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Bears Head Into Minicamp Wondering if Their OTA Offensive Surge Was Real

The Bears head into minicamp wondering if Caleb Williams and the offense truly improved, or if a shaky secondary made Chicago's OTA surge look better.
Gene Chamberlain|
Dillon Thieneman shows great physical potential but the Bears' secondary must be considered a question at this point.
Dillon Thieneman shows great physical potential but the Bears' secondary must be considered a question at this point. | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

The greatest question facing the Bears heading into their three-day mandatory minicamp Tuesday through Thursday is at least specific to their roster situation and not potential roster additions or contract squabbles.

Mandatory minicamps are when players can cause problems by getting fined $17,900 for missing the first day, $35,000 for the second day, and $53,900 for missing a third day, or $107,700 total. It's mandatory practice, unlike organized team activities. So it becomes serious when players skip mandatory minicamps. The also get labeled by fans and possibly coaches as non-compliant.

The Bears should have none of these common issues because nothing like this has been building throughout organized team activities. Nor are new injuries cropping up, although some old ones seem to linger.

They have been building momentum or trends through OTAs, though, and those lead to questions. In their case, it leads to one great question.

Of course Bears lack pass rush help

An obvious question facing the team in terms of personnel is whether they have enough pass rush help. They already should have that answer, though.

They don't. The answer is already there and has been since before OTAs started.

Their OTAs have been conducted with Jamree Kromah and Austin Booker practicing at defensive end with starters. Booker will need to be there and Montez Sweat hasn't been at practices at all. He will now, but either way they have that need for a third edge rusher and Kromah is only an undrafted practice squad player.

This isn't an unanswered question. It's an obvious one and the answer is clear. They lack a comfortable situation on the edge because Dayo Odeyingbo is working back slowly from a torn Achilles tendon and only last week began to do stretching and individual work with the team. He isn't involved in any scrimmaging. Nor is Shemar Turner, who had an ACL tear.

Even if those players were healthy this remains a question because those players haven't proven themselves and GM Ryan Poles couldn't twist it any other way. None of this is new.

The real question produced by OTAs

The great unanswered question about the Bears resulting from OTAs remains unanswered heading into minicamp. It is how much improvement seen in offseason work by the offense has been the result of another year of experience for Caleb Williams and another year in the Ben Johnson offense, and how much is it because he's working in offseason practice against a weakened secondary?

Summed up, it's how much of the success the offense has enjoyed in practices is a mere mirage?

The flow of practices so far has been the offense moving the ball up and down the field consistently against the defense. This happened with the first and second teams but the first team is the focus here.

Williams' passes are more sharply thrown than in last year's offseason and training camp. There is no denying this. He isn't scanning the horizon for so long. Nor is he as reluctant to use his great arm strength for an anticipatory strike to a spot where he sees a receiver will come open.

It's the reason so many shorter and medium receptions have been completed with room for the receiver to finish plays by taking the ball upfield.

It would be a stretch to say receivers are coming wide open all of the time, but not an exaggeration in the least to say they are open more often and found more often with passes where they can do more damage to the defense than last year in OTAs or training camp.

Last year during OTAs, defensive backs routinely plucked Williams' passes with greater frequency. Some practices went by where two or three throws came back the other way with a defender carrying the ball.

This has not been the case in these spring practices when media was allowed on the grounds to watch.

This might seem logical because it's Williams' second year in the offense and third year overall, but the question is how much can be credited to offensive improvement and how much to secondary decline?

Remember, the Bears lost both safeties. Dillon Thieneman and Coby Bryant are new to the scheme and also their teammates. Last year the defense was in a different scheme, too, but the players at least knew how to communicate well with each other in coverage during plays because the starters had been together since the beginning of 2024 offseason. They had Kevin Byard directing people.

An example of how much the defense is set back? Cornerback Tyrique Stevenson sees a need on his part to be more involved with communication and leadership in the secondary.

"I think I should be vocal with our calls, with our communications, that way it gives guys who haven't been here, gives them the confidence to play fast, so we are all moving fast," Stevenson said. "I definitely try to do my part in the DB room of relaying information and receiving it and try to distribute it amongst the guys.”

When Stevenson must be the one helping direct things in the secondary, change definitely has hit home. Stevenson was, after all, the DB who gave up the Hail Mary, and last year allowed more yards per reception when targeted than any starting cornerback in the NFL, according to Pro Football Reference.

Now they need to rely on his leadership? Yikes.

Leaders missed in back

When Byard's leadership in back was present, directions came from a familiar, dependable source. Besides both safeties being swapped out, Kyler Gordon hasn't been able to practice due to a soft tissue injury one year after he missed 14 games for this reason. He has played only five games in this defensive scheme now, anyway.

Another indicator of instability being exploited at OTAs is how rapidly veteran free agent pickup Scotty Miller has come in and begun making plays in full-squad and 7-on-7 drills against the defense. Since he arrived during a rookie camp tryout, Miller has been making catches with regularity. He's an NFL veteran, yes, and does have familiarity with the coaching staff because he worked under receivers coach Antwaan Randle El with Tampa Bay in 2019 and 2020.

However, he hasn't been an impact receiver since 2020 and coming in without knowledge of the offense to make all the catches he has is a sure sign he's able to take advantage of some failures in the secondary.

"These guys are dialed in, they're very focused, and like we talked about a couple weeks ago, the whole coaching staff is going back to the basics, and those guys are really embracing that mindset," coach Ben Johnson said during OTAs.

They really need to go back to basics on the defensive side during minicamp because flaws are showing. Williams and receivers have been exposing them and this works as both a positive and a potential negative.

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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.

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