Ben Johnson Has Quietly Made An INCREDIBLE Move For The Bears

Ben Johnson Has Quietly Made An INCREDIBLE Move For The Bears

All right, let’s talk Chicago Bears. This is a Bears team that got off to a little bit of a slow start, but they have picked up the pace in their most recent victories, their last two wins, especially offensively and Caleb Williams. They’ve went through some injuries up front on the offensive line, but that hasn’t slowed down this offense. Certainly last week against the Raiders getting it done back-to-back really good days for Caleb Williams, but lost in the hustle and bustle of what the offense is doing and the performance on Sundays is an overall theme to what Ben Johnson, the Spears coaching staff, has done for this offense. And I think it’s the most important move he’s done yet and what he’s done with Caleb Williams and this entire team. We’ll get into that reporting in just one second. But first, I’m Nick. That is Andrew. And this is Saturday morning inspection. [Music] All right. When Ben Johnson was hired to be the Chicago Bears head coach, he was basically given a dual mandate. First and foremost was to revitalize the offense, right? Bring up his new schemes, his play calling, right? bring it into the 21st century, everything he did with Detroit. And the second part of that, and these two things are paired together, was elevate Caleb Williams, right? Jared Golf was a good quarterback, a quality veteran when Ben Johnson, of course, worked with him in Detroit. A little bit of a different animal when you’re talking about the supremely physically gifted Caleb Williams. I mean, Williams like like there’s a reason he was number one overall pick and and considered a superstar prospect, right? He’s up there with the Mahomes and the Josh Allens, in terms of Matthew Staffords, in terms of the raw physical talent. He has that kind of potential. Obviously, the the mandate on Johnson was to try and bring out the best in Caleb Williams while also revitalizing the entire offense in Chicago as a whole. And based on some recent data paired with what we see on Sundays, Ben Johnson has done incredible job in terms of speeding up how Ben John uh how Caleb Williams processes the game. Let’s get into some data right here to highlight exactly what I’m talking about. Courtesy from a report uh from the Bears Wire. Through the first four games this season, Williams has thrived when defenses bring a blitz. According to NextGen stats, Williams has the highest pass touchdown interception ratio 6-0 and pass rating 136.3 versus the Blitz this season. The stat is even more eye opening reflecting back on last season when the Bears offensive line allowed 68 sacks on Williams in his rookie year. But with new head coach Ben Johnson and an upgraded offensive line, Chicago’s quarterback has thrived. Yeah, let’s give a little credit to the offensive line. Obviously, they’ve had some injuries at tackle, but guys like Dolman and Jackson, they’ve done a good job. And when they’ve been healthy, I look at Darnell Wright’s been good. And even some of the the new guys, Benedict, Trapillo, they stepped up when the opportunities were there. So, so credit to the Bears offensive line for sure. Got to give the big guys up front their due. But I think it begins and ends with Ben Johnson and his work with Caleb Williams because I think one of the things that happens with young quarterbacks, you can blitz them because they haven’t process the game as fast as a veteran. If you look at the great veterans, the Brady’s, the Rogers, the Breezes, the Mannings of the world forever, right? They would always say, “Blitz me. I want you to blitz me because then I can see the picture and I can see the defense. I can see the holes because obviously you’re bringing a lot of guys at me and I’m a veteran. I can process this all quickly. I’ve seen this a thousand times before and I can just throw into the openings, right? It’s easy. With young quarterbacks, you want to bring the blitz because they haven’t processed the game quickly enough, right? They don’t have the rhythm. They don’t have the timing. You would especially think that would be the case with the Bears, right? They’ve got a lot of new pieces, right? You know, Odun’s second year. You got Luther Burton first year. Coulson Leland banged up but still first year, right? Ben Johnson first year head coach, right? Caleb Williams still a young quarterback. A lot of teams are saying, “Okay, we can bring the blitz and really confuse and befuddle this young quarterback.” And normally that’s the case. That’s a good strategy. That’s the right approach for a lot of these defenses. But what Ben Johnson has done working with Williams is that he in the context of his offense and his play calling and his development working with the staff of course has sped up how Williams has processes the game. He is processing the game and playing right now like a five, sixyear vet. That is the difference, right? When people look at Caleb William, Caleb Williams’ performance. They look at the incredible highlight throws and he’s had a couple of them, a couple fantastic ones. I go