Caleb Williams' performance vs. Bills not bad for starters

When Bears coach Ben Johnson was asked to "put a proper frame" around the near-perfect opening seven-play, 92-yard touchdown drive against the Bills on Sunday night — the kind of drive that sets Bears fans hearts aflutter — he acknowledged the escape from poor field position and Caleb Williams' "big-time throws."

But he did not address the bigger-picture aspect of that encouraging drive — Williams and the Bears' offense looked like a well-oiled machine, but against Bills defense of mostly back-ups, with just one projected starter (safety Cole Bishop, getting game reps after coming off a quad injury). How to you honestly and objectively judge that?

That's an almost rite of the preseason in the NFL, especially with the preseason devolving — or transforming — into a series of controlled joint practices with the preseason games an opportunity to finalize the back end of the roster.

Give Johnson credit — he prides himself on making adjustments (acknowledging misjudgments sooner rather than later is the impressive part of that trait) and playing his starters against the Bills on Sunday likely was a response to Williams and the offense looking like they needed the work. In the past, opposing coaches have worked out agreements to have starters vs. starters in the preseason. But in this day age, it's every man for himself, and Bills coach Sean McDermott kept his starters on the bench. (It's not known if Johnson talked to McDermott about their respective plans for the game. Everybody just does their own thing these days.)

Be that as it may, it created a mismatch and the Bears' offense took full advantage. Williams looked like he had mastered the Jared Goff part of the offensive plan — with a clean operation, getting to the line, having no pre-snap penalties and executing with precision. The Bears gained eight, six and five yards on first-and-10. They attacked the middle of the field. Both tight ends made plays — a 29-yard pass to Cole Kmet and an 18-yard pass to rookie Colston Loveland. And a quick-hitter to Olamadi Zaccheaus looked like the kind of play Johnson is getting paid $13 million a year to run — hitting Zaccheaus in stride to turn an eight-yard pass play into a 36-yard touchdown with run-after-the-catch.

In two series, Williams completed 6-of-10 passes for 107 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions for a 130.0 passer rating. There's no denying how impressive it was. And while Bears fans have every right to be encouraged by that, Bears skeptics have every right to wonder if that's just fool's gold, a false positive that will be exposed when the Bears face a real NFL defense on Sept. 8 against the Vikings.

The difference this time continues to be Ben Johnson, who has been hitting all the right notes as he prepares for his first season as an NFL head coach. After the 38-0 victory over the Bills on Sunday night, he didn't make the performance of Williams and the offense more than it was. He even acknowledged a regret in the end-of-half failure at the end of the second quarter, when he had quarterback Tyson Bagent stop the clock with a spike on third-and-seven from midfield with 11 seconds left. Bagent was sacked on fourth down to end the drive.

"I thought we were doing a good job moving it on down. We had an opportunity," Johnson said. "There's probably one thing I would do differently in hindsight rather than clocking the ball on third down. I probably would have gone one the ball with that much time left. But other than that, I thought it was good for our guys to get that experience."

Maybe it's easier to lament that misplay in the preseason, which matters, but doesn't count. We'll see if Johnson can make that kind of admission after a regular-season loss. But while Johnson has taken full advantage of not being Matt Eberflus and not having lost a game, he still has something that enhances all the other qualities he's show so far — the credibility of his success with the Lions' offense. Who knows how this will turn out. It's been the theme of his existence since he was hired in January, but that credibility seems to give him a benefit of the doubt that what we're seeing in a head coach is real. That leads to another theme of Johnson's tenure — Sept. 8 can't get here soon enough.

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