First-year head coach Ben Johnson is re-evaluating the Chicago Bears offense in the preseason. The former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator is tempering his expectations for the offense in the upcoming season.
From OTAs to training camp, second-year quarterback Caleb Williams, the wide receivers, and the offensive line have struggled to get to the point where the ball can be snapped. When the ball has been snapped, there have been issues with Williams and receivers getting on the same page.
The Chicago Bears are mastering the basics at training camp
While Bears fans might have hoped the offense would come flying out of the gates like the recent offenses that made Johnson a top head coaching candidate in the last two coaching cycles, Chicago has to master the fundamentals before it’s ready to tackle the unique schemes that put defenses on their heels.
In an answer to a question about how long the Bears expect it to take before the offense is fully implemented, Johnson suggested that the process will take years of fine-tuning and progress will come in phases.
“That’s the balancing act that us as a coaching staff have to go ahead and figure out,” Johnson said via Jason Lieser of the Chicago Sun-Times. “Yeah, we do want it done a certain way and we know what winning football looks like, but at the same time, we’re at a different stage in Year 1 than where we’ll be in
Year 2 or Year 3 of this offense and this defense.
“It’s a good reminder for me – Where I was last year, we played Buffalo in Week 14 of the season, so I’m able to pull up that game plan and look at that game plan. We’re not ready for some of those plays yet, to be frank with you.”
Ben Johnson had to slowly dial up the Detroit Lions offense
Johnson had to deal with the same situation in Detroit, where the offense played a more basic scheme in 2022 before turning into a fountain of creativity last year.
“I go back and look at the first game I called in 2022 against the Philadelphia Eagles,” Johnson said. Well, that game plan was nowhere near what that Buffalo game plan was last year. It’s just perspective.
“The learning process, knowing where you start is not going to be where you finish and making sure we don’t bite off more than we can chew here at this point. We just want to see these guys go out there, play clean football and play fast.”
Really interesting answer from Bears coach Ben Johnson to Finley's question about it taking time to fully implement this offense– pic.twitter.com/FmORuDRrb5
— Jason Lieser (@JasonLieser) August 15, 2025
Don’t expect the offense to be humming or super exciting in September. Williams and the offense are going to need reps in the regular season before they start to become comfortable with the offense. While the Bears should show progress, the offense might not be awesome until another season.
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