For quarterback Caleb Williams, an early bye meant taking advantage of treatment and mental rest.
Coming off a four-game stretch where the Bears went 2-2 and most recently had a thrilling, last-minute win in Las Vegas, Williams understood the importance of remaining locked in while also giving himself a brief break.
"[It was] a week of treatment without really having too much ground and pound on the grass and things like that," Williams said Wednesday. "It's a week of mental rest and then obviously being able to find ways to get away, in a way, just because it's going to be a long stretch of games, 13-plus games … so I think I did a good job with that this year of getting back into it a day or two before we actually get back in here, getting back in the facility, staying for a few hours, just getting back into that mode of being here for a few hours."
Along with having the week to rest, being four games in allows the Bears to now possess a better understanding of their identity and what immediate improvements are necessary to keep stacking wins, starting with facing the Commanders in primetime Monday Night.
"It's a week-to-week league," Williams said. "There's teams that may have lost to a team that another team beat the week before that you feel or thought that they shouldn't beat.
"So my comfort starts with my preparation throughout the week, and so being able to prepare the same way that I've been preparing and finding better ways to be more efficient with my preparation … I think it's the most important thing. I think that that builds the confidence for each week."
Growth from 18
One of Williams' most valuable traits as a quarterback is his ability to improvise and turn what would be a negative play into a positive play. A point of emphasis for the second-year pro, however, is excelling just as much within the structure of the offense.
Through four games, Johnson has seen Williams grow in that area.
"When you turn on the tape, that shows up every single week," Johnson shared. "I see him playing the game with his feet more to where at the top of his drop, he's ready to deliver the ball to the primary receiver in a good throwing posture and position so that he can be accurate with it. And then if it's not there, he quickly progresses to No. 2 to No. 3 and will end up taking off if need be. That's the best thing is just knowing where his eyes need to be, combined with the footwork, and you see him getting a little bit better and better every single week.
"There's reps every week that we try to build off of. There's also reps that we learn from as well because there's a number of them that maybe we bypass No. 1 a little bit too quickly, and it's like, 'Nope, he's there. Let's go ahead and give it to him.' That's really been the best thing for him is that he doesn't make the same mistake twice very often. That's a good thing. As we accumulate all these reps, they're getting banked in this library for him so he can draw back from that experience the next time he gets a similar type of play."
Another area in which Williams has grown is recognizing when to check the ball down rather than trying to extend the play. Still, Johnson is looking for Williams to improve in his accuracy of those checkdowns.
"We've been talking about being completion-driven, so he's very conscious of that," Johnson said. "The checkdowns are a good way to do that. We have some plays where we're looking for a chunk, and if it's not crystal clear, he knows, man, all of us are happy if we just dump this thing down, but we've got to give accurate balls underneath so that our pass catchers have a little run-after-catch opportunity when it's the underneath five-yard variety. He knows where they are, but we need to be just a little bit cleaner in our delivery to them."
Spidey time
Nickel back Kyler Gordon has been itching to get on the field for the first time this season after missing the first four games a hamstring injury. While final injury designations for Monday night's game won't be decided until Saturday, Gordon feels ready to make his debut.
"I love this game," Gordon said. "Obviously I love playing ball, being out there and being in the building, being able to actually contribute to the team. It's annoying not to be able to do that. Now I'll finally be able to do that."
Gordon said that while he's been frustrated to not be able to be on the field with his teammates, he's brought a positive attitude to his rehab and has worked diligently to return.
The return of Gordon to the secondary would certainly provide a boost to the entire defense. Coach Ben Johnson spoke about Gordon's potential return and lauded the fourth-year pro's playmaking ability.
"Shoot, hopefully it allows us to unlock a few things on defense," Johnson shared. "He's one of the bigger playmakers. I've got a lot of experience being on the opposing sideline from him and [have] a ton of respect of how he can impact a game. There's only a handful of nickels in this league that you really have to account for, both as a coverage player but also as a guy who likes to be nosy in the run game, and could be part of the solution for us here in shoring up our run game as well.
"He's got those natural football instincts that are really hard to coach and hard to teach, and when you have enough players like that, that's where you really take off in a hurry."
