Poor Caleb Williams was thrown into the fire with the Chicago Bears, with little success in his rookie season.
The coaching situation was about as disastrous as it could get, with two different offensive play callers and head coach Matt Eberflus getting fired. Williams got sacked 68 times which was the most in the NFL last year and had a lack of consistency with the running game.
It's a season to forget for the Bears. Their 2025 campaign, though, is looking stacked for what could be one of the best years in a long time, given their loaded offense. Ultimately, though, it will fall on one guy to get the job done.
Does Chicago have enough weapons on offense to help an essential season for Williams?
On the PFF NFL Show Podcast, Trevor Sikkema and Dalton Wasserman discussed the players who are in a make-or-break season. Wasserman spoke about how loaded the offense is for Chicago, but that it all falls on Williams to perform.
"You could not build a better supporting cast than the Bears have done this offseason. Between the play caller in Ben Johnson, the revamped offensive line with Dalman, Tooney, and Jackson. You've added Colston Loveland, one of the premier tight ends in the draft. You added Luther Burden, one of the premier slot receivers in the draft to replace Keenan Allen. The only thing this team really didn't do this offseason was add a starting caliber running back, but they're going to go with the committee of Swift and Johnson and maybe Kyle Monangai too. This is all on Caleb Williams. Whatever the Bears success or failures are this year, last year you could blame the situation; the coaching situation was rough. There was a lot of flaws still on both sides of the ball, but offensively, there's really no reason we should see Caleb Williams struggle again."
This offense ranked last in total offense, averaging 284.6 yards per game. Their passing game was the second-worst, behind only the New England Patriots, as they averaged 181.5 yards per game.
Read more: Matt Eberflus settles controversy on Caleb Williams' lack of film watching
Johnson's focus during offseason workouts has been on helping Williams with his development—this includes getting the ball out quicker and making the right decisions with his internal clock. It's still a work in progress with Williams, but it appears to be heading in the right direction.
Chicago has set up Williams for success in 2025 with the talent all around him. Now it's about him executing with the weapons at his disposal.