Caleb Williams delivers big plays as Bears face training camp ‘midterm’

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — A little more than a half-hour before the Chicago Bears took the field for one of their more intense training camp sessions to date, head coach Ben Johnson relayed what he had told his players.

“Today will weigh a lot,” Johnson said, “in terms of where everyone stands on the roster. … It’s going to be a big-time practice.”

Indeed, Tuesday was one of those afternoons. Elevated heat plus heightened intensity plus increased competition.

Consider it a midterm of sorts with Johnson wanting to test his team in unscripted competitive situations and eager to review how individual players responded to the challenge.

“This will come through for us as far as who can play fast with not knowing what’s coming,” Johnson said. “Who can react? Who can adjust? Like we talked about the first day I was up here, it’s all about building trust right now. Not just for the coaching staff but for each other as teammates.”

After a session that lasted a little less than two hours, Johnson and his coaching staff have plenty of video to review and plenty of conversations to hold as they work toward shaping the roster for the regular season. Here’s a review of what we saw and heard during Tuesday’s scrimmage and through interviews at Halas Hall.

Player in the spotlight

During a backed-up situational period late in practice, the Bears’ offense started at its own 1-yard line and needed two first downs to win the drill. Quarterback Caleb Williams, though, got greedy. Not only did he pick up the two first downs, but he also recorded consecutive completions of 58 yards and 35 yards to Rome Odunze and Scotty Miller, respectively.

The dart to Odunze came with Williams flushing to his right away from pressure in the end zone and then putting a heater on his receiver, who had created separation against Jaylon Johnson. Odunze caught the pass near the right sideline and slipped free into the open field.

Those types of sequences are building-block moments for Williams, competitive victories as the offense continues to take shape. But this camp hasn’t been a straight climb for the third-year quarterback, with Johnson noting before Tuesday’s practice that he has noticed a performance “plateau” due in part to the volume of offense being installed.

Williams, though, has learned how to navigate the peaks and valleys of summer preparation. “One, it takes reps,” he said. “That’s always important. I think, two, it takes a bit of failure, it takes a bit of maybe plateauing and going up and down (to grow). … This is training camp. It’s long days, long nights, very repetitive. And that’s on purpose.”

Johnson has appreciated the ongoing investment of his starting quarterback and his willingness to take on as much as has been thrown at him.

“He’s embracing it really well,” Johnson said. “I love the process he has right now. He’s coming in early, staying late after practice, getting extra reps with the route runners. He’s taken complete control of what we’re trying to do. So we’re on the right track.”

Pressing question

What happens now on the back end of the Bears’ defense?

Tuesday’s biggest gut punch came with Johnson’s prepractice announcement that safety Coby Bryant had undergone surgery on his injured left knee and will be out until at least mid-December with a longer-range recovery-and-rehab timeline of six months, which could mean Bryant misses the entire season.

Yikes.

No wonder the Bears pushed late last week to bring in 10th-year veteran Xavier Woods for added stability in the secondary. And indeed Woods, still getting acclimated at Halas Hall, continued to take first-team reps Tuesday alongside rookie Dillon Thieneman.

The Bears’ depth at safety remains in flux. Elijah Hicks (shin) is still on the physically unable to perform list. Cam Lewis, after exiting practice Saturday with an undisclosed injury, remained out of team drills Tuesday.

The current depth behind Woods and Thieneman consists of Anthony Johnson Jr. and Skyler Thomas.

The Bears won’t be able to easily replace Bryant, an established standout starter whose competitive edge and aggressive play style prompted Johnson on Tuesday to call him “the template for how we all want our team to play.” But now, the push to find a suitable replacement takes on additional importance.

“That’s the best thing about team sports,” Johnson said. “Normally when there is a little bit of open air, some guys will step up to the plate and say, ‘No one else is going to do it, so I am.’ I think that’s going to be a fun thing to watch.”

Keep an eye on …

The Bears continue pushing for clarity in the competition for their starting left tackle job, and Johnson was hopeful Tuesday’s practice could prove illuminating.

As Braxton Jones missed his third consecutive practice due to injury, Kiran Amegadjie and Jedrick Wills split time with the first-unit offense. Amegadjie, a third-round pick in 2024, has shown the coaching staff things with his physicality and length. But his quest for improved consistency is ongoing.

The same goes for Wills, who joined the Bears on a one-year “prove it” deal in March, bringing top-end talent — he was the No. 10 pick in the 2020 draft — and experience (57 career starts) to the mix. But Wills’ career has had numerous injury interruptions, most recently a leg injury in 2024 that required osteotomy surgery and kept him out of the 2025 season as well.

After 11 camp practices, the Bears are still trying to decode the mystery for what kind of player Wills can be this season. “To me,” Johnson said, “it’s the case of a player who is still regaining his confidence and strength levels. I think he’s starting to understand: ‘Man, I still can play at a really, really high level.’

“But I keep going back to how well can he pass protect one-on-one? Well, he has the traits. Long arms. He’s able to mirror pass rushers. So it’s all there. It’s just a matter of consistency and familiarity with what we’re doing. He’s a little behind the other guys because he hasn’t been in the system for a year.”

As the Bears close in on their first preseason game, the quest to solve the left tackle riddle continues.

Quote of note

Veteran center Garrett Bradbury has enjoyed his introduction to Ben Johnson’s offense, a system that puts a lot of responsibility on the guy snapping the ball.

“There’s a lot of ownership,” Bradbury said Tuesday. “I’ve had coaches say in the past, ‘You get the keys to the car.’ You get to take that ownership and make a lot of calls. I love that piece of the game. Sometimes it’s a little bit like a puzzle, and you’ve got to solve the puzzle right before the ball is snapped. And then you’ve got to do your job. That’s something I take a lot of pride in. It’s not just directing the five O linemen, but the tight ends, the running backs, getting everyone on the same page. I relish that. I love it. I think it’s fun to play in.”

Quick hits

• Second-year offensive tackle Ozzy Trapilo, according to Johnson, continues “hitting his hurdles” in his recovery from the torn patellar tendon he suffered during the team’s playoff win over Green Bay. What that means for Trapilo’s possible return remains unclear. The Bears haven’t ruled out the possibility of getting Trapilo at least some reps during training camp this month to test him out and rebuild his confidence in padded practices. But whenever the young offensive tackle gets back out on the field, it’s difficult to forecast how long it will take him to regain top form as far as his speed, strength and overall comfort.

• In a short-yardage period to open the 11-on-11 portion of Tuesday’s practice, the Bears’ offense got it rolling. D’Andre Swift opened the period with an explosive run for 29 yards plus a 12-yard burst on the next snap. Kyle Monangai went for 25 yards on his run immediately after.

• Notable players unable to participate in Tuesday’s practice included Braxton Jones, receivers Luther Burden and Zavion Thomas, defensive end Montez Sweat, guards Luke Newman and Jordan McFadden, linebacker D’Marco Jackson and defensive backs Jaylon Jones and Terell Smith.