LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- If the goal of Tuesday's lengthy, humid practice was to "create evidence" for Ben Johnson and his coaching staff to know where the Bears stand at the halfway point of training camp, Caleb Williams gave his head coach exactly what he was looking for.
Towards the end of the near two-hour session, Williams and the offense began the final move-the-ball period backed up at their own 1-yard line. Like majority of practice, this exercise was completely off-script, with the objective for Williams' unit to convert two first downs to win the drill.
One play after Dillon Thieneman blitzed off the edge and nearly ran Williams out of the back of the end zone, the quarterback slipped through a gap as he felt pressure to his right and fired off pass to Rome Odunze, who scampered 58 yards down field on a catch-and-run.
Moments later, Willams briefly lost Scotty Miller -- "that's what happens when you're on the shorter end," Williams quipped -- before he caught a glimpse of the veteran wide receiver streaking open on a crossing route and ripped the ball for another big gain to win the drill.
It was an exclamation point on the type of practice Williams said the Bears needed; one that helps build callouses for an offense looking to continue its late-game dominance from a year ago when it became the first team in NFL history to pull off a total of seven fourth-quarter comebacks.
"He's taken complete control of what we're trying to do, and so we're on the right track," Johnson said. Williams' search for consistency through the Bears' first 11 practices has been a focal point of camp. The quarterback who had to curtail the urge to text his head coach throughout the offseason as he eagerly awaited the start of their second year together was red hot during the opening stretch of camp.
His operation from the huddle to the snap was crisp. His connections with Odunze, Colston Loveland, Luther Burden III and Kalif Raymond showed what this offense is capable of at full strength. Just about every practice featured a "wow!" moment from Williams, who showed up to camp down 10-15 pounds and with sky-high confidence.
Then came the lull, to which Johnson shouldered some responsibility. It wasn't as if the issues that routinely plagued Williams last training camp were resurfacing. Unlike a year ago, the quarterback hardly felt like he was drowning. Having his head above water meant surviving an intense installation period designed to see how much the quarterback can handle.
"Those first four practices I thought were really, really good, and then as the volume has continued to go up -- and it's my fault as much as anything, just because I think I've put in more this year on offense than I did a year ago by design," Johnson said. "I want it to feel like a lot right now -- that there's been a level of plateau up to this point. Now that things will slow down from an installation point, I think we're going to see him continue to go on the upswing."
By every account, Tuesday's practice snapped that lull. Even in the areas where Williams still seeks improvement, like with his accuracy, the quarterback's growth is tangible in different areas. While the Bears built themselves into the kings of the fourth quarter, the offense's ability to score before halftime was an issue in 2025. Most practices end with the team repping crunch-time moments with situations that force the offense into hurry-up mode and the two-minute drill.
On Aug. 8, Williams delivered one of those wow moments during an end-of-half situation. With the offense facing a third-and-10 with 12 seconds until halftime, Williams bought time when dropping back before throwing a 17-yard laser to Odunze, who high-pointed the ball between two defenders in the back of the end zone for a touchdown.
Mastering moments like these allows Williams to fulfill Johnson's objective of throwing as much as he can at the quarterback in film and walkthrough sessions to see what he can retain and execute at full speed on the practice field.
"One, it takes reps," Williams said. "That's always important. I think, two, it takes a bit of failure, it takes a bit of maybe plateauing and going up and down. Taking one step up, one step down and kind of being at the same level trying to figure things out so that when you get to the season, now you're rolling. When you get to the season, the confidence is there.
"When you get to the season, it's everything is coming together and like I said, that's the point of this moment, this time, being able to go out there and fail. Go out there and come back to the film room and correct it and go out there the next day in walkthrough or whatever it is and get out there and correct it and get it right so that Coach has the proper confidence in myself but also the team to be able to go out there on game days."
But nothing carries a bigger endorsement for where Williams is at this point of training camp than how Johnson sees an extension of himself on the field. Rather than coaches leading the charge in afternoon walk-throughs from practice hours before, players, particularly Williams, are now focusing on where corrections need to be made.
"He certainly is leading that charge," Johnson said. "He knows when it's not good enough; he's huddling us back up and let's get it right.
"I felt that in practice [the other day] too. You guys might've noticed it; we broke the huddle and things weren't quite right and he's regrouping us. So, I think that's a huge step in the right direction. I know those guys really value what he has to say. They're getting extra reps when the horn is done for the day and continuing to working on hooking up in the passing game with all the pass catchers, and that's only going to pay dividends down the road."