The Chicago Bears held their final mandatory minicamp practice Thursday morning at Halas Hall, sending their veterans into summer break before the team reports for training camp next month.
The Bears will hold one final session of organized team activities next week with only rookies in attendance. Coach Matt Eberflus said his staff will use the time to prepare the rookies for what they need to do before training camp.
“It’s just about relearning, reinstalling and then really setting the game plan for the summer plan,” Eberflus said. “How exactly do we go through those four weeks to make sure that our baseline is here, but now we can increase it two more steps in terms of knowledge of the scheme.”
For most of the 90-man roster, Thursday marked the end of the offseason program. After a week of competitive practices and insightful interview sessions, here are the highlights from minicamp.
Caleb Williams watch
Through the ups and downs of his first month with the Bears, rookie quarterback Caleb Williams tries to take a moment each day to remind himself that with all the talented skill players surrounding him, “we’re going to be pretty damn good.”
Then he puts his head down and gets back to work, striving for perfection when he knows it’s not possible at this stage of learning all about his new team and the offense. Williams is trying to find that balance between the confidence he needs to lead a team and the humility of understanding he has a long way to go.
Among the biggest challenges he has faced, he said after the final minicamp practice, is perfecting the cadence, an issue that has popped up in practices with false starts. He needs to nail down the verbiage, he said. And he needs to remain neutral and calm when mistakes happen.
“I didn’t come in necessarily with the expectation to seem like a 13-year vet,” Williams said. “I came in to show the guys that I’m here, I’m working my tail off, I’m progressing and trying not to make the same mistake again. … That’s been my biggest thing. And also understanding that I’m leading an organization and a team, so just having that mindset and being in that mind state and just trying to find my flow.”
Williams believes he has made progress with the cadence, making all of his reads and throwing with anticipation. He had beautiful back-to-back touchdown passes in the seven-on-seven periods Thursday, hitting DJ Moore over the middle and then perfectly placing a pass to a leaping Rome Odunze in the back left corner of the end zone amid tight coverage.
But later there were several incompletions in a full-team period when Williams went up against the first-team defense, as he has for much of the offseason. Eberflus said pitting Williams against the Bears starters will be beneficial, and it will be taken up a notch in training camp when the Bears have padded practices.
“Caleb is a talent, a very good talent,” Eberflus said. “His game will go to where it needs to be. I want him to see that in front of him, the windows closing, the variation of what we do on defense, and I want him to see that day in and day out so that when he gets to play somebody else, it will look like, ‘OK, I’ve been there, done that.’ That’s how we’re going to keep it.”
Through those challenges, Williams has appreciated support from teammates via texts, phone calls or words of encouragement on the field.
“Them just believing, seeing the vision that we all have,” Williams said. “And being graceful with me knowing that I’m pretty tough on myself, but they see right through it and understand that.”
News of the day
As the training camp schedule comes together, the Bears announced Thursday they will host a joint practice with the Cincinnati Bengals at Halas Hall on Aug. 15, two days before the teams meet in a preseason game at Soldier Field.
Eberflus has been collaborating with Bengals coach Zac Taylor on the logistics and said the teams will work through a variety of specific situations to squeeze the most out of the practice.
“I think it’s going to be awesome,” Eberflus said.
Last summer the Bears visited Westfield, Ind., for a pair of joint practices with the Indianapolis Colts and promoted the value of those sessions. The Bears will hold only one such practice with the Bengals but remain enthusiastic about what they can accomplish.
For the defense, the opportunity to compete against a high-powered Bengals offense led by quarterback Joe Burrow and wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins should be enjoyable.
“Those are always good tests,” linebacker T.J. Edwards said. “Those joint practices, man, they feel like games. It’s like you’re trying to see where you’re at and (how you) stack up. And that’s obviously a really good football team. So we’re excited.”
The joint practice with the Bengals will be the last of nine training camp practices open to the public. The others are on July 26, 27 and 30 and Aug. 4, 6, 7, 13 and 14. Rookies are scheduled to report July 16 with veterans reporting July 19. The first camp practice will be held July 20.