back to the Cowboys game as a great example. He had that flee flicker touchdown, which is one of the throws of the year by far. Totally under pressure, 70 yard dime down the field. Absolutely bonkers. What a play. And it was was a fantastic play. But I remember a different play later in the game where the Bears ran a bootleg and the Cowboys defensive end was right in Caleb Williams’ face. Last season that would have been a sack. last season. Best case scenario, that’s a throwaway, maybe intentional grounding, right? So, it would have been a dead play, would have killed the drive. Williams sees the defensive end immediately, knows exactly where to throw the football, throws a good ball for a six, seven yard play, I think. Nothing special. But that’s the difference between second and four, second and three ahead of the change. They went on to get a first down and score that drive, I think. Then the drive ending or maybe a disastrous takeaway and suddenly the game flips. That’s the difference. Speeding up that processing time. quarterbacks. It listen to be an elite quarterback, to be a championship quarterback, you need to have those special skill sets, that arm talent, that scrambling ability. You got to have something special about you. But you got to get competent before you can be elite. We’ve seen quarterbacks like Anthony Richardson in Indianapolis, for example. They have a great set of skills, but they don’t have the processing. And part of that’s on the quarterback and part of that’s on the coaching. Ben Johnson has sped up has sped up, excuse me, Caleb Williams, Caleb Williams’ ability to process defenses in such a way that he’s no longer just a a deficit when he’s under pressure. No longer he’s he’s no longer competent. He’s no longer okay as the data points to. He’s outstanding when under pressure. He’s playing like a veteran so early in his career and people are starting to notice. We got a few reports here. M if you want to pull up the next one also courtesy of Bears Wire. Just going to go through these really quickly. And this is Pete Carol, Raiders head coach, saying this. He said, “I did watch him a lot at USC and had a chance to check him out. He’s a very, very special athlete. He’s got a great sense, great awareness about throwing the football and running the football. He’ll be a pro prolific scrambler and by the time we check out his years, he’ll be really good at it and throws really well on the run, too.” And here’s the next part, too, right? That’s the physical stuff. We all knew that they have a really nice system. You can see it already coming through. Johnson is doing a nice job teaching this guy what he believes is important in the offense. You can see there are a lot of changes from last year. Kum can do whatever you want him to do. So, he’s a very dangerous player to play against. Right. Again, this is Pete Carol. Obviously, they played against the Raiders last week. Williams, we we know the physical skill set. We know the tools, right? Pete Carol mentioned that in the first half of the statement there, but it’s that second half, Williams getting brought up under Johnson, not just in the system of running the trick plays and the and the cool schemes. That’s part of it, but a big part of it is just speeding up the processing power. And other Bears players and other Bears great specifically are noticing as well. Let’s go into our final little article here courtesy of Newsweek. Uh Chicago legend Olan Crrooz made an appearance on the Mullen Hall show and delivered a strong take on the Bears young signal caller. He has clearly been liking what he has seen. When you’re watching this film, he has a steady presence on the team. He’s just making the play, getting out of trouble when he has to, throwing the ball away when he has to, hang in the pocket, not try to do too much, not throwing crazy interceptions like Gino, Gino Smith, quarterback for the Raiders, just doing the things that he needs to do in the system. Sounds like a veteran. Sounds like a grown-up. Sounds like a guy who’s processing the game quickly. When I watched the game, at first he wasn’t great, but that actually was great. What what he was doing, hanging in the system, playing in the pocket, keeping his teammates calm, and when the time comes, I’ll make the plays. I’ll make plays to win this game. What does that sound like, guys? That sounds like a Brady. That sounds like a Rogers. Sounds like a Breeze. Sounds like a Manning. Sounds like a guy in control. Sounds like a guy that gets it. It’s clicked right. That is so critical for the Bears. We knew Caleb Williams had the talent. Could Ben Johnson in his system bring out that faster rate of processing, that control of the game that you need from the quarterback position? The answer at this point seems to be undefend defensively, excuse me, yes. And I think this makes the Bears team much better than a lot of people realize. They’re still talented. They’re very good. It’s a tough division. I get all of that. But what Ben Johnson has done here, I think, is the most important move yet. He has brought Caleb Williams up to a level where he’s