The Bears conducted their first training camp practice Wednesday morning at Halas Hall, a 90-minute workout in helmets with no pads. Here's what transpired:

During one portion of practice, defensive coordinator Dennis Allen had his players do 40 up-downs, a drill in which they drop to the ground and quickly spring back to their feet. Allen likens it to paying a toll because joining the defense is a privilege and the up-downs are considered a rite of passage.

"I'm actually going to go to DA's office and tell him that was pretty easy," joked safety Coby Bryant, who signed with the Bears this year after winning the Super Bowl with the Seahawks last season. "It wasn't bad. It's a mindset thing, honestly. Like I told the guys, we're going to deal with way harder stuff, and 40 up-downs is just allowing us to buy in. No one was on their own out there. We were together."

Asked when he last did up-downs, Bryant said: "Honestly, I couldn't tell you, probably little league. But I ran a lot of hills over the break, so it wasn't too challenging. It was just a true testament to who's been working."

High praise

Speaking to reporters after practice, quarterback Caleb Williams raved about tight end Colston Loveland, predicting greatness for the second-year pro.

"He can become the best tight end in the league," Williams said. "I think he is, but stats and us going out there and proving it is what it is going to take. And to be able to do that, we've got to put in work. We've got to build a connection, hang out inside and outside the building, have tough conversations or have open communication throughout the year and throughout camp.

"It's going to be exciting. It's going to be fun. He's a target to throw to, and I've got a bunch of those guys out there that are equipped and ready to go."

Selected with the 10th pick in last year's draft out of Michigan, Loveland blossomed into a key contributor in 2025, becoming the first rookie to lead the Bears in receiving yards (with 713) since Willie Gault in 1983 and the first rookie tight end to do so since Hall of Famer Mike Ditka in 1961.

Loveland followed by compiling 193 yards in the Bears' two playoff games, the most by an NFL rookie tight end in a postseason since at least 1960.

"He can do everything," Williams said. "He can run every route. He's such a big target, easy target, runs the right routes and nice routes, and then other than that, he can run block and disguise things. He's an all-encompassing tight end."

Open competition

One key position battle on defense in training camp will be for the top nickel back job, with veterans Jaylon Jones and Cam Lewis and rookie fourth-round choice Malik Muhammad among those expected to compete.

"Kyler [Gordon] is going to start on PUP, so we're going to look at a lot of different players to play the nickel position," Allen said. "You'll see that change throughout the course of camp."

The nickel role is one of the most complex on defense.

"There's a lot of stuff that goes on at that position," Allen said. "When you play outside at corner—I don't want this to seem wrong—but things don't happen quite as fast. The speed of the receivers on the outside edge, that's coming at you fast. But in terms of when you play inside in the nickel, you've got things that are happening on the outside of you, you have things that are happening on the inside of you, you've got more responsibility in the run game. There's just a lot more that goes along with playing that position."

Allen is eager to see how Muhammad handles his first NFL training camp. The speedy 6-foot, 182-pounder appeared in 41 games with 29 starts over three seasons at Texas, compiling 97 tackles, three interceptions, 16 pass breakups, 3.5 tackles-for-loss and 1.0 sack. Last season he registered 30 tackles, two interceptions and four pass breakups in 11 games.

"The kid's smart," Allen said. "We'll give him a look at it and see where he's at and let the competition throughout the course of training camp kind of play out.

"And evaluation is something that takes time. It doesn't happen in a day or two. It happens over the course of time, and we'll let that time play out. We've got a lot of time between now and the start of the season to try to figure a lot of these things out."

Ramping up

True evaluations won't begin until the Bears practice in pads for the first time Monday. Until then, Allen revealed that he will be "looking for pass rush mechanics" when assessing edge rushers in four non-contact workouts Wednesday through Saturday.

"It's hard to evaluate a lot of stuff when you're practicing in underwear," he said. "We'll be able to have a better feel of what we've got in the run game, what we have in the passing game, when we start putting on the pads. That's where you really kind of determine what you have.

"This really is kind of a ramp-up period. We're kind of getting our sea legs up under us a bit, and then we'll be ready to go for real when we really hit Monday. So, we're looking for mechanics and understanding of relative rush lanes."

A quick study

Throughout training camp, Allen wants to see rookie first-round safety Dillon Thieneman get a little bit better every day at "grasping the system, understanding the things that we're going to be asking him to do, and then playing with the speed and athleticism" that will allow his natural ability to take over.

"I'm excited about him," Allen said. "Liked what I saw in the spring with him, and I think, mentally, he's going to be able to handle everything. I plan on him picking things up pretty quickly."