LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Caleb Williams took a bunch from his rookie season in terms of being a pro and the rigors of an NFL campaign, but the Bears quarterback admits this is a brand new thing.

His rookie season obviously existed, but the reset button has been hit. Bears head coach Ben Johnson pushed it, introducing Williams to more new than he’s ever experienced.

“With Ben, he and I are going to be here for a while, which is the plan. There’s going to be carryover from now on,” Williams said in a Wednesday press conference. “It’s different. It’s a whole new playbook. Different terminology. Different reads. Different footwork. Different things like that. So, it’s a lot, still going to always be a lot. That’s part of playing this position. Being able to go out there and handle it all is what we get paid to do. It’s our job.”

It’s Williams’ job to learn, process and apply in real-world scenarios, and then retain all that while more new stuff is being added. It’s a big job and a difficult one. Johnson guaranteed the offseason program and this training camp would be hard. He wasn’t lying.

“We’re installing a bunch,” Williams said. “They’ve installed a lot — OTAs, now — and just seeing how much I can retain. I take pride in trying to retain it all, every single detail that we have. I think that’s where I’ve been growing so far, since Ben’s been here, is retaining all of the information. All of it makes sense to me, and (now it’s about) being able to go out there and execute.

“Obviously, there are going to be mistakes. But, being able to understand that it was a mistake by me or we lined up wrong — whatever the case may be — getting back in the huddle, calling it right, getting back out there, doing it, executing, being a player-led team.”

Johnson and his staff are tracking everything, from install to retention to how Williams processes mistakes. While play on the practice field is far from perfect and not always pretty, the team’s head coach and offensive mastermind sees his young quarterback making progress transitioning from something so different to what he’ll be asked to execute this fall.

“I see growth,” Johnson said on Tuesday. “He is so much more comfortable right now. Even in the walkthrough (Monday), just in terms of moving around. We go from gun, to under (center), to the tight ends are moving, the receivers are moving — we’re adding a few more every single day.

“His process, and I told him this on the player day off, his process is really clean right now. I’m talking about how he’s preparing. I’m really pleased with it. He’s doing the work behind the scenes that no one else is seeing and we’re starting to see the dividends being paid from it.”

They’re small and possibly subtle to the naked eye right now, but the Bears believe it will show up in more obvious ways down the line. Johnson has been encouraging when Williams has deserved praise and critical when he hasn’t. The overall goal is to push and develop and see how much Williams can handle in this first season in a new scheme.

Johnson admits this offensive install is more complex, with a lot more going on, than when he installed his scheme in 2022, as a first-year Lions offensive coordinator. While Johnson was asked about general offensive comprehension and not about Williams specifically in his quote below, it provides context for how the process of learning his scheme over the course of a camp.

“I don’t expect them to have it mastered,” Johnson said, again, referring to the entire team. “Yet they’re trusting, they’re really jumping into the deep end here and trusting the fact that we have a plan in place. We know what this is going to look like come Week 1, we’re going to be able to get the pieces aligned correctly and they’re just doing their jobs of knowing what to do and we can detail it up once we get it on tape.”

Williams know it’s his job to learn and retain and correct as much as possible, leadership is another job requirement during this taxing time.

“This year for me, it was trying to take a step up in my leadership role and pushing the guys,” Williams said. “Part of it is going out there and being right, doing everything right, getting the play calls in fast, being out there, being confident, knowing what I’m doing. The other half of it is, when things are messing up, let’s re-huddle, let’s get up, come on. Let’s get this thing going.”

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