Bear Digest

Bears switch gears to load up for Tua and Miami in joint practice

After lighter workout, the intensity will return when the Bears face the Dolphins in practice and then Saturday in a game but will Caleb Williams and the first team play?
Gene Chamberlain|
Cole Kmet returned to practice Thursday after leaving Tuesday's with an apparent injury that turned out to be nothing.
Cole Kmet returned to practice Thursday after leaving Tuesday's with an apparent injury that turned out to be nothing. | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

After Thursday's light, padless practice ended, the next time the Bears are on the field will be facing another team with the Miami Dolphins coming to Halas Hall for Friday's practice.

The ensuing Sunday preseason game with Miami is going to be your typical first preseason game, although there is no indication yet whether or how much the starters will play. Coach Ben Johnson should shed some light on this on Friday before the practice with Miami.

"I know there will be some mistakes made, but really at the end of the day we have to play our rules because there’s not a lot of game-planning that goes into this," defensive coordinator Dennis Allen said. "So we have certain rules that we use, whether it be from an alignment standpoint, front mechanics or coverage mechanics. So, we’ve got to be able to use our rules and play whatever looks we get from the offense."

Getting into a meaningless game isn't an issue for Williams, who can use any kind of playing time in the offense.

"It's always good to be able to go out there and get a few reps in the preseason, rather than your first time getting real live reps or anything like that or modified reps is the first game of September and you're going against the Vikings (in the opener), an opponent like that," Williams said. "I'll be out there (vs. Miami) whenever Ben says and we'll go out there and play however many plays he tells us to play."

The Dolphins haven't said how much starters will play in the game but the Bears defense will benefit from work against receiver Jaylen Waddle and possibly Tyreek Hill, although he was said to have an injury and unavailable for the last Dolphins practice.

It's homecoming for some members of Miami's offensive line. Former Bears starting guard James Daniels starts and tackle Larry Borom is a backup.

Borom was just with the Bears until last season as the swing tackle. Borom has been getting some time with starters due to injuries. Daniels left for Pittsburgh after 2021 as a free agent.

Better Lucky Than Good

Bears tight end Cole Kmet was back at practice on Thursday after leaving the previous practice with what looked to be an injury, although one hasn't been reported by the team. Thursday he very nearly pulled off the play of the day, if not camp.

Williams led Kmet perfectly on a deeper seam route in tight coverage by safety Kevin Byard, with Jaquan Brisker over the top in deep overage. The ball and Byard's hand arrived at exactly the same moment. Out came the ball for an incompletion, though.

"I put the ball exactly where I wanted and KB, I don't know if he ended up falling, but he reached out and didn't actually look back at the ball," Williams said. "And the ball just ended up hitting his hands. It was one of those DB got kinda lucky."

After Effects

The tough, physical practice that went almost entirely live hitting on Tuesday had a few side effects.

Both running back Roschon Johnson and backup center Doug Kramer suffered foot injuries and missed Thursday's practice.

There were other absences caused by Thursday's practice.

Slot cornerback Kyler Gordon and tackle Darnell Wright left during the practice.

Gordon was replaced by Josh Blackwell. Theo Benedet played at right tackle as backup right tackle Kiran Amegadjie is still out with a leg injury.

Role Reversal

The offense and defense reversed roles for the final play of practice, with much of the regular defense lining up on offense. However, Williams remained at quarterback.

He competed a short sideline route to defensive back Nick McCloud with wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus trying to cover as the DB.

"Yeah. Look, you get into the monotony of training camp a little bit," Allen said. "Just a little bit of something to have a little bit fun. So we switched some offensive players over to play defense, some defensive players over to play offense: Third-and-5, I think for 10 pushups."The defensive players did a great job of executing on the out route.We’ve got to be a little tighter in coverage there."

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.