ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky stresses patience with Caleb Williams

After an offseason full of hype and high expectations, the Chicago Bears have started the 2025 season with back-to-back depressing losses, both to NFC South rivals.

The Bears’ offense, in particular, was supposed to be re-energized by the arrival of new head coach Ben Johnson, who transformed the Detroit Lions’ offense into one of the most explosive and productive units in the league over his three seasons as their offensive coordinator. But two games in, the unit still looks disjointed, and second-year quarterback Caleb Williams is still struggling with consistency.

Williams carries enough expectation of his own as last year’s No. 1 overall pick, and he was expected to take another big step forward with Johnson now calling the shots for the offense. But there have still been flashes of brilliance over the first two games of the season, and ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky says fans and critics need to practice some patience with Williams and the Chicago offense under Johnson:

Williams is still trying to polish the finer points of his game, but there’s no denying that all of the physical traits that made him last year’s top pick are still present, and he’s made a handful of throws over these first two games that should give Bears fans plenty of hope for the future.

So, while it’s definitely frustrating to start the season 0-2, with both losses to division rivals in crushing fashion, fans and analysts alike would be wise to exercise some patience as Williams, Johnson and the rest of the Bears offense continues to get on the same page.

Once they start firing on all cylinders, Johnson clearly has enough talent on his side of the ball to turn Chicago’s unit into the new version of what he had in Detroit.