The Chicago Bears made a no-brainer selection when they took Caleb Williams with the 1st overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Williams was basically a unanimous #1 overall player in his class despite the fact that six quarterbacks ended up getting selected within the top 12 picks overall.
Despite his immense talent, Williams struggled in his first NFL season. He took way too many sacks and the Bears were rather dysfunctional, firing their head coach (Matt Eberflus) in the middle of the season for the first time in franchise history. And the Bears are one of the oldest franchises in professional football.
Williams is expected to make a massive jump in his second NFL season, and for good reason. He's obviously a tremendous talent, but the Bears have surrounded him with weapons, they've upgraded the offensive line, and most importantly, they've hired head coach Ben Johnson.
Johnson was an absolute wizard with the Detroit Lions and maximized every player on his roster. He's going to be tasked with helping Williams in an interesting way that might be rather concerning to Chicago Bears fans.
Caleb Williams addresses film-watching fiasco, reassures Bears fans
There was a statement Williams apparently made to his father last year about how no one was telling him "what to watch" on film, and he laughed off the statement saying that it was taken out of context.
Williams noted that it's not that he doesn't know how to watch film, but he explained that nobody was giving him direction in the best way to study the film, how to efficiently use his time, and pick things up better.
It's fair for him to say that, too.
The Bears fired their offensive coordinator (Shane Waldron) in the middle of last year and shook things up. You had a coaching staff full of people who were obviously focused on the task at hand, but they clearly were struggling with being mindful of the future at the expense of the moment.
Williams, as talented as he is, undoubtedly needs help -- just like any young quarterback -- learning how to efficiently watch film and how to break it down at the NFL level. It's a different ballgame than when you're playing at Oklahoma or USC. It's a completely different job.
Nobody should be down on Williams for this, but it's concerning from the vantage point that there are many NFL teams out there with coaching staffs who have been put in position where they are their main priority, not player development. Williams's development wasn't being prioritized by the previous staff in Chicago because they were too worried about finding their own life preservers.
At least, that is one perception from the outside looking in. Now, Ben Johnson has been hired with the task of maximizing Williams because that will raise all boats in the harbor in Chicago. And if he can do that, he might be in line for NFL Coach of the Year.