The Good and Not So Good From Chicago Bears' First Week of OTAs

The first week of Chicago Bears OTAs is in the books. Here's the good and bad from we learned from the team's practices this past week.

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams. | David Banks-Imagn Images

The Chicago Bears are on to the next portion of their offseason program after the team began OTAs (organized team activities) this past Wednesday.

Chicago had its first practice of OTAs on Wednesday, but it was not until Thursday that a session was open to the media, which gave us several good nuggets about Bears players, along with some great highlights.

After finishing off the first week on Friday, the Bears will return to the practice field for three more sessions of OTAs starting on June 2.

With the first week of Bears OTAs in the books, we're going over all of the good and bad based on what we read from beat writers on the ground.

The good

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams. | David Banks-Imagn Images

Caleb Williams' deep balls

MVP season confirmed.

Caleb Williams connected on three long touchdown passes during the Bears' open practice on Thursday, one to Rome Oduzne, one to D'Andre Swift, and another to Zavion Thomas.

Williams launched a strike to Odunze that went 67 yards in the air, according to backup Case Keenum. Making the pass even more impressive was the fact that Williams was on the run when he threw it.

Oh yeah, we're SO back 🙂‍↕️ pic.twitter.com/JGFoGzj6ht

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) May 28, 2026

Then, Williams dialed up another long pass to Thomas (more on this, including the video, shortly) for six.

Williams hit Swift on a wheel route, capping off what appeared to be a strong session for the young signal-caller, who head coach Ben Johnson wants to see improve his completion rate in 2026 with the help of his pass-catchers.

"Completion percentage is something that we're going to emphasize," Johnson said. "We want to give these pass catchers — we have so many talented ones — opportunities to run after the catch, and so we're being very critical on where we're putting that football with them, and that's something that we grade every day."

During the league meeting in March, Johnson mentioned Williams improving his decision-making for when to leave or stick in the pocket, as well.

Zavion Thomas named 'star of the day'

CHGO Bears' Mark Carman dubbed Thomas the "star of the day" on Thursday for his deep-ball reception on a pass from Williams that the Bears later released video of.

"Zavion Thomas star of the day. A+. Hauled in a 50-yard plus missle from Caleb down left sideline. Speed," Carman said.

Heard y'all wanted the @ftfzayy_ catch 👀 pic.twitter.com/XrC8eLZHos

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) May 29, 2026

Thomas has a real opportunity to grab a big role in his first season because of just how explosive he can be with his 4.28 speed, and with the Bears not having a great situation behind their top two, Odunze and Luther Burden.

But, as general manager Ryan Poles pointed out after the draft, how much Thomas gets will be reliant on his ability to pick up Johnson's offense quickly, which won't be easy.

More Luther Burden hype from Ben Johnson

Chicago Bears wide receiver Luther Burden. | Mike Dinovo-Imagn Images

Nobody is more excited for the 2025 second-round pick's sophomore campaign than Johnson, who continues to compliment his young receiver.

“I’m buying Luther Burden stock right now,” Johnson said before practice on Thursday. “Just how he’s approached his offseason, it’s been electric.”

“When we drafted him, we saw an explosive athlete who was really dangerous with the ball in his hands. The question was how can we get it in his hands?” Johnson added. “The easy things to do are screens or short throws, but I think there’s a lot more to his game that we’ve worked on. He’s been really receptive to how we can get that done. He ran a route (Wednesday). It was the first time he had run that route, and he ran it as well as I’ve been around, so things like that really get you excited as a coach.”

"He looks like he is moving at a different speed right now. He is not thinking as much. The game is slowing down for him," Johnson said.

This is the second time Johnson has heaped praise on his young wide receiver after doing so at the NFL league meeting back in March.

It's clear the Bears expect Burden to make a second-year leap, and he'll have every opportunity to do so now that DJ Moore is gone.

Garrett Bradbury impressing early on

Bradbury is tasked with filling the shoes of Drew Dalman following his unexpected retirement this offseason. First things first, he has to beat out rookie Logan Jones, who was drafted in the second round.

