CHICAGO — Ben Johnson wanted Caleb Williams to get away from football.
That was the Chicago Bears coach’s message to the second-year quarterback in the frigid January days after the loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the divisional round of the playoffs.
“He’s done a phenomenal job in terms of staying focused all year long,” Johnson said Jan. 21. “He put in a lot of time, a lot of effort. I thought he grew up as a professional. I thought his communication to the coaching staff grew. I thought his communication to his teammates grew.
“But we will certainly have a number of points of emphasis that he can dive into when he comes back this springtime. It’s important for, really, all of us — coaches, players, support — that we get away for a little bit, that we hit the reset button.”
The Bears have had three months to reset. They returned to work Monday at Halas Hall as veteran players began the voluntary offseason program.
Among the players in the building was Williams, now looking toward his third NFL season and his second with Johnson as his coach.
Williams took Johnson’s January message to heart. What has he been up to for the last three months? He hung out at Bulls and Blackhawks games with Cubs star Pete Crow-Armstrong. He made a cameo appearance in a music video with rappers Yeat and EsDeeKid. And he was spotted at Coachella alongside the Jenner sisters.
“Trying to stay out of trouble,” Williams joked Monday.
Williams, 24, did his best to enjoy his three months off. But the reality is he doesn’t seem to have ever stopped thinking about football.
“I’ve been itching to get back, honestly, since the (Rams) game,” Williams said. “Trying not to text Ben too much.”
Williams said it in January and reiterated it Monday: When he was driving home from Soldier Field after the loss to the Rams, it didn’t feel real. After a wild ride that saw the Bears win their first NFC North title since 2018 and their first playoff game in 15 years, the finality of that loss was hard to come to grips with.
“It was one of the harder years, I’d say, to step away for a little bit,” Williams said. “And so I think I found a little path in there at some point, but it took me a little bit to get over the season.”
As of Monday, all systems are go. The offseason program — and Year 2 under Johnson — is underway. The NFL draft begins Thursday, and the Bears will add their rookie class to the mix soon.
In terms of on-field work, the first phase of the offseason program is limited to strength and conditioning activities. The workload will ramp up in the coming weeks.
A year ago, Williams made it clear he wanted to be coached hard. He didn’t want Johnson to hold anything back, and the first-year coach definitely didn’t go easy on his quarterback.
Now Williams wants Johnson to keep his foot on the gas. He said Johnson told him during their exit meeting in January that he planned to push Williams even more.
“I have a goal, he has a goal and they align with each other,” Williams said. “It’s making sure that we get to that end (goal). And so he’s going to push me, I’m going to push myself, I’m going to push my teammates, he’ll push my teammates.”
Tight end Cole Kmet said Williams’ improvement over the course of last season in terms of managing the offense, communicating in the huddle and making pre-snap calls at the line of scrimmage was night and day from the quarterback’s rookie season in 2024.
“All those pre-snap things that maybe (the media) or fans don’t view as the sexy thing,” Kmet said. “Like, those are the things that he got really, really good throughout the course of the season. And it really helps everybody, all 10 other guys.”
The Bears are in a good place to hit the ground running this spring. The returning players already know what Johnson expects from the offense. There will be tweaks and new wrinkles, but the Bears aren’t in a position like they were a year ago, when they had to learn everything from scratch.