The Chicago Bears held a training camp practice in front of fans for the last time Tuesday at Halas Hall. They have another practice Wednesday before heading into Thursday’s preseason finale against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.
Here’s our rundown from the day.
News of the day
Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams will not play Thursday against the Chiefs.
Bears coach Matt Eberflus announced Tuesday that Williams and the majority of the Bears starters will sit out the game, the team’s fourth of the preseason. Eberflus said the Bears felt good about the range of reps that starters received in preseason games this month against the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals, along with a joint practice with the Bengals last week.
Bears staff will discuss the possibility of playing a handful of starters who so far may have logged limited reps because of injuries, Eberflus said.
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Williams finished two preseason games with 43 snaps, just below the Bears’ original stated range of 45-55. He finished 10 of 20 for 170 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions and also had two carries for 20 yards, including a 7-yard touchdown run.
Eberflus said he thought Williams put together a good preseason.
“Just the process of being able to get into the huddle, make the call, be clean, get to the line, look at the shot clock and say, ‘OK, this is a little bit low’ and move guys around fast enough to get the snap off,” Eberflus said. “Have an awareness. And then really do a good job at the line of scrimmage to be able to adjust to what the defense gives you. It’s been clean. And then post-snap he’s been relatively good in terms of going through his progressions, making good decisions, taking care of the football in the pocket with two hands and moving around there when he does have to do that.”
The Bears still have 20 days until the season opener on Sept. 8 against the Tennessee Titans at Soldier Field. Eberflus said his two main goals for his players are to maintain their conditioning level and to stay healthy. He said the Bears will have Williams get into work on the Titans next week.
Until the opener, Eberflus wants to see Williams “just competing.”
“Rising to the challenge like he’s done every single time that we have asked him to,” Eberflus said. “We’re going to give him different looks on defense with things we are putting in this season that we want on our menu board defensively. We’re challenging our players right now to learn those.”
Player in the spotlight
Rookie offensive tackle Kiran Amegadjie, who had quad surgery last fall, has been ramping up his work this week after the Bears activated him Sunday.
The third-round draft pick from Yale and Hinsdale Central said the extended break from playing was tough as he worked back from the injury. The rehab required him to teach his body how to do things again.
“When you have a surgery and you’re in bed for a long time, your leg’s immobilized, just teaching your body what to do again,” Amegadjie said. “That came over time. It came naturally. I feel great now and everything feels ready to go.”
While sitting out, Amegadjie tried to settle in with the Bears with the help of his veteran teammates and coach Chris Morgan, who made sure he stayed on top of the playbook. He hopes the mental reps will help him quickly get up to speed now that he’s on the field.
And he’s eager to get back to it.
“I knew I already loved football, but I learned how much I appreciate football and appreciate getting out there with the team and appreciate playing the game, the chess match of it,” Amegadjie said. “Really just being physical, hitting. Everything that is football I just find that I appreciate more than I even knew I did.”
Practice watch
The more than two-hour practice Tuesday grew heated late when a couple of skirmishes broke out between the starting offense and defense.
Defensive tackle Gervon Dexter’s hit on running back Ian Wheeler caused the first tussle. A bigger fight broke out with multiple players pushing when a linebacker brought down running back Velus Jones Jr. on a play.
Order was restored, and the Bears offense finished with a splash when tight end Gerald Everett jumped to snag a touchdown pass from Williams on the right side of the end zone, just managing to stay inbounds alongside tough coverage from Tyrique Stevenson.
Officials signaled a touchdown, but defensive coaches and players argued the call.
Bears officials reviewed the footage from an HBO “Hard Knocks” camera, and assistant general manager Ian Cunningham confirmed a touchdown.
Seen and heard
One day after Williams hit wide receiver Keenan Allen for three touchdown passes, the pair connected again and again in Tuesday’s practice.
Several of those throws came at the expense of Stevenson, who explained the difficulty in defending Allen earlier in the day.
“If you play him too close, he’s good enough to make that incredible catch,” Stevenson said. “So you have to give him space to see which way he’s going. If you sell on a route too hard, he can take it back the other way. And if you play him low, he’s definitely taking it over the top. So it’s just figuring out how to take him out of his groove and all that. I feel like his ability to create separation when he needs to is second to none.”
Quote of note
“He just sometimes gives me that look like, ‘Man if you wasn’t there, it would have been something special.’ But yeah, he needs those looks. He needs to feel that pressure, so I provide that for him.” — defensive end Montez Sweat on pressuring Caleb Williams in practice
Injury report
Safety Kevin Byard missed his second straight practice with what Eberflus called “soft tissue stuff.”
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“But we feel really good about where he is,” Eberflus said.
Offensive linemen Ryan Bates and Theo Benedet, defensive tackle Zacch Pickens, cornerback Jaylon Jones, defensive end Jake Martin and tight end Marcedes Lewis (likely veteran rest) also sat out practice.
Safety Jaquan Brisker began to work his way into more team work as he returned from injury.