The Bears held their ninth training camp practice and fourth in pads Saturday at Halas Hall. Here's what transpired:
The most entertaining period of the day came late when the Bears practiced end-of-half and end-of-game situations. In the first scenario, the offense took over at the defense's 41 trailing 30-24 with :31 left in the fourth quarter. The defense held the lead as rookie first-round pick Dillon Thieneman celebrated his 22nd birthday by intercepting a Caleb Williams heave inside the 5 on fourth-and-6 from the 37.
In the next scenario, the second-team offense took possession at the defense's 48 down 23-20 with :44 to play. Tyson Bagent completed 4 of 4 passes for 25 yards—not counting two times he spiked the ball to kill the clock—to set up first-and-10 at the 23 with :8.4 to go and no timeouts remaining. He then rifled a go-ahead touchdown pass to Jahdae Walker along the right sideline, splitting two defenders.
"I saw it was Cover-2, so I wanted to widen the corner as much as I could so I could slip back inside," Walker said. "And I was trying to get back to my original alignment so Tyson could fit a good ball in there, and he did."
Walker celebrated with his signature "Jubi Slide," a dance maneuver that makes it appear he is gliding across the field.
"Getting in the end zone always feels good," said the second-year receiver, "and doing the dance, that's just me."
Walker expected to be targeted because he overheard coach Ben Johnson speaking to Bagent on their headset communication system.
"His headset is really loud on his helmet, so I kind of was listening to what Ben was telling him," Walker said. "He was like, 'We've got to get it up and down here; we've got two plays.' I was like, 'All right, I've got a good chance I'm going to get it.'"
Williams closed out the situational period with a TD strike to Rome Odunze. On third-and-goal from the 10 with :13 left in the first half in a 10-10 tie, Williams dropped back and fired a laser beam to Odunze, who snagged the ball in traffic just inbounds in the back of the end zone.
Stepping up
Earlier in practice, tight end Colston Loveland made two excellent red-zone TD catches, leaping over defenders in the end zone on passes from Williams and Bagent.
In addition to his interception, Thieneman teamed up with Josh Blackwell to throw running back Kyle Monangai for a loss on a running play inside the 5.
In the same red-zone drill, rookie tight end Sam Roush caught a Bagent pass that deflected off Monangai in the end zone for a TD. Bagent followed by connecting with Scotty Miller in the right corner of the end zone for another score.
Vet shares thoughts on linemates
Grady Jarrett is thrilled to be reunited with fellow defensive tackle Kentavius Street, his teammate with the Falcons in 2023-24.
"When we were in Atlanta, I used to call him 'the standard' because when I wanted to know how to do a drill, I watched how he did it," Jarrett said. "He's somebody that comes every day to put in the work, and I think he's going to help us because he's super explosive, he's played a lot of football and he's super highly competitive. He's been an awesome addition to the room."
Street was selected by the 49ers in the fourth round of the 2018 draft out of North Carolina State. He played three seasons with San Francisco and then had short stints with the Saints and Eagles before joining the Falcons.
Neville Gallimore is another new Bears veteran defensive lineman who has impressed in training camp. He arrives having appeared in 83 NFL games with 26 starts in six seasons with the Cowboys (2020-23), Rams (2024) and Colts (2025).
"He's a heck of a competitor," Jarrett said. "He brings an edge to our defense as a whole and … you can tell he loves his job. He definitely brings life to the room. But he's a worker first, and he's going to be a highly productive player for us. I'm happy that he's with us."
Jarrett also sees promise in a pair of rookie defensive tackles, sixth-round choice Jordan van den Berg and undrafted free agent Jayden Loving.
Van den Berg grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa, playing rugby and cricket. He moved to the United States with his family when he was 10 and initially played basketball and baseball before starting to play football as a high school sophomore.
Van den Berg attended Providence Christian Academy in Lilburn, Ga. After playing at Iowa Western Community College (2020-21), he spent five seasons at Penn State (2021-23) and Georgia Tech (2024-25), appearing in 54 games and recording 93 tackles, 20.0 tackles-for-loss, 6.5 sacks, three fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles. Last year, Van den Berg established career highs with 44 tackles, 11.0 tackles-for-loss and 3.0 sacks.
In Van den Berg, Jarrett sees "a guy that's super athletic. I mean, a super bright future but still learning a lot."
"He's hungry to learn, hungry to work," Jarrett said. "He's got the ingredients to really just always continue to just develop and has got the right mindset. We're excited to have him, and I think he'll be a big addition to the room; somebody who can continue to help us, hopefully help us this year as we get down the road."
Loving played 38 games over three seasons at Western Kentucky (2023-24) and Wake Forest (2025), amassing 89 tackles, 12.0 tackles-for-loss, 4.5 sacks, three pass breakups and three fumble recoveries. Last year, he set career highs at Wake Forest with 44 tackles, 8.5 tackles-for-loss and 2.5 sacks.
"He's been a hard worker since Day 1," Jarrett said. "His athletic profile speaks for itself. He's continuing to get better every day, and I don't think it's surprised any of us in the room how far he's come or how far he can go, but we're happy to have him. He's definitely a big addition to us in the room from a playing standpoint, but also from bringing a good vibe.
"He's a great rookie. I mean, he does things with a smile. He's eager to help and he's eager to learn and he's just got good vibes. And also more than that, he's going to be a great player. He's super strong, super strong lower half, violent with his hands, great shoulder turn when he's able to get going. I think he's going to be somebody who's definitely surprised a lot of people when these preseason games get going, and he's going to represent for us really well."
Good for now
Gallimore showed his sense of humor while speaking with reporters. Knowing that defensive coordinator Dennis Allen would have all of his players do 40 up-downs on the first day of training camp, Gallimore trained during the offseason but admitted that his legs started getting heavy once he reached 28-30 reps. He also discussed the last time he had to do up-downs—when he played at Oklahoma.
"That was like punishment," Gallimore said. "It was fall camp, 103-degree weather, offense, defense, we started the team period and a fight broke out. We did about 50 or 60, then I woke up in a cold tub. Ever since then, I thought we were done with that. But no, sure enough, the 40 up-downs came and found me. Hopefully, we're good for now."
