The Bears participated in a joint practice with the Titans Thursday in Nashville in advance of Saturday night's preseason game. Here's what transpired:
NASHVILLE – Before Thursday's joint practice, Bears coach Ben Johnson praised the strides that quarterback Caleb Williams has made in the red zone this summer.
"I think that's been probably the best thing so far this camp, just the anticipation, the timing, the understanding of where we want to put the football," Johnson said. "He is not afraid to fit it into tight windows. He trusts his pass catchers. A year ago, a lot of the things were foreign to him, and now you can tell he has some banked reps and he's able to anticipate where he wants to go with the football."
After throwing red zone TD passes to tight end Colston Loveland and receiver Jahdae Walker in Wednesday's practice at Halas Hall, Williams picked up Thursday where he left off, hitting receiver Kaden Davis for a red-zone TD against Tennessee's No. 1 defense.
That play was part of a strong start by the Bears offense, highlighted by TD passes from Williams to rookie receiver Zavion Thomas, from Bagent to Walker and from Keenum to tight end Qadir Ismail.
"It's just something I would say from last week to this week is just working on execution, and then it's leading from the head of the snake down to the tail," Williams said. "When we come out with good energy and we come out executing and we're not having penalties as first team, it trickles down to second team and third team just having that energy. We've got to be able to start like that throughout the year."
Stepping up
Rookie tight end Sam Roush stood out in the joint practice, producing a pair of impact plays on throws from Keenum. The third-round pick from Stanford caught a jump ball downfield over two defenders and snared a touchdown pass in the left corner of the end zone, beating rookie safety Bishop Fitzgerald.
"He's building that trust," Johnson said before practice. "There's flashes where he gets you really excited. Is it at the level of consistency that we want yet? The answer is no — and I'm not surprised by that either. Yet I think he's going to be a phenomenal football player for a long time in this league.
"It's just there's a lot of thinking. There's a lot on the plate for a rookie tight end. I think it's right up there with quarterback just in terms of the amount of mental strain that we put on these guys: run game, pass pro, route running. And the faster we can get him to play, the better off he's going to be in the long run."
Big year looming
Bears running back D'Andre Swift continues to excel on the practice field.
"This is the best I've seen him this time of year," said Johnson, a Lions offensive assistant during Swift's first three NFL seasons in Detroit from 2020-22. "You look back a year ago. He was very explosive, and yet it takes a little while to gel between him and the offensive line. I think he's accelerating his vision here at this point. Coach [Eric] Studesville has been fantastic for him, just with the reads and being able to know the intent of where we're trying to hit things. He bounces it when we're supposed to bounce it. He hits it right on the spot when it's there, and then he cuts it up. He's doing a really good job right now. We just have to get him to that first week nice and healthy and ready to go. I think he's primed for a big year."
Silent safety
It's been said (usually by veteran players) that rookies should be seen and not heard. It seems that first-round pick Dillon Thieneman is following that advice, though it has not hindered the young safety's development.
"I just joked around with the team a couple days ago: I don't even know what his voice sounds like really," Johnson said. "He just comes into work and gets after it; a little bit robotic like that, in a good way. I'm saying that as a compliment. He just puts his head down and grinds.
"And what you've seen is slow and steady progress throughout. You've seen some of the ball production; last week certainly in Cincinnati, getting the interception. That was one of the best plays of that practice. And what you're seeing now is him really honing in on taking good angles, whether he's the quarters safety, post safety, down safety, it really doesn't matter where he's aligning. Making sure he's taking good angles and stopping the football that way. So really pleased with where he's at right now."
Speaking it into existence
Two days after lamenting to reporters that he hadn't produced enough plays on the ball in training camp, safety Cam Lewis made a sliding interception of a Cam Ward deep pass over the middle.
Laser focus
Johnson's first year as Bears coach was a memorable one, highlighted by an NFC North championship and a thrilling playoff win over the rival Packers. But there's a reason his sole focus is on the 2026 season.
"All I care about is: does it help us win or not?" Johnson said. "That's really what I'm all about. Like we can talk about injuries up here. The guys that aren't out there, they're not helping us win right now.
"I want to talk about the guys that are out there helping us right now. I want stories to be written about those guys. We've got 90 guys on the roster right now, a lot of which are fighting for their professional lives right now, and their stories are incredible. But talking about last year isn't going to do us any good in terms of winning this practice, winning the next preseason game, winning Week 1, and that's really all we care about right now."
