The Bears conducted their 14th training camp practice and eighth in pads Tuesday at Halas Hall. Here's what transpired:
Quarterback Caleb Williams saved his most impressive throw of the workout for the final team drill, lofting a long pass with perfect touch and pinpoint accuracy over two defenders to receiver Kalif Raymond on a wheel route along the right sideline.
A few plays later from the 6, Williams looked to his left before hitting tight end Colston Loveland in the right corner of the end zone for a touchdown.
The No. 2 offense also scored as quarterback Case Keenum connected over the middle with receiver JP Richardson, who turned upfield and raced into the end zone.
Earlier in practice, Williams capped an end-of-first-half drill by hitting receiver Jahdae Walker in the left corner of the end zone for a touchdown. Walker had two receptions on the drive, as did Raymond.
The No. 2 offense settled for Cairo Santos' 37-yard field goal after a false start penalty turned third-and-2 into third-and-7. Keenum connected with receiver Maurice Alexander for five yards, setting up fourth-and-two from the 19.
Defensive highlights were provided by nickel back Cam Lewis, who swatted a pass away from Loveland in the end zone, and by linebacker Jon Rhattigan, who knifed into the backfield and dropped running back Brittain Brown for a loss. Cornerback Deantre Prince later intercepted a Keenum pass that deflected off Alexander's hands.
A couple changes
The competition for the starting left tackle position continued Tuesday, with coach Ben Johnson telling reporters "we're going to make a couple changes there" that involved Braxton Jones working with the first team and Theo Benedet lining up with the second unit.
"As far as I'm concerned, the competition remains wide open, and we'll continue to play that one out," Johnson said.
Ozzy Trapilo has not yet officially joined the competition. The 2025 second-round pick returned to practice Sunday, far ahead of schedule from a knee injury that was initially expected to sideline him for most, if not all, of the season. But he's just beginning the ramp-up process and won't be rushed back into action.
"He's got his own timeline right now," Johnson said. "Physically, we feel really good about where he's at, or else we wouldn't have brought him off PUP (the physically unable to perform list). Now, it's a race to see how quickly we can rebuild the confidence.
"It's going to look different for him than it is anybody else just in terms of how we continue to integrate him into drills, team drills, things like that. But we felt like this was a good opportunity for the next course of training camp, for the padded practices that we're going to have that give him a chance to start building that confidence back up again."
On to Cincinnati
After holding a brief workout Wednesday, the Bears will fly to Cincinnati, where they will practice with the Bengals Thursday and play them in a preseason game Saturday night.
"Big week coming up," Johnson said. "We've been talking about it for a couple weeks now, it seems like, and how big that will be just to assess where we're at as a team. Had a really good staff meeting yesterday with the player day off and just being able to see where we're at.
"There's competition throughout this roster right now, offense, defense, special teams. It's heating up. I wish there was a little more clarity at this point, but there's not. So, I think that's going to make for a really good next two weeks as guys try to separate themselves and make it clear they belong on the 53 or on the practice squad."
Johnson has worked with Bengals coach Zac Taylor since May to plan the joint practice.
"Zac and I had really good conversations in the springtime, and they're really organized over there," Johnson said. "It was probably in May when he sent over what he wanted the practice to look like, field diagrams and all that. It's really detailed. I know they put a lot of time into what we want this to look like. I think we're going to call it just under two-and-a-half hours of really good work, so I'm excited about that.
"I think we're on the same page with what we want this to look like, what we want to get out of it, and I think both sides are going to come away pretty pleased with the work we get in."
Preseason plan
Johnson reiterated that whether any Bears starters play in the preseason game against the Bengals will be contingent on what transpires in the joint practice.
"It depends on what the joint practice looks like for the team," he said. "There's a certain number of reps we're trying to hit, and we'll see where we're at after the joint practice."
This and that
Johnson described running back Kyle Monangai's status as "week-to-week" with a knee injury the 2025 seventh-round pick sustained in Sunday's practice … Former Bears safety Ryan Mundy and former receiver/return specialist Ike Hill attended Tuesday's workout, as did comedian and impressionist Matt Friend, who grew up in Chicago and is an avid Bears fan.
