Ben Johnson says Bears starters, including Caleb Williams, will play in second preseason game against Bills

Yahoo

a day ago

Caleb Williams will make his preseason debut in Ben Johnson's Chicago Bears offense Sunday night against the Buffalo Bills on national TV.
"Our starters are going to play," the first-year Bears head coach announced Wednesday. "Everyone's going to play."
Johnson was then asked what kind of value that opportunity affords Williams, a former Heisman Trophy winner and No. 1 overall pick who is now in his second year quarterbacking the Bears but only his first in Johnson's system.
"Well, last week and really all through camp I've been pretty consistent with the thought of reps, reps, reps are the most important thing to get him up to speed," Johnson said. "And by the plan we had a week ago, we were able to get him probably somewhere between 80 and 100 more reps than we would have been able to do had he played in the game.
"This week, it's a different schedule, different length of time in terms of in between games and all of that. And, so, our plan right now is that the guys that sat out last week will be playing this week."
Johnson has been throwing the kitchen sink at Williams this offseason as he installs a complex yet balanced offensive system that helped transform the division rival Detroit Lions.
The Bears hired Johnson less than 48 hours after the Lions' first 15-win season in franchise history ended prematurely in the NFC divisional round. Still only 39 years old, Johnson has quickly established himself as one of the NFL's premier offensive minds. During his three seasons as Lions offensive coordinator, he became a trendy name and then the most-wanted assistant in offseason hiring cycles.
Last season, Detroit led the league with 33.2 points per game.
Meanwhile, Williams had a roller coaster rookie campaign in Chicago, where he was stuck under a coaching staff on borrowed time. Williams, an escape artist at Oklahoma and USC, was sacked 68 times. While he posted a 20:6 touchdown-to-interception ratio, he threw for only 3,541 yards and completed just 62.5% of his passes while the Bears went 5-12 in an otherwise elite NFC North.
Johnson and Williams have lofty goals for this season. The Bears are still searching for their first 4,000-yard passer, and they believe he's wearing No. 18.
Williams will be out there Sunday against the Bills showing a glimpse of his connection with Johnson.