Windy City Gridiron
Yeah, I know. I was looking forward to it, too.
Chicago Bears fans are perfectly valid in feeling disappointed that Caleb Williams, along with most of the team’s starters, will sit out the team’s preseason opener against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
Of course, this isn’t that surprising when you think about how the logistics of preseason football have changed over the years.
For one thing, having only three weeks of preseason ball reduces the amount of time teams have to scout the back end of their roster in live action, making it more imperative that they play as many game reps as possible.
Plus, the growing popularity of joint practices gives teams that sense of sharpening themselves against other squads in a controlled environment without all of a violence of a full-on game. A couple days of joint practices with the Dolphins gave the Bears’ starting units plenty of “meaningful” reps that don’t need to be duplicated in a game setting. As such, it’s not uncommon to see teams sit their starters for their preseason game after an intense few days going toe-to-toe in practice.
But there’s another reason I’m glad to see the Bears slow-play things with Williams and the offense.
Unsurprisingly, the transition to Ben Johnson’s offense has come with some ups and downs for Williams and company. The system is new. There’s more under-center work for Williams, who primarily has played in the shotgun. The play calls are longer. The young quarterback is still learning what he can and can’t get away with. That theme will continue for much of the season as this offense gels and Williams keeps developing in the way he sees the game.
So why not give the starting offense, especially, a little more runway before its first game action of the year? (Yes, the defensive scheme is new, too, but you know what we’re here to watch.)
Another week to drill getting the play calls into the huddle and cutting out pre-snap penalties. To get Williams increasingly comfortable with how Johnson wants him to execute certain concepts and play within structure. To give this new-look offensive line more time to practice together before putting Williams behind them in a game situation and for Williams to have his pressure plans figured out so he doesn’t get killed a la Anthony Richardson.
Sure, the game plan will be highly vanilla during preseason, with none of the fun we truly expect from Johnson’s offense until the real games start.
But fans aren’t going to care about the process. They’re going to want to see Williams and Co. light it up and score every time they take the field like the well-oiled machine they’re definitely not at this point. And if that doesn’t happen, people will freak out. (Not that the Bears need to care about that, of course. But it’ll still happen.)
So you know what? We’ll see you next week, Caleb. Study up. Play clipboard keeper for Tyson Bagent on Sunday. Enjoy the...
