{"id":702761,"date":"2026-01-25T00:59:27","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T00:59:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/702761\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T00:59:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T00:59:27","slug":"ben-johnson-fuels-bears-rise-as-caleb-williams-earns-league-wide-respect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/702761\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Johnson fuels Bears rise as Caleb Williams earns league-wide respect"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ben Johnson fuels Bears rise as Caleb Williams earns league-wide respect<\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a>. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Chicago Bears<\/a>\u2019 offense looked unrecognizable in 2025, and that shift started with a philosophical reset under head coach Ben Johnson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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One year earlier, under Matt Eberflus, Chicago ranked near the bottom of the league in nearly every major offensive category. The Bears averaged 208.9 passing yards, 102 rushing yards and 18.2 points per game, numbers that reflected a unit struggling to sustain drives or control games.<\/p>\n

That profile changed quickly. In Johnson\u2019s first season, Chicago climbed to ninth in scoring at 25.9 points per game, finished 12th through the air with 234.8 passing yards, and surged to third in rushing at 144.8 yards per contest.<\/p>\n

Just as telling was the improved protection of quarterback Caleb Williams<\/a>. After absorbing an NFL-high 68 sacks as a rookie, Williams went down only 24 times in 2025, the third-lowest total in the league.<\/p>\n

Despite the progress, execution issues lingered. Dropped passes repeatedly stalled drives, even in wins. A 24-20 victory over the New York Giants<\/a> featured roughly eight drops, including missed opportunities that could have ended in the end zone.<\/p>\n

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Johnson acknowledged the concern after the season, saying improved ball security will be a major offseason focus. \u201cWe can still get better in some areas,\u201d Johnson said<\/a>. \u201cLike when I think about being fundamentally sound, we got to do a better job catching the football next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caleb Williams\u2019 leap reshapes Chicago\u2019s trajectory<\/p>\n

Chicago\u2019s 2025 run was defined as much by belief as by numbers. Williams authored seven fourth-quarter comebacks across the regular season and playoffs, earning the nickname \u201cIceman\u201d while steadily winning over teammates.<\/p>\n

His development was supported by a retooled offensive line featuring center Drew Dalman, guards Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson, and right tackle Darnell Wright, who anchored the edge against elite pass rushers.<\/p>\n

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Wright\u2019s postseason comments underscored how Williams\u2019 leadership resonated inside the locker room. \u201cHe was great, there were games where he single-handedly won us the game,\u201d Wright said<\/a> via CHGO. \u201cHe\u2019s the best quarterback I\u2019ve ever played with, for sure. I\u2019m happy he\u2019s going to be my quarterback next year as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bears\u2019 margin for error narrowed when rookie receiver Rome Odunze missed extended time with a stress fracture in his foot, making dropped passes even more costly. Still, the broader arc remained positive.<\/p>\n

Chicago rebounded from a 5-12 finish in 2024 to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2020, hosted a postseason game at Soldier Field for the first time since 2018, and captured its first NFC North title since 2018. With the 25th overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, the Bears enter the offseason encouraged by how far they\u2019ve come, and aware of what still needs sharpening.<\/p>\n

More Bears news:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ben Johnson fuels Bears rise as Caleb Williams earns league-wide respect originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":702762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2070],"tags":[374,1035,1036,692,391,2493,1472,2551,7,1814,2550,9113,56,6,9081,2495,6746,3394],"class_list":["post-702761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-bears","tag-bears","tag-ben-johnson","tag-caleb-williams","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-bears","tag-chicagobears","tag-darnell-wright","tag-drew-dalman","tag-football","tag-joe-thuney","tag-jonah-jackson","tag-matt-eberflus","tag-new-york-giants","tag-nfl","tag-passing-yards","tag-rome-odunze","tag-rushing-yards","tag-the-bears"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115953032634448222","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}