seeing and playing the game like a veteran. And when you pair that with the talent on the Bears, Johnson systems, and Caleb Williams’ absolutely bonkers physical skill set, I don’t know if there’s a more dangerous offense in the NFL right now in Chicago. And people around the NFL, I think we’ll surely wake up to that in due time. All right, M. I know you got a few thoughts on this, but first, Bears fans, in the comment section below, as you work through the buy, you work through the off period, just to see what the Bears are going to do going forward, what’s one area you really think Chicago needs to improve on specifically? You can go wide or as narrow as you want here, right? you say, “Listen, left guard stinks or they’re just beat up in the secondary or they need to tackle better or the kick return game needs to improve.” Whatever it may be, give us the one area you think the Bears really need to improve on the rest of the way. Put it in the comment section below. And Ms. Before I turn it over to you, let’s hear first from the sponsor of today’s video. I wanted to take a minute in today’s video to talk about something that’s really important to me, guys, and that is food. Look, we all know, of course, we all have family obligations, right? You’re never going to sacrifice family. You got work stuff, right? Got to make money somehow. And for darn sure, at least I and I know you guys probably feel the same way. Not skimping out on any football. Gonna watch the games, of course. But where does that leave enough time to prepare tasty meals to fill us up and get the calories, proteins, and all that stuff we need to fulfill our active lifestyles? At least I know in my case, right, I got a young daughter at home. I’m trying to stay fit. I’m trying to, you know, move around as best I can. But my wife and I, we’re running around with our hair on fire half the time while also doing our work stuff, other family stuff, the football stuff, right? I mean, is there enough time to sit and like prepare and eat a bunch of meals? Of course not. That’s the case with a lot of people these days. Everyone’s got busy lifestyles. That’s where snacks come in. And look, I know a lot of people, you know, snacks traditionally aren’t the tastiest thing. They don’t really hit the good calorie protein requirements that I know a lot of us are going for. And that’s why I’m excited to talk about our sponsor today, and that is Chomps. And I got one of their meat sticks right here, guys. I tell you what, I know a lot of people say, “Meat stick. Is it tasty?” My opinion, this stuff is delicious. I love their barbecue flavors. But the best part in my opinion, 100 calories. We’re talking 10 grams of protein, zero grams of sugar. So, it checks all the boxes I’m looking for in terms of nutrient requirements again to just fit into my active lifestyle. Chomps is one of those things that, you know, I wish I’d known about it before cuz it’s such a tasty snack. And once you start eating them, guys, you won’t stop. I’ve never been a a meat stick kind of guy until I tried Chomps. These things are off the chain. And here’s the best part, guys. If you go to chums.com/smi, again, link in the description box below, you’ll get 15% off your next order. Big discount there. We’re talking tasty snacks, 100 calories, 10 grams of protein. I love it. You got to try it if you haven’t already. Go to chumps.com/smi to get your 15% discount today. All right, M. I’ll put it over to you now. What are your thoughts on all things Chicago? Yeah, Nick, I think Kale Williams done great. Ben Johnson’s really been fantastic. We all knew Kale Williams had the talent, but I think this year verse last year is the perfect, you know, dichotomy of yes, you can have the talent, but that’s not all you need. You have to have good coaching. You have to have a good system. There’s a lot of factors in play. If for example a different position, I think Kyle Pittz is like one of the most supremely gifted tight ends as far as physical abilities, speed, size, all of that kind of things. But he really hasn’t been in the greatest of systems. I don’t think he’s been unleashed. I think other teams could really get a lot more out of him. That’s the case here with Kale Williams. When you look at last year verse this year, last year Caleb Williams PFF overall grade out 31st in the NFL. How many teams are in the NFL? that would be 32. So, he’s pretty close at the very bottom or if not one above the very bottom here when you look at what he did last year. Now, this year, completely different story. Already, he’s 10th in the NFL overall, getting into a new system, learning all of these new things. I I think he could go even higher. And if you break down a couple of his actual just not just overall, some things that he’s done really well this year, I think it’s very impressive. You look just passing grades, he’s 11th in the NFL right now. That’s great. This is fantastic. Top 10. That’s that’s really good company to be in in this day and age. Deep ball, just who throws the best deep ball in the NFL. Kale Williams is six. He’s a beautiful deep ball. Really great at doing that. Uh running using his legs. That’s something that’s important with the modern day quarterback. 