In a way, it sounds as if Caleb Williams catches a break getting the new-look Ben Johnson offense as it’s constituted in Chicago.
Johnson admits the play calls he had in Detroit became a little too involved and less is always better for younger quarterbacks. Now it seems the second-year Bears QB will benefit from the way they tore the thing “down to the studs,” as Johnson and offensive coordinator Declan Doyle had put it.
There should be shorter play calls in the huddle, for the most part.
“Depends on what we’re trying to get done,” Johnson said. “I would’ve said three years ago, shorter end, and then things have gotten a little bit more complex.
“Now that we’re back to building it from square one again, it’s a blend of when I first started play calling to where I ended last year. We’re trying to find that right mix.”
The problem with longer play calls is rather obvious. It takes the quarterback too long to say it in the huddle and then they’re at the line of scrimmage later and leaving little time to make changes based on what they see from the defense.
It can all lead to more confusion with the huddle and at the line, and Johnson showed at OTA practice Wednesday he needs them out of the huddle quickly, efficiently, even forcefully. The expletive he yelled to catch their attention when he wanted a new huddle call and break communicated everything very well.
“There’s a certain way that the break should sound to us around. That means that we’re ready for business and we’re ready to get going,” Johnson said. “And if it doesn’t sound that way then we’re just not going to allow the, the practice to go south.”
The shorter play calls or simplified ones might help Williams and the whole offense, but Johnson also sounds like he doesn’t want to baby anyone.
It sounds like there could be changes to some of the way they’re working this with the offense.
“We’re also trying to challenge these guys and see how much we can handle too–every position group on offense,” Johnson said. “We’re trying to see how much they can download and what they can apply.
“We’ll revisit that as a staff at the end of OTAs and decide what the best course of action for us going forward into the season’s going to look like. Training camp might be a little bit different because of that.”
Anything to reduce the number of presnap penalties would be both a refreshing change and a good way to increase productivity.
Last year the Bears had 59 presnap penalties, the second-most in the NFL behind only Cleveland. They had six delay-of-game penalties, 11th most in the league.
The amount of presnap confusion isn’t properly reflected by that penalty count alone.
They had wasted timeouts and also 28 false starts, the fifth most. Some of that is caused by indecisiveness or rushing to get plays off. They tied for fifth most illegal formation with six, another sign things weren’t flowing well in the huddle, coming to the line during the presnap process overall.
Anything Johnson can do to make the play call simpler for Williams to make in the huddle can only be viewed as a benefit if it helps to reduce the dreaded flags which help to kill drives.
