The most important marriage in the history of the Chicago Bears took place this February, when coach Ben Johnson inked his five-year deal and tied his head coaching future to second-year quarterback Caleb Williams. It's the most exciting coach-QB duo the Bears have ever fielded, and one that finally has a chance of actually working.
Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning explained why.
“What I’m excited about, Caleb is that Ben Johnson is his new head coach, he’s also the offensive coordinator and when your head coach is calling the plays, that means it’s gonna be the same system every single year and it’s just a great chance to have continuity and growth,” Manning said.
Yep. Continuity. Something the Bears haven't had with their last two first-round quarterbacks, Mitch Trubisky and Justin Fields.
Trubisky went from John Fox to Matt Nagy. Fields went from Nagy to Matt Eberflus. The goal is for Williams to be with Johnson for a long, long time.
“When you have the same system, it’s the same language every single year. Learning a new system every year is tough,” Manning continued. “And Ben Johnson, the other thing, he had a choice to go any place he wanted. He chose to go to the Bears, which arguably could be the toughest division in football. It tells you what he thinks about Caleb and about that team.”
Manning is spot on, which should come as no surprise. The good news for Williams is that he isn't entering his third or fourth season after a turbulent start to his career and being forced to change offensive coordinators or systems. Instead, he'll enter Year 2, which, in some ways, can be treated like a redo of his rookie year.
Williams will be rebuilt from the ground up by Johnson, who, as Manning noted, chose to align himself with Williams.
And, let's be honest: if Johnson fails, Williams fails, and vice versa.
Failure is not an option.
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