LAKE FOREST, Ill. – An eventful day for the Chicago Bears offense during the third OTA practice ended with an encouraging message for rookie quarterback Caleb Williams.
Nine-year safety Kevin Byard, who joined the Bears in free agency, approached Williams at the end of Thursday’s session for feedback after a period of inconsistency during the red zone period.
“I told him something at the end of practice like, ‘Keep it up. We’re going to keep making you better,'” Byard said. “And I’m not necessarily saying he had a terrible day, but days like this are going to make you better.”
The Bears defense, which has used the same system since 2022, has had the better side of an offense learning a new scheme under first-year offensive coordinator Shane Waldron.
“We had a good day,” Byard said. “I’m not going to sit here and lie about it. But to be honest, it’s to be expected. You have a top-15 and top-10 returning defense, obviously against a younger rookie quarterback who’s ‘acclimate and learn things.’
Receiver DJ Moore noted the expectation of “growing pains” for Williams, whom the Bears drafted No. 1 overall, and for Chicago’s offense as a whole. On several occasions in 11-on-11, Williams was late on shots or held the ball too long. With the incompletions and plays that would have resulted in sacks, there were frustrations with the offense’s inability to execute.
“It’s frustrating, but we also know we’re learning a new system,” Moore said.
Moore said he felt he had to convey that reality to Williams.
“Yeah, you have to because our defense can get pretty rowdy, as you all know,” Moore said. “The best thing is to calm down everyone in the group and refocus.”
Byard noted the offense “harassed us a little bit” in the first practice of the week and came away impressed with several throws from Williams.
“Every week is not going to be great,” Byard said. “Some weeks we’ll have to do a two-minute drill, he’ll have to go win us a game. Some weeks we’ll blow people up. Sometimes it won’t be like that. So I’ll just tell him, hey, some days like this, keep fighting, keep going, watch the film, get better And it’s not all going to be all peach and cream what am I saying? But I like his confidence and he kind of looked me straight in the eye and said ‘of course I will,’ and that was good to see.”
Coach Matt Eberflus highlighted the growth he’s seen Williams make in his first week of real practice against NFL competition.
“It’s the first time we’ve played a professional defense, and it’s a very good defense,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “It’s going to be a learning curve for everyone. They’re putting it all together. It was progress. I saw progress from day one to day two, day two to day three. So that’s good.”
Williams’ ability to process information given to him by Bears coaches and execute on it during practice has been “very impressive,” according to Eberflus. As the Bears evaluate Williams’ development in the spring, easing him into the offense is not part of the plan.
“We’re not holding back,” Eberflus said. “We give him a lot of information. We give him the offense and you want to be able to go through the entire offense before the end of the offseason, mostly most of it, and work through until the summer. “
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