Bears
Bears QB Caleb Williams said that HC Ben Johnson has been great as a players’ coach and he’s been a player’s advocate since he was hired.
“We know that he loves us as people, us as humans, and he loves us as players,” Williams said, via ESPN. “But he also loves to win. He likes things the way that he likes things to be done. And we understand that, and everybody wants to go out there and win and play for him. And I think we’ve shown that so far.”
Bears TE Cole Kmet said that Johnson held Williams to the same standard as the rest of the team and regularly called him out in meetings when he made a mistake on film.
“Some coaches are afraid to coach the No. 1 overall pick, but at the end of the day — and I have no problem saying this — Caleb comes in, he doesn’t know anything,” Kmet said. “So you’ve got to teach the guy, you’ve got to get on him. And I think Ben’s done a really good job of that.”
Bears OC Declan Doyle explained how Williams and Johnson’s relationship developed to the point where the two can foster trust within each other.
“You need the playcaller and the quarterback to be in sync, be able to think the same way,” Doyle said. “I think both of them have been very open to learning how each other kind of operates, and that takes time. There’s no shortcut to that. There’s nothing fake about that. That’s them being in a room and talking through football. Part of it is Caleb being wide-open to be trained to think like Ben thinks, and part of that is Ben figuring out how do I communicate to the quarterback in the best way for him to understand. And I think that’s in any coach/player relationship. You’re trying to figure out, how does this guy learn best and then how can I put him in positions to go out and have success.”
Lions
Lions HC Dan Campbell believes the team has the right pieces in place, but they’ll make some minor changes in order to maximize who they can be.
“I still believe the nucleus of this team is right, but we’ve got to make a few changes,” Campbell said, via PFT. “We’ve got to work through some things to get the best version of ourselves.”
Lions
Lions TE Sam LaPorta dealt with a back injury throughout the 2025 season, which limited him to just nine games after playing 33 games in his first two years. LaPorta reflected on his tough season and admitted he was doing his best to get back in a short time frame.
“It was really unfortunate,” LaPorta said, via the team’s website. “I was trying to look at the best possible outlook, and I was hoping to get back in that two-to-three-week range. In the days following the Commanders game, I was just in a lot of pain. I was walking around like an 80-year-old man and it just wasn’t getting any better. I felt like surgery was the best route and the team felt that way as well. Backs aren’t anything to mess with and I want a long healthy career. So, it was the best route.”
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