To play or not to play? Caleb Williams needs the work, but only if the Dolphins play ball

Is Caleb Williams having a good training camp or a bad one? Bears coach Ben Johnson will give us the answer Friday when he determines just how much Williams will play against the Dolphins in the Bears' preseason opener Sunday at Soldier Field.

Johnson's initial intent clearly was to give Williams no more than token snaps in the preseason, if any at all. In his first season as offensive coordinator with the Lions in 2022, Jared Goff played one series (3-of-4, 47 yards, 113.5 passer rating) in the preseason opener and that was it.

Johnson appears to be in the camp that believes joint practices — where the physicality can be better monitored — are the best and safest preparation for the regular season. The Bears have a joint practice with the Dolphins on Friday at Halas Hall. They have a joint practice with the Bills scheduled for next Friday before playing the Bills on Aug. 17 at Soldier Field.

But Johnson sounded like he was putting that plan in his most recent press conference Tuesday when asked about his preseason plan for the starters in general and Williams in particular. "Going into camp, I kind of had outlined in my head exactly the way I love it to play out," Johnson said. "With that in mind, we were going to re-visit that each player day-off, so to answer your question, To be determined. I'm going to visit with the staff [Wednesday] and finalize that."

Times have changed. But there doesn't seem to be much doubt that Williams and this offense need preseason game work to prepare for the regular season. And it seems like Johnson would be amenable to that if the circumstances present themselves. But preseason games have devolved into near folly for regular-season starters in recent years — there's virtually no such thing as a "dress rehearsal" these days — and playing Williams and the first-team offense only really works if the Dolphins are playing their first-team defense. Otherwise, it's just a glorified practice, which is worse than the joint practice.

"I need to talk to coach [Mike] McDaniel [Tuesday] night and just make sure we're on the same page with what Friday looks like," Johnson said. "We've already had those discussions, but just nail that down. And then we'll be on to the game on Sunday after that."

My former Sun-Times colleague Patrick Finley addressed the issue of Caleb Williams' preseason snaps in Tuesday's Sun-Times.

So it's not as simple as saying that Caleb Williams and the starting offense needs the work. That was a legitimate argument with Matt Nagy and Mitch Trubisky back in 2019-20 (when Nagy's plan to play Trubisky more in 2020 was stonewalled by COVID-19 leading to the cancellation of the preseason schedule).

But it's a little trickier today, which makes it difficult for developing teams to prepare for the season. It's increased the advantage established teams have (for what it's worth, 2023 playoff teams were 6-0 in Week 1 of the 2024 regular season against 2023 non-playoff teams).

But if Johnson is even trying to find a way to get Williams and the offense more preseason snaps, that's a pretty clear indication he's not satisfied with what he's seen in training camp. And regardless, no matter which side of this suffocating debate you're on, we won't get the answer until the regular season begins. That can't come soon enough at this point.

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