Seen and heard
There is no more appropriate category for the Bears defense, which continued to establish its presence during spring practices. Throughout OTAs and minicamp, the first-team defense consistently made plays — and then made noise, barking and chirping and creating added energy for a unit that hopes to be one of the best in the league in 2024.
“They look like a top-five defense,” veteran wide receiver Keenan Allen said. “They sound like a top-five defense too.”
Nickel cornerback Kyler Gordon noted the infectious nature of the defense’s collective enthusiasm and emphasized the value of turning up the volume for the offense to hear.
“It’s intimidating for other people,” he said. “We’re constantly running to the ball, all 11 hats. (We’re) communicating loud. I just feel like it brings a sense of ‘What are they doing?’ So I love it. Everyone’s saying something every day. Someone has some kind of energy everywhere.”
Cornerback Jaylon Johnson also used the word “intimidating.”
“It’s one thing to make plays, but when you’re talking after every play, you really start to see if somebody is going to stand up or if they’re going to fold,” Johnson said. “With execution comes energy. So I feel like for us to have that energy, we have to execute.”
Player in the spotlight
Johnson didn’t hesitate when asked what will motivate him this season after securing a four-year, $76 million contract extension in March.
“Being the best corner in the league,” he said Wednesday.
Johnson always has been forthright about his lofty goals. He reached one last season when he was named to the Pro Bowl and second-team Associated Press All-Pro for the first time. The honors came after a season in which he had a career-high four interceptions, including a pick-six, with 10 passes defended and a forced fumble.
Johnson believes growth in his football IQ and consistency helped him reach that career-best season. And he said his work and pride in his role won’t change after getting paid.
Safety Jaquan Brisker confirmed Johnson has been “the same guy every day.”
“We know what we’re going to get out of him every single day, and that’s what I appreciate,” Brisker said. “Even now, he’s working even harder. You can tell he’s not letting anything get to him. He has a chip on his shoulder. He wants to be the best and he doesn’t want any comparisons.”
Johnson and Brisker join Gordon and cornerback Tyrique Stevenson as returning starters in the secondary, which also added veteran safety Kevin Byard. Johnson believes the group is ascending.
“I feel like just having consistency within the guys, guys having a certain level of experience and a certain level of hunger and everybody just understanding what the standard is and what we want to accomplish,” Johnson said. “I feel like that allows us to play a lot faster, play a lot smarter.”
Johnson is interested to see how facing a revamped Bears offense will challenge him in practice, particularly facing six-time Pro Bowl selection Allen.
“Being able to see a guy like that and talk to him about certain things that he does and the reason why he does certain things, it’s definitely exciting for me,” Johnson said. “And then to be able to go against it because he’s a receiver that is unpredictable.
“As skillful as a lot of these guys are in this league that do a lot of great things, I feel like they are not as unpredictable, they are not as crafty as Keenan is. So being able to go against that every day, it’s something that can help me and DBs to get better.”
Injuries and attendance
Several players sat out the final day of practice, including Gordon, tight end Cole Kmet, offensive tackles Braxton Jones and Kiran Amegadjie, right guard Nate Davis, wide receivers Tyler Scott, Dante Pettis and Collin Johnson and defensive end Austin Booker.
Eberflus said the Bears don’t see any serious issues among the players who sat out.
Davis participated in a limited capacity Wednesday but was sidelined again Thursday. The Bears have used newcomers Matt Pryor and Ryan Bates at right guard with Davis out. Eberflus expects Davis to remain the starter but noted the improved depth should benefit the Bears. Bates also has played center along with Coleman Shelton.
“The versatility there has certainly been helpful,” Eberflus said. “Ryan (Poles) did a really good job of having those pieces in there so (it’s not) like last year or prior years (when) a guy goes down and we’re like, ‘Oh, what are we going to do?’ At least we have that flexibility at the O-line position.”
