After a disappointing rookie campaign, Caleb Williams showed last season why he was the No. 1 overall pick.
A league-leading six regular-season fourth-quarter comebacks, a massive playoff win over rival Green Bay in which Chicago erased a 21-6 deficit entering the fourth quarter, and a season filled with highlight-reel moments.
His late touchdown strike to tight end Cole Kmet against the Los Angeles Rams in the Divisional Round showed a level of poise, precision, and clutch instinct that maybe only Patrick Mahomes can match, even if the season ended in heartbreak.
Yet, inside Halas Hall, the message to Williams entering 2026 is not “be more heroic.” It’s almost the opposite.
“Do less.”
That is the message from Chicago Bears quarterbacks coach J.T. Barrett, one of the most influential voices in Williams’ development under head coach Ben Johnson.
Barrett doesn’t want to remove Williams’ superpower. He wants Williams to stop needing it so often.
“We don’t have to work as hard for our money,” Barrett told Chicago Sun-Times’ Jason Lieser, pointing to plays where Williams extends chaos into brilliance while easier throws sit underneath in the progression.
“Late in some of those games, we were making some heroic plays … but it wasn’t necessary if we execute in the first quarter and second quarter,” Barrett said. “We can be efficient and take what the defense is giving. You don’t necessarily have to put the cape on and make those crazy plays because you already were killing them in the first three quarters.”
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While nobody argues against Williams’ 2025 season being incredible, he was also surprisingly inefficient.
He finished last among starting quarterbacks in completion percentage at 58.1%, a number Johnson reportedly wants pushed toward 70%, and averaged just 6.9 yards per attempt, trailing the elite standard Chicago’s new coaching tree believes in.
Barrett and Johnson helped oversee the renaissance of Jared Goff in Detroit, and did so without turning him into a human highlight reel. Instead, they built a machine around timing, sequencing, and efficiency.
Since arriving in Detroit in 2021, Goff has completed 67.5% of his passes, including a 72.4% mark in 2024 under Johnson, which ranked second in the NFL behind only Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa.
Goff became proof that elite quarterback play doesn’t always need to look exciting, and the NFL offers several other examples.
Josh Allen’s leap from a quarterback with raw potential to arguably the best in football came when Buffalo trimmed unnecessary hero ball, and early-career Mahomes similarly learned when not to chase the impossible throw.
Barrett also pointed to Drew Brees, Tom Brady, and reigning MVP Matthew Stafford as examples of elite players mastering the mundane first.
Brady, whom many view as the G.O.A.T., didn’t get there by living off impossible throws. He mastered the underneath game and consistently made the right reads.
If Williams can do the same, Barrett believes the sky is the limit for him and Chicago.
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