Should Bears fans temper expectations with Caleb Williams & Ben Johnson?
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It's also Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson's debut.
We didn't get to see the starters in the Bears' first preseason game.
And Ben Johnson had a very long, very convoluted answer as to why that was the case that, frankly, I wasn't really following.
I thought, hey, Caleb Williams is only in year 2 in a new system with a new head coach.
He should get as many reps as possible, so we will see that this weekend.
There's been some speculation about how Caleb Williams has been playing, playing in practice and in training camp.
There's been a lot of reports that say he doesn't look ready, that this offense doesn't look like a totally complete finished product.
So now we get to see that in a preseason game.
How does Caleb Williams look in this new offense?
How does it look like he's grasping this Ben Johnson offense?
I'm just excited, frankly, Fitzs, for his sake and for the sake of Chicago Bears fans everywhere, that Caleb Williams is going to get the opportunity to get some live game reps when it doesn't really matter, because frankly, I'm expecting a big year from Caleb Williams from this Chicago Bears offense and Ben Johnson's first season.
This is where you and I agree in some ways and disagree in some ways because we agree that this is a great opportunity and we agree that by the end of the year, I think Caleb is gonna be cooking.
I just think that it's reasonable to expect a bit of a curve, right?
It's reasonable in my mind to think that Ben Johnson with an all-new language coming in and, and go back to what we all learned about, uh, new languages from Kirk Cousins when he was struggling early in the year last year and you saw on quarterback, he kept saying it's too much, too many movements, too many motions, and he was overwhelmed.
For a guy that played in the league for a long time in that Atlanta offense.
It is in part the job of a coach to translate to his quarterback, but it's also in part the job of a quarterback to be able to get that translation from his coach.
There's a lot of moving parts in this offense.
There's a lot to what Ben, uh, Ben Johnson does particularly well.
So I think that it's reasonable to expect some early season struggles.
And I'm only saying that because I want to be consistent here.
If the Bears come out in this preseason game and things just look out of whack, that's fine.
If the Bears come out and they look absolutely great, that's fine.
I just want to temper expectations, Caroline, and at least acknowledge that who the Bears are the first month of the season doesn't have to define success or failure for the year or who they'll be in the month of November and December.
And that's why I'm glad that Caleb Williams is getting these preseason reps because it is fair to expect a learning curve and a new system with a new head coach.
And let's remember, Caleb Williams isn't only in his 2nd year in the NFL.
The sophomore slump can be a realistic thing.
Look, I'm kind of expecting it for Jayden Daniels.
I hope it doesn't happen.
I'm.
Hoping for the best for Jayden Daniels, but I'm saying, hey, maybe let's just temper our expectations a little bit, him going into his 2nd year, because that's the exact same thing that we saw from CJ Stroud in his 2nd year, Offensive Rookie of the Year, and then they kind of took a couple of steps back.
So it's fair to assume that Caleb Williams might struggle a little bit with all of the newness, but the more and more struggle, the more and more learning opportunities that you get and the better that you can be in the long run.
So maybe get those learning opportunities and those learning curves out early when it doesn't matter.
So that way, once week 1, week 4, week 6, so on and forth, so forth comes along, you already have more of those reps under your belt and more learning opportunities to grow.
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