Bears coordinators Dennis Allen (defense), Declan Doyle (offense) and Richard Hightower (special teams) spoke to the media Friday at Halas Hall. Here are five things we learned from those sessions:
(1) In-game adjustments will be even more important than usual for the Bears defense in Monday night's season opener given that there's little tape to study of Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
After being selected by Minnesota with the 10th pick in last year's draft, McCarthy missed his entire rookie year with a knee injury and threw only seven passes in preseason action this summer, completing four for 30 yards.
"My experience would tell me that the teams that are able to adjust the best within the game, those are the teams that usually have the most success," Allen said. "In particular with J.J., we studied him coming out. We got a chance to see him in a couple preseason games. And yet we don't have a lot of film on him, so we'll have to be ready to adjust and see how they're trying to call the game with him."
The Bears defense is preparing for plays that the Vikings have run since Kevin O'Connell become head coach in 2022 as well as unscouted looks.
"We're going to see something that we haven't seen yet," Allen said. "So we really have to be able to prepare for the system and then we've got to be ready to adjust."
(2) Allen hopes that Pro Bowl cornerback Jaylon Johnson will be able to play Monday night, but that has yet to be determined.
The sixth-year pro, who missed all of training camp and the preseason, participated in Friday's practice on a limited basis due to groin and calf injuries.
"I know he's been working extremely hard to get himself back," Allen said. "Ultimately, that will be a decision that gets made between [coach] Ben [Johnson] and the training staff in terms of where he's at.
"I know he's itching to get back out there. We'll see how it goes throughout the rest of the week, and we'll make a decision whether he's good to go or not."
(3) The main thing that Doyle has worked on with second-year quarterback Caleb Williams has been his processing ability.
Going through his progressions quickly and effectively will help Williams achieve a goal set by Johnson of completing at least 70% of his passes.
"Pass game efficiency is about taking what's there and working through his reads," Doyle said. "On every given play, he's got a place to start and he's going to have outlets and answers that he needs to find later in the play. And that's really how that [completion percentage] goes up is when guys are playing through 1 and 2 and they're able to find 3 and 4, find the back, whatever that may be.
"[The goal] is process related. It's talking him through each of these plays and where the ball might need to go if the primary isn't open."
Doyle has seen Williams' processing improve since they started working together in April and predicts that as weekly game plans are installed, "you're going to continue to see a guy who is working really hard at it continue to progress."
The key to successful processing involves knowing where to look.
"The game slows down when your eyes go to the right place," Doyle said. "When you hear guys talk about Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, their processing ability … they're saying, 'I know where to look, where my eyes need to go.' It's the implied information: This piece moves and I understand what that means relative to the rest of the scheme … You're trying to train the eyes all the time."
(4) Doyle has been impressed not only with Colston Loveland's traits, but the rookie tight end's commitment to learning the offense.
"First and foremost is he came in very serious about learning the scheme, learning the ins and outs of everything," Doyle said. "He's an eager guy; a guy that's texting [tight ends coach Jim] Dray: 'Can I get the installs?'
"He just wants more information. He absorbs all of it. That's the biggest thing. He does a really good job of learning it. He's trying to do it all exactly the way we're asking him to do it. And then obviously the skill set, why he's here, we really enjoy that. Watching that in college and seeing a lot of the same things here."
(5) Hightower believes that kicker Cairo Santos' election as a team captain was well-deserved.
After an injury derailed a promising start to his career with the Chiefs, Santos kicked for five different teams over three seasons from 2017-19, including a two-game stint with the Bears in 2017.
Since rejoining the club in 2020, Santos has become the most accurate field goal kicker in franchise history, making 89.3% of his attempts (134 of 150). Last year he broke his own record with eight field goals of at least 50 yards and has connected on 88.2% of his attempts of 50 yards or more (15 of 17) the past two seasons.
"When you talk about Cairo, he's emblematic of what guys should be in the special teams room; his journey, what he went through to get to where he is now," Hightower said. "Some of those guys in the special teams room, you don't have a lot of first- or second-rounders playing, so they can relate to his story. Cairo's a really good example for them.
"The special teams room was fired up for him. He's confident, he's consistent, he was clutch. He's all of those things that you want a guy to be that holds that position. We are really proud of him. He's a really good representation of what we believe in in our room."
