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Al Arabiya
20 hours ago
- Sport
- Al Arabiya
Better practices show Bears QB Caleb Williams has gained confidence in new offense
Quarterback Caleb Williams' confidence has hit a new high in the Chicago Bears offense, while the number of interceptions he is throwing in practice is declining. Williams has practiced for a week in new coach Ben Johnson's offense, and after struggling initially with turnovers, the second-year quarterback seems to have stabilized within the attack. 'I think as of right now, I think I'm rolling,' Williams said. 'I'm pretty smooth with it as of right now. It's not perfect,' as the offense continued Wednesday at practice to have difficulty getting into the end zone from within the red zone. Still, it does look more consistent, and Williams is finding more of his playmakers on time. 'It comes down to just a little bit more studying, it comes down to a little bit more practicing, a lot more reps and things like that over time,' Williams said. 'So I think that's where it is. I think that's where it is right now. We're going to keep progressing, and I'm going to keep progressing and getting after it.' Initially, Williams' troubles were in simple things such as pre-snap procedure or even getting the snap from center. The snaps were understandable because the Bears took most of their snaps in shotgun formation under former coach Matt Eberflus and his two offensive coordinators last season. Now, Williams is under center extensively for the first time in his career, going back through college. 'I think right now I'm doing well with the process, whether that's before the snap, whether it's after the snap, whether it's footwork, all these different things,' Williams said. 'Protecting the football these last couple of practices has been key and important. It's important in any season, in any moment.' Johnson confirms Williams' advancement, even if he is hollering at times and actually pulled the offense back off the field on Day 1. 'I see growth. He is so much more comfortable right now,' Johnson said of Williams. 'Even (Monday) the walkthrough… just in terms of moving around. We go from gun to under (center), to the tight ends are moving, the receivers are moving; we're adding a few more every single day. His process, and I told him this on the player day off, his process is really clean right now. I'm talking about how he's preparing. I'm really pleased with it. He's doing the work behind the scenes that no one else is seeing, and we're starting to see the dividends being paid from it.' It helps having all of his playmakers available. Throughout OTAs and even the start of training camp, they were getting little participation from rookie first-round tight end Colston Loveland because of his postseason shoulder surgery. Second-round wide receiver Luther Burden III did not practice from early May through the first week of training camp because of a soft tissue injury. Both are back and catching passes now during practice. Loveland has formed a quick connection. 'He's been great,' Williams. 'He's a smart cat. We've hung out a few times. Actually, him and a couple other teammates, we went down to the city on our off day and had dinner. We're hanging out, building that bond, building that trust. On the field-wise, he's smart, he knows what he's doing, he's a young cat, so there are going to be a few mistakes, maybe hand placement. But when the ball goes up, I got all faith in him.' Burden had a rocky start. He got pulled off the field once for lining up wrong, the product of so much time away from practices. 'It shows up already,' Johnson said. 'We were in the walkthrough yesterday afternoon, and the misalignments we had to re-huddle. We had to start it all over again. He's a little bit behind right now.' Burden made up for it on Wednesday with a catch in traffic and a touchdown in red zone work. Johnson didn't lay all of the earlier problems on Williams or receivers. Their rebuilt offensive line has had to work to keep up with coordinator Dennis Allen's defense. 'We need to do a better job giving our quarterbacks a clean pocket,' Johnson said. 'We're having to work the scramble drill a little bit more than we would like.'
