Bears coordinators Dennis Allen (defense), Declan Doyle (offense) and Richard Hightower (special teams) spoke to the media Thursday at Halas Hall. Here are five things we learned from those sessions:

(1) Allen is eager to see defensive end Austin Booker return to action.

The 2024 fifth-round pick was activated Tuesday after spending the first eight weeks of the regular season on injured reserve. Booker sustained a knee injury in the Bears' second preseason game against the Bills but still led the NFL with 4.0 sacks in the preseason. He has been practicing since Oct. 8.

"The last couple weeks he has been outstanding in practice," Allen said. "He'll get an opportunity, I think, to get out there this week. We'll see exactly what he can do, but I'm excited about watching him play, for sure."

Booker also impressed in the preseason as a rookie in 2024, registering 2.5 sacks in three games. He played in all 17 regular-season contests as a reserve last year, registering 21 tackles, three tackles-for-loss and 1.5 sacks.

(2) Allen is excited about reuniting with defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson.

The Bears signed the seventh-year pro Wednesday to bolster a depleted secondary and intend to play him at nickel back in place of the injured Kyler Gordon.

Gardner-Johnson first began playing nickel back as a rookie with the Saints in 2019 when Allen was his defensive coordinator. The Florida product made his first NFL start at nickel back against the Bears Oct. 20, 2019, registering seven solo tackles and two pass breakups.

"That was part of the whole evaluation process that we went through," Allen said. "We saw a really good athlete. We saw a highly competitive player. And we felt like that was an easy fit for us back then. He had played a little bit there, he played some safety, and we felt like at that point in time, it's kind of best to find one spot for him and let him get comfortable in one spot, and he did a nice job for us."

Gardner-Johnson brings passion and energy to the Bears.

"He's a highly competitive player, and he goes out there and competes on every single play," Allen said. "And so that's fully what I would expect for him to do with us. He brings a little attitude to the football team, which I think is good."

(3) Doyle is hopeful that tight end Cole Kmet will be able to play Sunday.

The sixth-year pro from Notre Dame, who missed the first game of his NFL career last weekend with a back injury, was a limited participant in practice Thursday for the second straight day. Kmet's return would provide a boost not only to the pass game, but the rushing attack as well.

"Cole does a great job in the run game," Doyle said. "Cole's a really good player, and so any time he can be back as a part of the offense, we're excited about that. The other two tight ends (Colston Loveland and Durham Smythe) have been doing a great job as well. Durham is a guy that probably is overlooked in some ways who has done a great job in the run game for us. But any time you get Cole back, you're fired up."

(4) Doyle is focused on improving the red-zone offense.

After scoring touchdowns on 6 of 7 trips inside-the-20 in their first three games, the Bears have reached the end zone on 5 of 16 red-zone possessions in their last four contests, including 1 of 3 last Sunday in Baltimore.

The Bears opened their game against the Ravens with 13- and 11-play drives but had to settle for field goals both times.

"The red zone struggles have been on all of us," Doyle said. "As you look at them sequentially, pulling up the last game, you might look at it and say, 'Hey, there's one play.' I look at it and say that if our precision and our detail is better on any one of those four plays, we probably come away with seven points in both of those first two drives. And that's the thing that we have to really hone in on.

"There's no magic answer. If there was, we'd be going out and doing it. It's really our ability to execute, be precise on details, with what we're asking guys to do in those critical moments are going to lead to sevens rather than threes."

(5) Hightower was pleased with Devin Duvernay's season-long 49-yard kickoff return against the Ravens.

The return came in the second quarter with the Bears trailing 7-6. It was Duvernay's longest return since Sept. 18, 2022, when he played for the Ravens and returned the game-opening kickoff 103 yards for a touchdown against the Dolphins.

"That was a huge play for us," Hightower said. "We really wanted to get Duvernay in the end zone in Baltimore. That was one of our goals as a team, a huge goal for the kickoff return team. They fought for Duvernay as best as they could.

"What stood out was guys in good position with good hat placement, good hand placement, finishing through the whistle. We'd like to see more of that. Duvernay made an excellent cut, he sold it, he set it up nicely."