Defense dominates, Jaquan Brisker stands out, busy day for Olamide Zaccheaus, and more highlights from Bears-Dolphins joint practice
An impressive showing by the Bears defense on Friday.
The Chicago Bears just finished up a productive, and competitive, joint practice against the Miami Dolphins with both teams having some highlight plays.
For Chicago, this was a key practice session. Head coach Ben Johnson confirmed before taking the field that the majority of the starters would not play in Sunday’s preseason game and instead would see a lot of reps in practice.
Here are some of the notable highlights that came out of the day.
First-Team defense dominated the Dolphins
The highlight of the day was easily the Bears starting secondary. Miami was simply not prepared for what defensive coordinator Dennis Allen planned to throw at them.
Between the exotic blitz packages, press cornerbacks, and takeaways, this unit was firing on all cylinders. Per reports, Miami got a few chunk plays – mainly in the run game – but overall the Bears unit won the day by far on Friday.
Three Bears defenders ended up with interceptions against quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, including a big play by linebacker Tremaine Edmunds. Safety Kevin Byard also had a nice play coming down with an interception that was initially deflected by cornerback Nahshon Wright. It’s worth noting the Bears defense had this kind of performance without Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon.
“If we play like we practiced today we’re going to be pretty good,” Byard told reporters after practice. Byard added the unit met on Thursday night and aimed to set the tone on Friday. They certainly did.
Jaquan Brisker shows out in more ways than one
I can not say enough how much Jaquan Brisker means to this defense and how great it is to have him back making plays. After stacking big plays against his own team, Brisker finally got the opportunity to show off all the ways Dennis Allen looks to use him against another team.
Brisker reportedly picked off quarterback Tua Tagovailoa after jumping a route in coverage down the seam in 7-on-7 drills. Later in practice during 11-on-11 drills, Allen dialed up a blitz with Brisker that would have hit home for a sack in a real game setting.
It seems like Brisker was all over the field for the Bears defense on Friday and gives fans a taste of what to expect out of him in this new scheme.
Colston Loveland continues to shine
Everything we’ve be seeing of Colston Loveland on the field lines up with exactly what the Bears envisioned by selecting him in the Top-10. The size-speed combination Loveland possesses has already turned him into a real factor for this offense.
Quarterback Tyson Bagent and Loveland connected for a long touchdown on Friday down the seam and another touchdown in the redzone at the end of practice. During 7-on-7’s Loveland was able to catch a first-down pass from Caleb Williams as well.
Another busy day for Olamide Zaccheaus
I keep saying this. Don’t overlook the impact Olamide Zaccheaus is going to have in this offense in 2025. While he’s in line to be a role player at WR, he’s earned a lot of trust from Caleb Williams and been one of his favorite pass catchers to target.
While he did have one drop, Williams and Zaccheaus connected multiple times throughout the day on quick passes and even one down the sideline that Williams rifled downfield to the veteran, who then turned it into a big gain, per reports.
Zaccheaus seemed to be the most consistent player on the field for the Bears offense today.
Still some issues with the offensive operation
Going into the week, Ben Johnson noted the offense has been “sloppy” with the operation during situational drills because of issues such as miscommunication and pre-snap penalties.
Some of those things showed back up against the Dolphins defense in “move the ball” drills. The first-team offense reportedly had a few false start penalties and overall struggled to move the ball. During the red-zone situations, Williams also took “multiple” sacks and the unit overall got shut down.
Johnson noted on Monday that this team isn’t going to win many games this season if the unit can’t get these kind of mental errors cleaned up. Yet, we won’t see many starters out there on Sunday.
Chicago Bears News
‘He’s taking this seriously’ — Tyson Bagent gets set to test-drive Ben Johnson’s offense in preseason opener against the Dolphins
The third-year QB is set to lead the offense on Sunday while Caleb Williams and other starters sit out.
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