CINCINNATI – The Bears' No. 1 offense played only one series Saturday night against the Bengals after sitting out the preseason opener versus the Browns, but quarterback Caleb Williams is confident that the unit will be ready when the regular season kicks off Sept. 13 in Carolina.
"I would say so," the third-year pro said following a 27-9 loss in Cincinnati. "A lot of good conversations and talks with coach [Ben Johnson]. A lot of good conversations and talks with wide receivers and [center] Garrett [Bradbury] and all that. Just find ways to be on the same page so that when Sept. 13 comes around, we're rolling and we're hot.
"There are times where you'll have a down day or you'll lose a game like today. You've got to go back and look at the tape and be truth-tellers about yourself and look in the mirror first."
There will no doubt be plenty of introspection after the Bears did not score a touchdown and committed 11 penalties for 81 yards in Cincinnati. Williams opened the game with back-to-back completions of 18 yards to Rome Odunze and 10 yards to Colston Loveland before a holding penalty on left tackle Braxton Jones forced the Bears to settle for Cairo Santos' 46-yard field goal.
"We understand it's the preseason," Williams said. "It's obviously not counting. But it does matter. And that's something that we live by, something that we go by. It's never fun ever losing, whether that's preseason or a joint practice or it's just practicing against the defense.
"The urgency's there. We obviously have to fix things on tape. There were a lot of penalties out there from first team, second team and third team. It started with the head of the snake, and it went all the way down to the tail. So, we've got to fix that."
After traveling to Cincinnati for a joint practice Thursday and preseason game Saturday night, the Bears will repeat the same schedule next week in Tennessee.
"It's going to be a little bit of rinse-and-repeat with a different opponent," Johnson said. "We'll go on the road again and get a good joint practice in with a team that has a lot of good talent. I know they reloaded similar to what Cincinnati did, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. I know they're really well coached throughout, so it will be a good challenge. It'll be good for us to finish this last little bit of training camp and make sure we're ready for Week 1."
The offense's focus in the workout with the Titans will be on starting fast, something the unit was unable to do in Thursday's practice with the Bengals.
"First play we had a fumbled snap," Williams said. "It's small things like that that add up, so it's just us being able to go out there and not have those things. A lot of it's just focus, and that's something that we can control."
"Offensively, I think we left a little bit out there," Johnson said. "In the first seven snaps of practice, we had three procedure issues, whether it was quarterback-center exchange or not getting off the ball at the same time. We talked all week about starting fast and wanting to start the practice fast, and that didn't quite translate."
Thursday's practice and Saturday night's preseason game in Tennessee will be crucial for a number of Bears players given that the NFL deadline for clubs to reach the 53-man roster limit is next Sunday at 5 p.m. (CT)
"That's where this discussion [on the] players' day off on Monday with the personnel staff, that'll be big for us to make sure that we're all aligned, that we all see it the same way," Johnson said.
"And then anybody that could go either way, it'll be a big week for them as well. I said it a week ago: I don't think that there was as much clarity ,and it's actually a good thing; it means we're having really good competition across the roster in a number of spots.
"So, between the game tonight, we'll watch that tape in depth and get a good evaluation of guys and then next week I'm certain we're going to be able to pick our 53 and I also think for our practice squad as well, as we get the best 69 guys because the practice squad in a 17-game season, they're going to come up and help us."
