Bears coach Ben Johnson revealed Friday that most starters will not play in Sunday's preseason opener against the Dolphins, including quarterback Caleb Williams.
Speaking before the Bears' joint practice with Miami at Halas Hall, Johnson said that about nine starters on both offense and defense likely will not play Sunday, but that number could change.
"We'll see how the day goes," Johnson said. "Maybe that number will change. We'll make it through today and we'll make those final decisions once we get there."
Johnson said that quarterback Tyson Bagent will start the preseason opener "and hopefully take us through that first half. We'll see how the snaps go, though."
The starters who sit out of Sunday's game will get the bulk of the work in Friday's joint practice as well as Monday's workout at Halas Hall.
"We have a plan in place for whether it's pregame or after the game the next day where the guys that aren't playing, they're going to be getting a substantial number of reps that's actually higher than the guys that are playing," Johnson said. "We talked about it as a staff. We feel very good about this plan going forward and that's what we're going to do."
Johnson told reporters that the Bears will conduct a "good throwing session with Caleb and the pass catchers" early Sunday morning at Soldier Field.
Asked if Williams and other starters will see any preseason action this month, Johnson said: "I would suspect that we will have them play at some point, but that's to be determined."
