 yards in a season.
Whether it's over a century of statistics to peruse or simply what took place in Chicago last year, Johnson's only concerned with working in the present to secure a better future. Thus far, he's gotten every indication Williams is capable of being a key contributor in that objective.
“I wasn’t here last year, so I can’t speak too much in terms of what it was like before he got here and when he got here last year," Johnson said, "but from my four months on the job, he’s been outstanding to work with, and we just are focusing on getting a little better every day.”
Johnson was perhaps uniquely qualified among candidates in the most recent head-coaching cycle to help kickstart Williams' growth and snap Chicago's streak of quarterbacking woe. As Detroit's offensive coordinator from 2022-24, he helped rewrite Jared Goff's NFL story from Rams castoff to Lions hero, delivering three consecutive top-four scoring units while Goff averaged 4,547 yards and 32 touchdowns per season under his tutelage.
Could he achieve something similar with Williams?
If he does, any consternation over the QB's supposed pre-draft desires will soon fade, a footnote in a new Bears era like Williams hopes to make the team's TD-passing yards plateau.
“Have we talked about it?" Johnson said when asked if he felt obligated to speak to Williams about the recent story. "Yeah, we talked about it last week after it came out. But he’s his own man. He’s going to be treated as such. I think we’re both really looking forward to turning the page on years prior and focusing on the here and now.”