The Bears wrapped up their mandatory minicamp with their third practice of the week Thursday at Halas Hall. Here are seven things we learned:

(1) Rome Odunze has experienced personal and team growth throughout the offseason program ahead of his second NFL season.

In his first full offseason as an NFL player, the No. 10 overall pick in the 2024 draft has dialed in on the things he needs to improve in order to be more physical at the professional level.

"This offseason I think I've just tried to build physically, mentally as well," Odunze said. "Just trying to put myself in peak condition, spiritually, mentally, physically, for this season, for me to have the best season yet that I've had in this league. So that comes to a lot of different aspects, to focusing on the playbook, to focusing on the weight room, getting faster, getting stronger, all those different things."

Physically, Odunze focused on upper body strength, including adding a few pounds of lean mass and losing some fat mass. With the start of training camp less than two months away, Odunze said he feels "great" and is narrowing in on his goals for the 2025 season.

"I like to think about the team and winning games and making the playoffs," Odunze said. "Individually, wanna go for 1,000 [yards], double digit [touchdowns]. I haven't honed in on any specific numbers yet, but I've always got those things in the back of my mind. I think when you're doing the right things and you're having success, and the team is having success, all the statistics and those numbers will come."

From a team aspect, specifically on offense, Odunze feels the Bears have accomplished "a lot of things" during the offseason program. Throughout OTAs and minicamp practices, Odunze has seen how explosive coach Ben Johnson's offense can be, but he knows it's up to him and his teammates to "make the plays and get the job done regardless."

"We have kind of set a foundation of our standard and still building on that as well," Odunze said. "But we set a foundation I feel like with many aspects of the offense – whether that's our details, our learning, our chemistry, our knowledge of the playbook, our feeling for different routes and specialization for individual receivers, tight ends and all that. I know when we get the pads on, the O-line and D-line will actually be able to have some fun out there as well."

(2) Johnson evaluated the success and accomplishments of his first offseason program as head coach.

"When [the players] came in in the springtime, each position coach had specific items of action for them to focus on," Johnson said. "We'd studied their tape really hard. Each guy had areas of improvement we wanted to get better at. Some were able to achieve that over the course of the spring. Others we really need pads on to hammer that home. Some of that doesn't change. Each guy knows where they stand right now. We'll really have the competition cranked up once we get back."

Having set goals and objectives for all three phases of the offseason program before it began, Johnson and his team circled back Thursday morning and "felt pretty good" about what they accomplished. However, Johnson stressed the importance of the players continuing to build on those accomplishments ahead of training camp.

"The onus is on our players now to take advantage of the next six weeks," Johnson said. "They've built a lot of good work with their bodies conditioning-wise, they're strong, we've got a number of guys that lost fat mass and gained lean mass and are in great shape right now. We've got to continue that trend, not just to maintain but keep pushing that a little bit further. For us, training camp's not a get-in-shape camp, it's show-up-in-shape camp so we can become a good football team."

(3) The Bears offense got their first taste of Johnson's knack for trick plays.

During Thursday's practice, Johnson had the opportunity to evaluate all of his potential offensive weapons during a drill where offensive linemen and quarterbacks practiced catching passes while running backs and receivers tested their throwing abilities.

Both right tackle Darnell Wright and backup quarterback Case Keenum stood out. Wright made a spectacular one-handed grab while Keenum caught a deep ball behind his back. Quarterback Caleb Williams also hauled in a deep throw from receiver Devin Duvernay.

"I let those guys know, we only do this once a year and it's an evaluation and we'll circle back in training camp and in the season to see who we can trust to catch the ball or throw the ball," Johnson said. "I think there's a couple guys on the O-line that stood out. And then Case Keenum might have made the catch of the day, behind the back about 50 yards down the field. So I think we've got some toys to work with."

(4) Defensive tackle Andrew Billings is excited about the depth of the defensive line after additions in free agency and the draft.

"We were talking about it yesterday, there's no drop off," Billings said. "I mean, me, Dex (Gervon Dexter Sr.), Shemar [Turner], Grady [Jarrett], it's just everybody. You've gotta deal with everybody, no matter who's on the field."

While Billings and Dexter return for their third season together, Jarrett joined the group in March via free agency for his 11th NFL season while Turner was selected in the second round of this year's draft. As Billings heads into his ninth NFL season, he believes Jarrett will be a big help for the entire unit.

"Grady has brought something different to the room, and it's really, really refreshing … I'm gonna learn a lot from him," Billings added.

(5) Odunze praised receivers coach Antwaan Randle-El for his knowledge and expertise of the receiver position and described his relationship with the former NFL wideout.

"It's been great," Odunze said. "He brings a lot of energy. I say all the time, he reminds me a lot of [former University of Washington receivers coach] JaMarcus Shephard. I'm not going to compare the two, but they're two great men. Very Christian and supportive of the Bible and giving us verses and things that inspire us. Words of wisdom, as well. Also, their on-the-field knowledge and the energy that they bring to every practice, every day, it's something that I feel like I have a great response to and chemistry when it comes to that coaching style."

(6) Third-year quarterback Tyson Bagent has benefited from the addition of Keenum, a 13-year NFL veteran.

"[He's] just an encyclopedia of information," Bagent said. "Just somebody that's been in every role that a quarterback could possibly be in in the NFL, and I've just been trying to take advantage of that and really any question that I have if he's around or if I've got my phone on me, wanting to ask him basically whatever it is that's been going on. He's been great with answering every question that really everybody in the room has so far."

While speaking to reporters last week, Keenum had high praise for Bagent, who the veteran said is "one of the most well-prepared guys on that field every day" and believes will "play a long time in this league."

"For anybody to say that is pretty sweet and pretty cool, but it means a lot," Bagent said. "This is my life's work so it does mean a lot. Coming from somebody like him, it means a little bit more."

The significance of that praise from Keenum stems from the first time Bagent attended an NFL game, which was a 2019 matchup between the Commanders and Giants where Keenum entered the game in the second quarter.

"I'm about five rows up behind the end zone and they're backed up on their own 1 and he just manufactured a 95-yard drive," Bagent said. "And really the one throw that sticks out, he dropped back, foot was probably an inch from being out of bounds, out of the back of the end zone and threw an over route to [Jamison] Crowder I want to say. And just the angle and the drive that followed was something that I didn't forget … So for him to say something like that is extremely cool."

(7) Johnson is taking time to not only evaluate the players' offseason work, but the work of himself and his coaching staff.

"I'm critical of myself," Johnson said. "The practice was probably, it can be a little bit smoother in terms of how we function. I need to communicate with everyone a little bit better – the coaching staff, the equipment staff and I'm going to get better there. I'll do a better job once we get to camp.

"But I was really impressed with the entire coaching staff. I mean, we've got the right mix of guys: experience, youth, energy, ideas — it's coming together. And I hope our players really understood — it's hard to gain trust in such a short period of time — hopefully, they understand that our guys mean business, this coaching staff means business, they know what good football looks like, they know what winning football looks like, and they're committed to bringing that here."