Windy City Gridiron
Before Friday’s joint practice against the Buffalo Bills, Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson made an intriguing admission to media:
He and his staff do keep tabs on Caleb Williams’ completion percentage during practice and him to complete at least 70% of his passes.
And the young quarterback hasn’t hit the target often enough so far in 2025 training camp.
“We’ve been underneath that bar. That happens,” Johnson told reporters Friday. “We’re learning, we’re growing. Early on we were probably 55%. It’s gotten better as camp has gone on but we haven’t hit that threshold as often as we would like.”
How strange it is to see someone admit that training camp completions actually matter.
But if you think Williams’ inconsistency in that regard so far is a major problem, rest easy. Because in Johnson’s mind, these issues are as correctable as making sure your feet are underneath you.
“It always starts with the feet for a quarterback, and if you’re not aligned properly from the ground up, then you’re going to inconsistencies with your target. That’s what we’ve been talking about,” Johnson added.
Specifically, for all right-handed quarterbacks, when you throw to a target that’s moving from the right to the left, you typically throw it behind. So you have to train yourself to make sure you’re opened up enough to throw it to where he’s gonna be and not where he’s at.”
On one hand, it’s not surprising to see Johnson point this out about Williams’ game. When he lines everything up mechanically, few quarterbacks have a stronger arm than the second-year pro. As we also know, he’s capable of making off-platform throws few quarterbacks can attempt with hope of completion. The trick is making sure he hits the layups consistently, which means honing in on the fundamentals.
The good news: Johnson has no problems with Williams’ throwing motion itself, even calling it “beautiful.”
Even better: Williams reportedly has had some very nice throws against the Bills defense during Friday’s practice, proving that he can take feedback and put it into practice. We’ll see if that carries over to his first preseason action of the year this weekend as well.
Bottom line: Williams has more than enough time to iron out the kinks as this training camp winds down and the season gets into swing. Better to get the misses out now, right?
