Bears-Titans Joint Practice Takeaways: Caleb Williams starts off hot while Bears’ defense has brief injury scare at CB
The Chicago Bears and Tennessee Titans wrapped up a hot and chippy joint practice on Thursday. Here’s the top takeaways from Chicago’s side of things.
The Chicago Bears wrapped up a physical and competitive joint practice with the Tennessee Titans on Thursday, and while the Titans seemingly won the day down in Nashville, there’s still plenty of positives from today’s session for the Bears.
Let’s get into some of the top takeaways from the final joint practice, and perhaps the final outing we’ll see from QB Caleb Williams and the rest of the starters until Week 1.
Caleb Williams had a hot start against the Titans but things cooled off quick
Williams had a strong start to practice in team drills, completing his first six passes and finishing 9-for-11 in the opening batch of 11-on-11 work. He hit eight different pass catchers during those nine completions, spreading the ball around with precision. That stretch included a red zone touchdown to rookie wide receiver Zavion Thomas on an out route and a play-action touchdown to tight end Cole Kmet, who found himself wide open after a well-designed fake from Ben Johnson’s offense.
“That’s been the best thing so far this camp, just the anticipation and the timing, the understanding of where we want to put the football,” Johnson said of Williams’ growth. “He’s not afraid to fit it in a tight window. He trusts his pass catchers. But, a year ago, I think a lot of the things were foreign to him and now you can tell he’s got some banked reps and he’s able to anticipate where he wants to go with the football.”
Williams did deal with some pressure issues against a Tennessee defensive front featuring Jeffrey Simmons, John Franklin-Myers, and Jermaine Johnson. That group gave Chicago some trouble, but Johnson said before practice that facing this kind of pressure was by design to get those reps against another stout front.
“We wanted to challenge our offensive line,” Johnson said before practice. “It’s great work for Jonah (Jackson) and Joe (Thuney), but we’ll get (Luke) Newman in there a little bit, Jordan McFadden in there a little bit as see where they’re at as well in their development. Completely different style of defense this week than what we just saw (against Cincinnati). This is an attacking front that they want to meet us on our side of the line of scrimmage and knock us back.”
Johnson noted coming into today’s practice that he was going to pay attention to Williams’ situational reps and his coverage recognition. During the final two-minute drill, Williams led the offense down to around the 20-yard-line with 12 seconds remaining. However, Williams’ day ended with an interception to Tony Adams on a pass intended for Colston Loveland.
After practice, Williams still was in good spirits and called it a good day with a lot of learning to follow up on. As for the final interception, he said he needs to trust Ben Johnson’s play-calling and go through his full reads and not push for the “gotta have it now” play in a weird situation (similar to how things went last Saturday).
Jaylon Johnson, Tyrique Stevenson both suffer injury scares while Carnell Tate takes advantage
Both of the Bears’ starting cornerbacks, Jaylon Johnson and Tyrique Stevenson, left practice early with apparent injuries. The good news is, Stevenson eventually returned to practice and continued to be on and off the field while Johnson remained on the sidelines without pads next to DBs coach Al Harris.
Johnson was the first to leave practice early during 11-on-11 drills. Johnson injured his right arm on a run play and was being evaluated on the sideline, but remained out there on the field. As for Stevenson, he was injured his right leg during a collision with Titans wide receiver Carnell Tate.
Speaking of Tate, the Titans’ first-round pick was having a field day out there without Johnson on the field. The Bears were rotating different players (Terell Smith, Josh Blackwell, and even Malik Muhammad II) on the outside throughout practice and no one had an answer for Tate, although it’s worth mentioning Muhammad broke up one would-be touchdown against Tate. The No. 5 overall pick still ended the day with 12 targets, seven receptions, and two touchdowns. Very strong showing from the rookie.
D’Andre Swift looks ready to hit the ground running in Week 1
D’Andre Swift continued what has been an absolutely phenomenal training camp with some big runs against the Titans defense on Thursday. The Bears got push against what Johnson described as an attacking front from Tennessee, and Swift took advantage.
Swift has been right up there with Colston Loveland as one of the most impressive players on this entire roster throughout camp. He got through Thursday’s practice healthy and looks like he’s going to be ready for Week 1 with a heavy workload, especially with Kyle Monangai still sidelined.
Everything out of Swift’s camp suggests he is far and away ready to avoid the slow starts that showed up during his first two years in Chicago. He doesn’t look like like a guy that will need to ease into regular season form. He’s all the way ready to go.
“It’s the best I’ve seen him this time of year,” Johnson said of Swift. “You look back at a year ago, he was very explosive and yet it takes a little while to gel between him and the offensive line. I think he’s accelerating his vision here at this point… He bounces it when we’re supposed to bounce it. He hits it right on the spot when it’s there and then he cuts it up. I think he’s doing a really good job right now. I think he’s primed for a big year.”
Bears tight end room continues to prove it can be the NFL’s best
The entire tight end group had multiple standout plays on Thursday. Beyond Kmet’s play-fake touchdown, Loveland came away with another highlight-reel play of his own on a creative design. Swift threw a lateral back to Williams, who caught it and uncorked a deep ball to Loveland. The second-year tight end hauled it in and ran for a long gain. Loveland also had another YAC play after catching a crosser, spinning off the defender, and turning into a big gain earlier in practice.
Sam Roush, the rookie tight end, got in on the action as well. He hauled in a deep completion from quarterback Case Keenum and added an end zone touchdown of his own. Roush has the chance to be a real contributor this season, and it seems like he’s starting to figure things out.
“He’s building that trust,” Johnson said of Roush. “There’s flashes where it gets you really really excited. Is it at the level of consistency that want yet? No. The answer is no. And I’m not surprised by that, either. I think he’s going to be a phenomenal football player for a long time in this league. It’s just a lot of thinking and a lot on the plate for a rookie tight end… We’re very hard on him and he’s answering that call.”
All three tight ends can be invaluable weapons for this Bears offense, especially with the way Johnson can scheme up all three of them. They’re all big, they’re all fast, and they’re all going to be factors. Loveland is on his way to becoming one of the top tight ends in football, but Kmet and Roush both showed on Thursday why this room has the potential to be much more than a one-man show.
Luther Burden III continues ramping back up from groin injury
Bears second-year wide receiver Luther Burden III is still working his way back from a groin injury, though he returned to practice earlier this week and made the trip to Tennessee. Burden was out there for individual work during Thursday’s joint practice but did not participate in team drills.
He was catching passes and going through warm-ups, and the Bears are simply being cautious with him right now. Burden was still chippy on the sidelines, mouthing off to some Titans players, which is exactly the energy fans saw from him last season. The hope is that edge eventually translates to the field as he continues ramping up. However, he looked like a player that’s going to be ready to roll for Week 1.
