Chicago Bears could ‘scale back’ offense amid frustrating progression of Caleb Williams

Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson is not seeing the development he wanted by the end of the preseason. The first-year head coach was frustrated by Caleb Williams and the first-team offense having the same issues pop up that they had at the beginning of training camp.

“Offensively, the first two possessions was really sloppy football that has plagued us in and out of camp so far, and unfortunately that’s what we got here tonight,” Johnson told reporters after the game, via Courtney Cronin of ESPN. “It is disappointing to me offensively for sure. I thought that we had worked our way out of that.”

The Chicago Bears offense didn’t look right on Friday night

The Bears first two drives ended in punts. Williams had a fumble and Colston Loveland had a false start on the first drive. A bad sack taken by Williams took the Bears from a 2nd-and-three to a 3rd-and-eight before a four-yard pass set up Tory Taylor for his second punt of the night.

Williams and the offense struggled with the presnap early in training camp. The second-year quarterback has been inconsistent as a passer, which was shown Friday night until the Chiefs put in their second-team defense. The 2024 No. 1 pick finished 11-of-15 passing for 113 yards and a touchdown.

Johnson wants the Bears to start faster on offense and defense. The defense gave up 17 points in the first three drives captained by Patrick Mahomes.

Ben Johnson is looking to “scale back” the offense

Per Cronin, Johnson will determine if he needs to “scale back” the offense based on the progress he’s seeing from his first unit this month.

“And to be honest with you, we might have to ebb and flow a little bit after that opening game,” Johnson said. “Usually it’ll take up until the bye week. I think it’s placed at just the right time (Week 5) to really identify who we are and what we’re going to be for the rest of the season.”

The Bears are proving to be a bigger challenge than Johnson had anticipated. Williams isn’t where Jared Goff was with the Detroit Lions in 2022. Goff had been in the league six years prior to Johnson being the offensive coordinator in Detroit.

Of course, the Bears have another issue with their development. With Johnson assuming head coaching duties, first-time offensive coordinator Declan Doyle is taking on a larger role in the team’s progress, especially when the regular season begins.

Expect a bumpy ride in September.

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