The Bears conducted their 12th training camp practice Thursday at Halas Hall. Here's what transpired:

The Bears ended Thursday's non-padded practice, which was moved inside the Walter Payton Center halfway through the workout due to lightning, with an 11-on-11 situational drill featuring the second-team offense and defense.

That drill, however, lasted for just one play. Tyson Bagent launched a deep ball to receiver Kaden Davis, who flew down the right side of the field and hauled in the 70-plus-yard pass for a touchdown. The score elicited cheers from the offensive sideline before fellow receiver Jahdae Walker ran over to lift Davis up as Johnson called for practice to come to a close.

"Just two D-II cats being guys, I guess," Bagent joked about his TD to Davis. "He's done an exceptional job of being a new guy coming in, very cerebral, picking up the offense real well. And he's very fast, so both of those two things have helped him a lot."

Bagent and Davis have connected numerous times throughout the first three weeks of camp, including for a handful of touchdowns. Before signing with the Bears in June, Davis spent the spring playing for the UFL's Houston Gamblers. The Northwest Missouri State product has five years of NFL experience, spending time with the Broncos (2022-24), Cardinals (2023-24), Lions (2024) and Browns (2025-26).

For Bagent, who entered the league in 2023 as an undrafted free agent out of Division II Shepherd University, seeing Davis' performance during camp has been personally rewarding.

"It's one of the most amazing things ever, being able to see a guy put in the work, put in the time," Bagent said, "especially somebody like Kaden, who obviously, without spending too much time with him, you understand how much he cares about the game and how much he cares about doing his job on the given play. Being able to see guys like that that work really hard, have success, I think that's why we love the game, and that's why coaches love the game, too."

The Bears are hoping to see more of the Bagent-Davis connection on display Saturday during the team's preseason opener at Soldier Field after coach Ben Johnson told reporters Thursday that "a number" of starters will not play against the Browns. Johnson named Bagent the starting QB and anticipates he will "probably play a half."

Entering his fourth NFL season, Bagent understands that his role as the Bears' backup quarterback means limited in-game reps, which makes the preseason one of the most important stretches for him. It's a position he takes pride in.

"The opportunity is everything," Bagent said. "Every rep that I can get out there is an absolute dream –come true to me.  So, I'm extremely excited and looking forward to putting out good tape out there and doing whatever we need to do to be successful."

Opportunities arise

While the Bears are still dealing with a handful of injuries on both sides of the ball, they're maintaining a next-man-up mentality. With receiver Luther Burden III sidelined and rookie receiver Zavion Thomas having recently missed some time, Johnson has seen a handful of pass catchers step up in practice, including Davis.

"A guy like Kaden Davis has made plays almost every single day," Johnson said. "Scotty Miller has made plays. Those guys are really, really fast. Gives them an opportunity to get more reps there with the 1s and with Caleb so that he can get his rapport going there. And then also what it does is open up more opportunities for the tight end room to get more involved in the passing game when Luther or a couple guys in the receiver room go down."

Another player making the most of his opportunities is Walker, who is entering his second NFL season. The Texas A&M product went undrafted before signing with the Bears last May and eventually earned himself a 53-man roster spot following an impressive offseason. Walker played in nine games with one start as a rookie, totaling six catches for 87 yards and two scores — the first of which came in Week 16 against Green Bay on fourth down with less than 30 seconds remaining, which helped force overtime in an epic comeback victory.

While Walker has already been rotating with all of the offensive units during camp, his opportunities have expanded with a couple of his counterparts out. Bagent, who has developed a strong connection with the receiver, expressed his excitement about Walker's growth from Year 1 to Year 2.

"I think we've been able to see him run routes a lot faster," Bagent said. "He's not thinking; he's playing. He's a guy that I think you can plug in a couple different positions that's able to do a couple different things. His size, his strength, and obviously he can take the top off as well. So being able to see that jump, being able to run fast without thinking, which is something you see a lot of with rookie wide receivers. I think he has a chance to have as big of a year as he wants to, so I think he's done great so far."

On the defensive side of the ball, Johnson has been impressed with Xavier Woods, the Bears' newest addition at safety. With Coby Bryant sidelined for 4-6 months due to a knee injury, the Bears added the 10-year veteran to the roster last Friday.

Woods has played in 134 NFL games with 121 starts, most recently playing in 11 games with 10 starts for the Titans in 2025. Johnson noted on Thursday that "the communication has been really clean" with Woods on the back end of the defense, adding that he is looking forward to "see his personality start to come out a little bit more" as he becomes more comfortable within the locker room.

"He's a pro, and you can see he's got that approach about him," Johnson said. "He knows what his body needs. He knows all these schemes that 'DA' has. I think he's really taken to the system. You throw him in there with the 1s, and we're not missing a beat on the back end right now. That's encouraging to see."

Back in action

Despite the rash of injuries, the Bears saw positive developments in the injury department Thursday. Linebackers T.J. Edwards, D'Marco Jackson and Devin Bush appeared together in team drills for the first time in camp, which immediately led to positive plays on the defensive side of the ball.

During an 11-on-11 period in the back half of practice, Edwards nearly picked off a pass intended for tight end Colston Loveland down the middle. While Loveland caught a pass on the next play, the defense finished the drill by forcing back-to-back incompletions.

While Jackson had only missed the past few practices due to an undisclosed injury, Edwards started training camp on the Non-Football Injury list. He was activated last Wednesday and immediately began his ramp-up period that morning.

"You can certainly feel his presence and hear his communication out there on the defense, which was good to see," Johnson said last Thursday.