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
30 Most Important Bears of 2025: Caleb Williams (No. 2)
The Chicago Bears are gearing up for an exciting 2025 NFL season, which features some new faces within the organization poised to get the franchise back to its winning ways. That starts with the hiring of Ben Johnson as head coach, as well as overhauling the interior offensive line, adding pieces on defense and a potenital impactful rookie draft class. Every day from now right up through training camp, we're counting down our 30 Most Important Bears for the 2025 season. We'll recap their 2024 season, look ahead to 2025 and tackle the biggest question facing them this year. We're down to the final pair and at No. 2 is quarterback Caleb Williams, who needs to show he has what it takes to be the franchise quarterback under Ben Johnson. Background Position: Quarterback Age: 23 Experience: 2nd season 2025 cap hit: $8.9 million 2024 recap Arguably no rookie player had more hype coming into the league than Williams after he was selected No. 1 overall by the Bears. Armed with numerous weapons at the skill positions, a veteran coaching staff, and a talented defense, Williams seemed to be entering one of the more favorable situations a No. 1 overall pick had ever been in. That wasn't the case. Despite showing promise and guiding the Bears to a 4-2 start, the wheels fell off for the team in every possible way. The Bears fired offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and then head coach Matt Eberflus while also dealing with injuries on the offensive line. The staff was a hindrance to Williams' development while he persevered as best he could. Williams played in all 17 games for the Bears, and while he set rookie records with over 3,500 passing yards, 20 touchdowns, and just six interceptions, he also was sacked a league-high 68 times. Williams made magical plays on the move but also struggled with his deep passes and holding onto the ball too long. Year 1 was a mixed bag that still has many wondering what Williams' future holds. 2025 outlook On paper, the Bears did pretty much everything they could to put Williams in a situation that was more ideal than the one he came into a year ago. General manager Ryan Poles landed Ben Johnson, the offensive guru from the Detroit Lions who has been the hottest coaching candidate for the last two years. They then overhauled the offensive line with signings and trades, including landing All-Pro guard Joe Thuney. Finally, the Bears spent their first three draft picks on offensive players, including tight end Colston Loveland, wide receiver Luther Burden, and tackle Ozzy Trapilo. With a new scheme, a coach that has a history of getting the most out of the quarterback, and quality players at crucial positions, everything should be in place for Williams to take a leap in Year 2. Big question: Will Caleb Williams take the leap in Year 2? That's the question of the year for the Bears and their fans. It always comes down to the quarterback and whether or not he can be the transcendent signal caller that has eluded this franchise for years. While Williams has plenty to clean up going into this season, he set the bar higher than any other Bears rookie quarterback ever has. No quarterback in team history ever had a season with 3,500 passing yards, at least 20 touchdowns, and fewer than 10 interceptions before Williams. Add in that Johnson and his staff are working to break Williams of his bad habits and play within structure, and the stage is set for a leap forward in production. Just a few days into training camp, it's impossible to tell whether or not Williams will succeed. He has the tools and the resources to get there, though, and much of the Bears' success will hinge on his development. 30 Most Important Bears of 2025 #30 - RB Roschon Johnson #29 - QB Case Keenum #28 - K Cairo Santos #27 - DT Andrew Billings #26 - CB Tyrique Stevenson #25 - WR Luther Burden III #24 - RG Jonah Jackson #23 - LB Tremaine Edmunds #22 - DE Dayo Odeyingbo #21 - S Kevin Byard #20 - S Jaquan Brisker #19 - LB T.J. Edwards #18 - TE Cole Kmet #17 - DT Grady Jarrett #16 - DT Gervon Dexter #15 - RB D'Andre Swift #14 - TE Colston Loveland #13 - OT Ozzy Trapilo #12 - OT Braxton Jones #11 - WR DJ Moore #10 CB Kyler Gordon #9 - OT Darnell Wright #8 - DE Montez Sweat #7 - C Drew Dalman #6 - CB Jaylon Johnson #5 - WR Rome Odunze #4 - DC Dennis Allen #3 - LG Joe Thuney #2 - QB Caleb Williams #1 - Coming 7/29 This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: 30 Most Important Bears of 2025: Caleb Williams (No. 2)
USA Today
24-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Bears HC Ben Johnson explains approach to good game management
In a disappointing 2024 season, the Chicago Bears were held back not only by coaching malpractice but shaky quarterback plays and poor game management in crucial situations. While those downfalls would lead to the firing of former head coach Matt Eberflus after a Thanksgiving loss to the Detroit Lions, the new coaching staff in place this year is taking a very serious approach to fixing game management issues on this roster. New head coach Ben Johnson is putting together serious efforts to fix issues that hampered the team last season -- and he's paying attention to all details. When asked about how he will work on game management in his first season as an NFL head coach, Johnson is putting emphasis on watching tape with the team and figuring out issues during practice. "It's how you get good at anything," Johnson said on Tuesday. "It's repetition over and over and over again. You watch tape, you put yourself in that mindset. If I was here now in this situation, what would I do? That's why the situations we practice over the course of camp are going to be huge for not only me, but for also the rest of the staff and the players to figure out how my mind works so that they can play off of that accordingly. " Embracing the challenge that lies ahead to get acquainted as a team, Johnson believes they're in a race against time until the start of the season. "I just hope we can, in six weeks, get enough reps to feel good going into Week 1," Johnson said. "That's the challenge. This is a race now. Everything's a race. We've got to get our fundamentals down; we've got to get our execution down. This is going to be a challenge, certainly for the first year with new systems on both sides of the ball. That's the fun part of it too, though. That's the challenge that we want and it's going to be some hard work in that sense.' There will be plenty of work to be done on both sides of the ball, but all things considered, Johnson and the coaching staff appear to be taking game management very seriously. That includes not only understanding game management, but also the important factors to get everyone on the same page and practicing the fundamentals until the system is not just in place but followed, as well.
Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Micah Parsons Poised for Breakout Season Under Matt Eberflus
Micah Parsons Poised for Breakout Season Under Matt Eberflus originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Dallas Cowboys superstar EDGE defender Micah Parsons is entering his fifth year in the league and is undoubtedly one of the NFL's best defensive playmakers. Advertisement He is stepping into a leadership role this season as he's talked about wanting the defensive line unit to work together more as a group during the offseason. "Just being vocal, understanding what looks right," Parsons said during minicamp. "They're going through the drills and guys ask me; 'How'd I look?', just simple things, 'How's my footwork?', it's not always the major things that make football great, it's always the small details, the footwork, the positioning, the angles, things like that I think I can contribute." Parsons will now have a chance to be an be even more dynamic chess piece in new defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus' scheme. ... Maybe even the NFL's very best defensive chess piece. Advertisement Bleacher Report's Brent Sobleksi believes that under Eberflus, Parsons is a candidate to win the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award for the first time. 'Parsons is the most difficult pass-rusher in the NFL to contain because of his explosiveness and capability of playing multiple positions along the defensive front seven—which the Dallas Cowboys coaching staff plans to take full advantage of under the direction of new defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus,' Sobleski wrote. Eberflus plans to utilize Parsons' full, versatile skillset as defender by putting him and his teammates in positions to succeed. "We had a meeting—him and I had about a half-hour meeting yesterday on that very subject, just him and I in my office," Eberflus told the Doomsday Podcast. "And for him, you have to move this guy around. Now, what's great about our current roster is that we have other rushers now that can rush. So to pay attention to one particular rusher is going to be more difficult than if you just had one on one side. That's going to be a good thing, too." Advertisement With a renewed focus on leadership, attention to detail, and a defensive scheme tailored to his strengths, Parsons is poised to take his game and the Cowboys defense to a whole new level in 2025. ... maybe all the way up to the point at which Micah wins the NFL's top defensive honor. Related: The Bar Is Low and That Might Be the Best Thing for the Cowboys Related: Sam Williams vs. Donovan Ezeiruaku Headlines Cowboys Camp Competition This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 2, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Cowboys Trade For Trey Hendrickson Rumors Updated with Empty Connections
Cowboys Trade For Trey Hendrickson Rumors Updated with Empty Connections originally appeared on Athlon Sports. FRISCO - NFL reigning sacks leader Trey Hendrickson wants to leave the Cincinnati Bengals. That is there problem. Advertisement The Dallas Cowboys have around $32 million under the salary cap. Is that their solution? It's right around July 4, the slowest time of the year for "news" in the NFL, with rosters set and training camps still weeks away. Add it all together, and lots of purported insiders and analysts are throwing "Hendrickson" and "Cowboys" together in headlines to see it it sticks. They use words like "urged" or "proposed" or "blockbuster" or even "connected." There's lots of Hendrickson to Cowboys keyword smoke. But absolutely no fire. The latest to join the fray is a site called Last Word on Sports. Their supposed reason for writing about the potential blockbuster trade of Hendrickson to Dallas? Advertisement "The Dallas Cowboys have been stacking up on talent defensively ever since they hired new defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus," LWOS writes. "After signing Jack Sanborn and trading for Kenneth Murray Jr., they have some type of life following Demarcus Lawrence's departure. The hope is that they can extend Micah Parsons, but it would be interesting to see if Dallas could one day get Hendrickson to boost them to a well-rounded defensive line." "Interesting'' and "journalism'' are not the same thing. We've checked with the Cowboys on this. They recognize that this is no more than some fan-run sites playing Fantasy Football. Hendrickson led the NFL with 17.5 sacks in 2024. He wants a new contract, and might hold out of training camp looking for a hefty raise. The Bengals aren't biting (yet), and gave him permission to seek a trade. Advertisement But the truth? Hendrickson will likely cost $30 million a year. The Cowboys are currently negotiating a new contract with Parsons. They're not going to dump their entire salary cap on Hendrickson. ... and they are not in the end going to employ a pair of pass-rushers - awesome as a Micah/Trey combo sounds - at a cost of $70 million APY. The Cowboys report for training camp July 21 in Oxnard, California. ... where we hope a Micah deal quiets the ongoing empty media game. Related: NFC East Braces For Impact of McLaurin, Watt and Hendrickson All-Pro Holdouts Related: AFC Team Reportedly 'Eyeing' Micah Parsons Trade With Cowboys This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 4, 2025, where it first appeared.
