The Bears’ marriage of Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson took another significant step forward in Monday’s win over the Commanders.
A strong running game showed how far it can propel Williams and the rest of the Bears offense.
The Bears still have plenty to clean up offensively after winning each of their last two games by 1 point.
LANDOVER, MD – Sometimes when Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams receives the play call from Ben Johnson, the head coach exudes confidence to the point he will tell Williams, “This is a great play call.”
“He’s a mastermind,” Williams said after the Bears’ 25-24 victory on “Monday Night Football” over the Washington Commanders. “Being able to have him – sometimes he’s on the headset like, ‘This is a great play call here, here we go.’ So he did that today and he says that to me. He has all belief and confidence in himself. Those little things actually provide confidence when you’re about to call the play.”
This is the honeymoon phase of the professional marriage between Williams, the former No. 1 pick with the burden of developing into a franchise quarterback, and Johnson, perhaps the most consequential head-coach hiring in some time.
Through five games, the Bears are winning close games, as they did in a karmic victory Monday to somewhat avenge Washington’s remarkable “Hail Mary” victory last October.
Of course, Johnson wasn’t responsible for that Matt Eberflus-fueled debacle. It traumatized Williams, then a rookie, though.
“I don’t think any of those memories necessarily go away – good or bad,” Williams said. “You move on from it. But it doesn’t ever necessarily, fully go away.”
This time, the Bears pounced on a handoff exchange fumble as the Commanders attempted to run out the clock, and Jake Moody – playing his first game for the Bears with kicker Cairo Santos unable to play with an injury – kicked a game-winning 38-yard field goal as time expired.
“We didn’t talk about it as a team. What’s in the past is in the past,” Johnson said of last year’s “Hail Mary” embarrassment, with cornerback Tyrique Stevenson becoming distracted and trash talking with fans in the crowd while Daniels snapped the ball and receivers started running downfield. “I know some guys spoke on it and gave their two cents, but beyond that, it wasn’t a big deal.”
The kick was set up by running back D’Andre Swift, who finished with 108 rushing yards on 14 carries (7.8 average) and had two catches for 67 yards, 55 of which came on a fourth-quarter touchdown that cut Chicago’s deficit to 24-22 with 10:26 to play.
Swift ran for 19 yards on Chicago’s final drive and punctuated it with a 10-yard rush that took Moody from borderline 50-yard range to a more manageable distance. Johnson sounded like the father of Taylor Swift fans after a long road trip.
“That drive was a lot of ‘Swiftie’ there,” he said.
Until Williams ran for the final time to set up Moody’s final of four field goal makes, the Bears had rushed for 147 yards on 26 attempts. Johnson gave Swift more praise, saying it was the best and most efficient rushing attack from his team this season.
“Really felt an attitude with him … he played a physical style,” Johnson said. “Not only that – the catch, 55-yard touchdown was really a game-changer for us. It was a time in the game where we needed a little spark. We were faltering just a little bit as a team.
“All it takes is one guy to make a big play like that and really ignite us again. I think it’s who I really thought he was going to be going into the season. We’re looking for guys that can elevate people around them. He did that (Monday).”
It was the cleanest game from the Bears’ blockers, tight ends included, Johnson said. He wanted the Bears to have the ball last to prevent a rebuttal from the Commanders.
“We’ve seen they can be explosive in those moments,” Williams said in a veiled reference to the Daniels “Hail Mary” pass that was tipped and landed in the hands of Noah Brown.
Williams added: “The mindset was be able to hold the ball, run the ball, run the ball, make them use their timeouts. Stay in bounds. Play smart, situational football at the end of the game and go win.”
That is an extremely Dan Campbell- and Detroit Lions-coded way of approaching the end of a tight game in the NFL.
Johnson told Williams on the headset not that this was a particularly great play call but to “tell the big guys up front that we’re going to ride the run game into victory,” the head coach said.
Because while Johnson must make Williams into a player worthy of the “franchise QB” label, the way the former Lions offensive coordinator wants to control contests is through the ground game. It’s the most logical route to domination as Williams continues developing as a pro and grows into the immense talent base.
“When you have moments like this, it does lift a weight off your chest and shoulders,” Williams said, “so we want to keep the run game going.”
The painstaking and at-times publicly frustrating installation process that took place throughout the offseason is apparent as Williams weaves and tosses and pitches and hands off to whoever happens to carry the ball on a given play, as it could be anybody (six different players had a carry by the time the game was halfway through the second quarter).
Johnson may let Williams know when plays are going to work, but Williams still has to let the other 10 players in the huddle know the call. He messed up that responsibility on the play that eventually became Swift’s fourth-quarter touchdown. Williams credited his teammates for still lining up well enough to execute something that resembled the play. Swift ran a great route and turned his eyes around early enough for Williams to give him the ball in space. The former Georgia Bulldog did the rest by shedding Commanders safety Quan Martin near the sideline and winning a footrace against cornerback Marshon Lattimore.
“We ended up fixing it when the ball got snapped,” Williams quipped.
Other players on offense, such as wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus, can see the reason Johnson has garnered the reputation of an offensive mastermind.
“It’s cool man. You see how his mind works,” Zaccheaus told USA TODAY Sports. “Obviously the whole staff cultivates the plan, but it’s cool to see the moving parts and how everything works together within the game plan. It’s cool to see week to week.”
Bears center Drew Dalman, who signed with the team as a free agent this offseason, said the entire staff’s acumen puts players in advantageous positions. They harp on the standard of execution. Then it’s up to the 11 guys on the field.
“That’s really what makes our run game – or just (the offense) in general (special),” Dalman told USA TODAY Sports.
It can’t be all smiles for the Bears after Monday’s performance. They committed nine penalties for 84 yards and supplied the Commanders with four of their 22 first downs via the yellow laundry. They gave away a 13-0 lead before Washington could not execute a simple quarterback-running back exchange and the ball bounced the Bears’ way (they won the turnover battle 3-0). Zaccheaus, the former Commander, had a costly drop with plenty of room in front of him. Chicago started 1-for-7 on third down but finished at 30%. Left tackle Theo Benedet was flagged on an impressive fade ball from Williams to Rome Odunze, who tracked the pass into the corner of the end zone for what would have been a touchdown. Daniels threw a red-zone interception on the Commanders’ opening possession, and Matt Gay hit the upright on a 50-yard field goal in the second quarter.
On the final play of the third quarter, Williams turned a third-and-short into a fourth-and-6 because he mishandled the shotgun snap. The Commanders blocked Moody’s 48-yard field goal.
Even when things looked bleak, not showing frustration or negative body language is something Williams said he has worked on because he knows everyone is looking at him on the sideline. “In those moments, we don’t have time for that,” he said. “It’s time to go win.”
Johnson said the close victories – Chicago defeated the Las Vegas Raiders 25-24 heading into their Week 5 bye, also on the last play of the game – say a lot about the Bears’ locker room. Players believe in one another and have cultivated an understanding that somebody will step up to make a play in crunch time.
“I think these wins sometimes can go a longer way for your program than blowouts do,” he said.
In that case, maybe the Bears and their high-profile quarterback-coach pairing are further along than expected.