Ben Johnson just kept calling plays. The Chicago Bears coach didn’t know his quarterback started 12-for-12 passing in Sunday’s win over the Atlanta Falcons.
All Johnson knew was that things were clicking on the first two drives.
“You’re doing what you feel like is going to help your guys out, but when I reflect back, it’s not a surprise,” Johnson said after the game.
Williams finished 30-for-36 for 305 yards and one touchdown. At 83.3%, it marked the highest completion percentage of Williams’ career. At 72.5% on the season through three starts, Williams currently leads the NFL, although his sample size is three games smaller than much of the competition.
Williams topped 70% — a stated goal from Johnson — in the two games he has started and finished this season.
“I said that I could do it and we’re going to keep figuring out how to keep getting to that,” Williams said. “I’ve said multiple times, it’s building confidence in myself, building confidence in the playbook, building confidence in my wide receivers and where they’ll be, even if I can’t see them. It’s putting the ball where they will be and just trusting them.”
From Johnson’s perspective, the next big step is stringing together games like Sunday’s. Every NFL matchup is going to present different challenges and Johnson will be asking the quarterback to do different things.
Last year the Bears built great momentum following a slow start, at one point winning nine of 10 games. Williams’ three-game absence due to a hamstring injury has made it harder to build that momentum this season.
“We know how big it is to string good performances back to back to back in this league,” Johnson said. “That’s what the good teams do, and that’s what we’re looking to do here this week.”
This week is a whirlwind as the team prepares to face the New England Patriots on Thursday night, a game that will pit Williams against Drake Maye, who was selected two picks after Williams in the 2024 draft.
Short weeks are always a challenge. They throw off everyone’s routine. The Bears have a potentially consequential stretch with three consecutive primetime games against New England, Seattle and Tampa Bay — and it starts Thursday night.
Johnson admitted that short weeks can be a struggle for the coach in him who wants more time on the practice field.
“I always struggle as a coach of wanting to do more,” Johnson said. “(It’s) making sure really, at the end of the day, these guys just need to go out there and play as fast as they possibly can, play confident football. And so for us it’s just a matter of scaling it back, streamlining it to where they can play fast, they can play clean.”
From the quarterback’s perspective, the goal is to keep replicating the efficiency Williams played with last week. Williams felt he did a good job with his footwork, getting rid of the ball quickly and giving his teammates a shot on some of the more high-difficulty throws.
Those are always going to be the tenets he lives by, no matter who the opponent is or what the game plan looks like.
Per NFL Next Gen Stats, Williams was 24-for-24 for 248 yards on plays in which he had a clean pocket against Atlanta. That is the most attempts without an interception from a clean pocket since 2018, the first year of available data from Next Gen Stats.
“That tells me: Shout out to the O-line,” Williams said. “That tells me: Shout out to the running backs for when they had to pick up (a block), they picked up and picked up well. Then shout out to the wide receivers for running great routes and being decisive in their routes and allowing me to see that and give them a good ball.”
Williams spread the ball to eight different targets, all of whom caught at least two passes. Receiver Luther Burden III had a big performance with eight catches for 95 yards, while tight end Colston Loveland caught one touchdown pass and narrowly missed another.
“It just amplifies all of our talents, at the end of the day, when he’s playing point guard back there and doing whatever it takes to get anybody the ball,” receiver Rome Odunze said. “It keeps everybody lively, keeps everybody in that rhythm.”
Injury updates: Jonah Jackson could be trending up.
Jackson, the Bears’ right guard, is dealing with hip and quadriceps injuries, but on Tuesday the team upgraded him to a limited participation status on the injury report. A day earlier, Jackson had been listed as a non-participant.
With a game on Thursday, the Bears are not holding any real practices this week, so the injury reports are estimates. But Tuesday’s report could indicate Jackson is trending in the right direction.
Jackson injured his hip in the second half on Sunday and did not return. Backup Luke Newman finished the game at right guard. Jordan McFadden could be another potential option at the position if Jackson doesn’t play Thursday.
But Jackson hasn’t missed a game since joining the Bears last year, appearing in 23 consecutive games and 25 including the playoffs.
Additionally, running back Kyle Monangai (thumb/toe) and linebackers T.J. Edwards (hamstring) and Jack Sanborn (concussion) were listed as non-participants. Linebacker Keyshaun Elliott (quadriceps) and cornerback Tyrique Stevenson Sr. (hip) were listed as full participants.