Chicago Bears training camp: Caleb Williams details where he's made the most progress in camp

Cassie catches up with Ben Johnson at Chicago Bears training camp

The pads have come on for the Chicago Bears, and that means it's the next step in camp for Bears head coach Ben Johnson. He caught up with FOX 32's Cassie Carlson.

Ben Johnson has certainly caught the attention of the Chicago Bears faithful.

He's removed players from drills for lining up incorrectly, chastised the longest-tenured veterans for errors and challenged players on all facets of the game incessantly.

Still, Caleb Williams is convinced the marriage between him at quarterback and Johnson as his head coach.

"With Ben, him and I are going to be here for a while, which is the plan," Williams said. "There's going to be carryover from now on. But, it's different. It's a whole new playbook, different terminology, different reads, different footwork and different things like that. 

So far, learning the playbook has been a public exercise that many have noted has started slowly.

Williams is undeterred, and detailed where he's had progress so far in training camp.

Big picture view:

Everything will be different for Williams. Every year, from Year 1 to Year 10, will bring different challenges and learning curves.

For Williams, the biggest difference is understanding everything pre-snap from the motions, formations and shifts. Not understanding them properly is the difference between a successful play, a delay of game or worse.

One thing that Williams has gotten better at since the start of camp is getting the offense to the line of scrimmage quickly.

"It helps everybody," Williams said. "One, it adds a sense of what our mentality is getting out the huddle, getting on the ball. We're going to attack you. That's the first part." 

It hasn't always been perfect. There have pre-snap issues, like delay of games and false starts, this week.

But, that's still to be expected as the entire team grasps the new offense, and when Williams operates quickly it has resulted in positive plays in camp.

Williams said getting lined up quickly gives a center, quarterback, tackles and receivers time to be able to see the technique the defensive backs are in. 

For Williams specifically, he also said moving quickly allows him to "re-mike," which means it gives him another chance to properly locate the middle linebacker in each play. 

"I’ll have an idea of whatever their alignment is, their depth, their leveraging, things like that," Williams said. "Being able to have as much time on the clock only helps us."

Understanding an entire offensive play, including the shifts, movements and more that come with it, can lead to a moment when Williams sees a shift in the defense that makes the playcall perfect.

At that point he just has to execute the play at hand.

"Whether it's small checks, whether we're killing or alerting a play, or it's a small hand signal, I see something and it's like, ‘all right, here we go,'" Williams said.

What they're saying:

Williams isn't the only one seeing it.

His head coach is seeing it too.

"We’re always judging and critiquing the pre-snap process, the footwork, the decisions, the accuracy, all those things," Johnson told FOX 32's Cassie Carlson on Wednesday. "Slowly but surely, you see improvement in each one of those categories." 

In the middle of the second week of training camp, Williams is taking every little bit of progress as a good sign that he's on the right track.

"As of right now, I'm rolling. I'm pretty smooth with it as of right now," Williams said. "Obviously, you want to be 100% when you're out there with the calls and hearing it."

Johnson has been open about the joint practices with Miami and Buffalo, as well as the three preseason games, will be benchmarks in evaluating where the offense is actually at.

Those benchmarks are still a ways away in mid-August. Williams is working with those in mind, and it helps that he has a year in the NFL under his belt. He understands what's coming and how he can prepare himself at each step.

"It comes down to just a little bit more studying, comes down to a little bit more practicing, a lot more reps and things like that over time," Williams said. "I think that's where it is. I think that's where it's at right now and we're going to keep progressing. I'm going to keep progressing again.