11th. He’s one of the top rushing quarterbacks in the NFL. Turnover worthy plays. He only had four. It’s kind of hard. A lot of people like bunch up there. He’s 15th, but he’s in that top part of the league as far as not making turnover worthy plays. Like you alluded to, processing power, learning the offense, being able to read the defense, and make good decisions. Only four turnover worthy turnover worthy plays this uh season so far. I’ll take that every day of the week because there’s a lot of people that the the top of this list, there’s a lot of people who do a lot more uh turnover worthy plays when you look at it that way. And then finally, another stat that we love on this channel, average depth of target. Are these dink and dunk plays? Are these, you know, plays that just check downs, hitting the screen, stuff like that? No, not at all. He’s 12th in the NFL at average depth of target. So, he’s doing he’s doing some good stuff. Obviously, if he has a great deep ball, we know his average deficit target probably gonna be pretty good. But Caleb Williams looks very complete. He looks all round. Like I I brought in a bunch of different things here showing, hey, he’s not just really good at this one thing. He’s great at processing. Overall, he’s really good. He’s great at the deep ball. He’s great at depth of target. He’s great at using his legs. He’s great at not causing turnovers. This is a guy that really seems night and day difference from last year to this year. I’m really impressed what Ben Johnson has done with Caleb Williams here. And I think this Bears team, they really hit a home run. Not only coach, but also quarterback combination in both very important. This team is looking really, really good. And I think one final point to end on, it’s important to understand that quarterback development is just a multi-year process. And sometimes we get really infatuated with with year one performances. You guys remember M. Jones? I know he’s having a good season as a backup in San Francisco this year, but he looked like a stud in 2021 as a rookie for New England and then fell off quickly. I’ll give you another name. CJ Strad came into the National Football League and he became the archetype, the next great quarterback, and I still think he’s supremely talented. But in his first year in Houston, he had a 100.8 passer rating, averaged 275 a game, QBR of 58. I mean, really great. And then from there on, it’s just dropped. Rating now is in the 80s. QBR is in the 40s and 30s. passing yards per game has dropped by about 60. It It’s one of those things as a quarterback as you become more comfortable and your processing speed goes up and the game by extension slows down, you should be better. That’s what we’re seeing with Williams, right? That’s what Ben Johnson is unlocking. Not seeing that with other good young quarterbacks like CJ Stout. And again, that’s what makes this Bears team extremely dangerous. It’s not just that they’re playing better. Of course, that matters. It’s how they’re playing better. It’d be one thing if they’re winning because Caleb Williams was scrambling around and throwing 50 yard bombs that were just unreal. That’s not sustainable, right? Even the Chiefs with Mahomes when they had those plays, that’s not really how they won, right? That would be the highlight plays you saw on ESPN. But 99% of their offense under Mahomes, even when they were scoring 30 35 a game every single week, was a lot of read the defense, make the right dose, get to second and four, right? That’s Andy Reid. Andy Reed’s a West Coast offense disciple. That’s how they operate, right? But you don’t see those plays on highlight film. That’s how Momes learned though and that’s how he processed the game. He got the game once he figured it out his second season the game he was able to speed up his processing and the game slowed down. Williams right now is following that trend. We see the highlight film plays on social media and they’re spectacular. But it’s the snapby snap plays how he’s processing the game that is really eye opening and it’s all due I think into Ben Johnson and his coaching staff. The moves they’ve made, the changes they made working with these young quarterback and I know once again the Bears two and two last season, two and two this season. what’s going to happen. Chicago fans, you should feel very excited about where you are right now because Caleb Williams is very quickly, very rapidly moving up the ranks in terms of being an elite NFL quarterback. And I think by the middle and into this season, this Bears offense, because of Williams and Johnson working with them, is going to be one of the best in football.

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The Chicago Bears have clearly improved at this point in the season. And a big part of the Bears improvement is what their head coach Ben Johnson has done. This is a great sign for the future of the Bears. Fans of the Chicago Bears should be excited by this news.

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