COLUMN: Bears QB Caleb Williams needs to improve more in 2026. Here's why you should believe he will

There is no small development for Caleb Williams.

The Chicago Bears quarterback is already one of the best to ever play at Halas Hall. He’s firmly atop the record books with the single-season passing yards record and has multiple iconic plays under his belt from 2025 alone.

So, what’s next? Forward, again.

"What we need to see here in camp is that anticipation, take it up a notch," Bears coach Ben Johnson said. "I think with that, the coverage recognition gets taken up another notch. I think there's other ways we're going to continue to challenge and push him."

With Johnson, there will always be the desire to do more, be more and strive for more. This goes for every player, but its more impactful for Williams as the quarterback.

Last year, there was pressure on Ben Johnson to get the team on his page. Whatever the Bears were going to do, it was on Johnson to get them to a point where the team would see his vision and execute it.

Now, it’s firmly on Williams.

The No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft ascended to stardom levels around Chicago in 2025. In 2026, he needs to take another step forward to become one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.

Considering Williams’ trajectory just two years in the NFL, it’s hard to believe he won’t live up to lofty expectations from him and others.

Big picture view:

Caleb Williams stood at the podium on Wednesday and spoke about the 2026 training camp.

The one offseason trend the Bears want to see is for him to be more boring. To borrow a sports analogy to explain another sport, take the layups instead of trying for the mind-blowing dunk or take the base-hit single instead of trying crack a home run.

"Just hit the easy ones when they're there," Williams said. "Be in rhythm with myself. Be confident in my guys. Be confident within the play. Deliver a good ball. Deliver a catchable ball."

Williams knows what he needs to be better at. The accuracy is what plenty point to when criticizing him.

This happened last year with the league-leading amount of sacks Williams took as a rookie. Last year, he cut that number more than in half with help from a revamped offensive line.

This offseason, he has taken strides to improve that accuracy. Part of that was with the offseason work he put in with quarterback coaches Will Hewlett and Tom Gormley. They helped with the anticipation part of quarterbacking.

"There are a bunch of different small things that we've adjusted throughout my training," Williams said. "Knowing where guys are supposed to be, landmarks and all of that, steps. In the trainings, it was a little bit more me commanding it and them just sitting back and watching."

That work needs to manifest itself in training camp. 

The Bears and Bears fans have every right to believe that it will.

It’s not just the work Williams has put in, either. Every player with aspirations as big as Williams’ will put in work all offseason long to get there. That's showing in how Williams shed 10 to 15 pounds in order to move a little bit better and be smoother.

The difference between Williams now and Williams in his first two years is the experience he gained along the way.

That shaped his playing style and his voice.

"I know what losing looks like. I know what winning looks like in this league," Williams said. "Having year two in the offense, I have a lot more confidence in what I'm saying to the guys out there. It's starting to sound more like the coaches, the steps, the alignments and things like that."

What's next:

The Bears can’t truly take the next step from a squad that made the NFC Divisional round to a team that’s on the cusp of a Super Bowl without Williams doing everything at an elite level.

Williams has plenty believing in him now. That’s a result of what everything he’s done last season manifesting itself in the present day.

One of the best examples is how there’s no bigger believer in Williams than Johnson.

Last year, the rapport wasn’t there yet. After a season in the trenches, it’s easy to see how much Williams has earned Johnson’s trust.

The Bears’ coach said Tuesday there’s no play he can’t make, and the team always knows it has an ace up its sleeve when Williams puts the cape on to play Superman.

Williams knows that ability to enter the theoretical phone booth mid-game

"When things happen, I put on a cape and go do my thing whenever that happens," Williams said. "But it's not something that needs to be on – or showing, at least – until the moment shows up."

The Bears just him to be a great player, not Superman, for 60 minutes instead of 15.

"I think that word consistency comes up over the course of a 60-minute game or more if we need it, to where we're playing with high level quarterback play throughout that game," Johnson said. "You see flashes of it, and yet we're trying to tap into that where we're just consistently delivering the ball where it needs to go, giving it to our guys around us."

Given how Williams’ has a penchant for improving when he hyper focuses on one area of his game, it’s fair to expect that Williams will improve in 2026.

"We have a real common goal," Williams said. "It's to find a way to make the Chicago Bears champions at the end of the day."