One thing that will help Bradbury is his advantage in experience over Jones, which showed up in how effective he is with communication, something Johnson pointed out.

"A guy like Garrett Bradbury impressed Day 1, just with the level of communication that he brings to the table," Johnson stated. "He's loud, he's demonstrative. I know that he's going to be able to get all five guys on the same page."

We'll see if Bradbury can play well enough to keep the job all year long, but right now we have him penciled in as the favorite to be Chicago's starter up the middle in Week 1.

Jaylon Johnson in attendance and practicing

After an injury-plagued season that saw him struggle, the hope was that Johnson would be in attendance for the voluntary portion of the offseason program.

Johnson didn't make it for the earlier portions, which is not unusual at all, but the veteran was at OTAs this past week.

Adding to that, Johnson was healthy and taking part.

"They’re voluntary programs, so everyone's got different ways they want to go about their business, but I appreciate him being here now with his teammates and getting to know them," Johnson said of his star cornerback. "We have a lot of new faces in the building, so you cannot overstate the importance of that."

"It's just getting to know your buddy because you're going to lay it out on the line for him on game day. And that is what we're looking to do right now,” the Bears head coach added.

Johnson is facing a crucial season for his career in 2026 after his struggles in 2025. Chicago has an out in his contract in 2027, so his performance this coming season could determine his future with the Bears.

Bears D-line has extra motivation

Chicago Bears defensive end Grady Jarrett. | David Banks-Imagn Images

There has been a ton of criticism for how the Bears' defensive line played in 2025 after Chicago finished tied for the seventh-fewest sacks and sported the second-worst pass-rush win rate and the sixth-worst run defense in 2025.

Grady Jarrett and the Bears' defensive line room heard all of it and it serves as motivation for the unit ahead of the 2026 campaign.

"Yeah, we all got cell phones and internet, so...," Jarrett said. "No, so we hear it, man. But it also comes with the job, you know, it comes with the job.

"And at the end of the day, we gotta really take it personal and get back to work. Even if sometimes your best ain't good enough. So you gotta find out ‘Where can I be better at?'" Jarrett said.  

"So it all goes together. But all we can do as a unit is look in the mirror and challenge ourselves every day to go be better and do what we need to do to have better output," he added.

Hopefully that increased motivation will lead to better play because the Bears haven't done much to improve the unit throughout the offseason.

The not so good

Chicago Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson. | David Banks-Imagn Images

Dillon Thieneman drops an interception

We're obviously not going to make a big deal about it, but the rookie did drop an interception on Thursday, which led to him ripping off push-ups as a punishment.

The bigger thing to point out is the Bears had the first-round pick working with the twos, which shows they are going to make him earn the starting role everyone has him pegged for.

As our Jerry Markarian pointed out, making a rookie earn it is not a new approach for the Ben Johnson-led Bears, and there's nothing wrong with it, either.

"Handing a rookie a starting job without making them work for their snaps creates a dangerous situation. It might put him in a position where he gets shell-shocked by just how tough it is to thrive in the league. The Bears' coaching staff seems to have a firm understanding of that," Markarian wrote.

Tyrique Stevenson burnt twice

Remember the touchdown catches for Burden and Thomas that we highlighted earlier in this article? Stevenson was the victim on both plays, which means he's not off to a good start.

Once a promising player, Stevenson has seen his play decline in the last few years, and so much so he was benched for Nahshon Wright last season.

With Wright gone, Stevenson has a golden opportunity to bounce back and grab a starting role once again. But he's going to have competition from fourth-round pick Malik Muhammad and this week showed the rookie starting is very much in play.

Pre-snap penalties

You never want to put too much stock into what goes on at this early stage of the offseason, but after the Bears struggled with pre-snap penalties in 2025, it's worth noting that was one of Chicago's issues on Thursday.

"Still too many presnap penalties," CHGO Bears' Mark Carman wrote.

According to NFLPenalties.com, the Bears were tied for the most pre-snap penalties in the NFL last season with 54. That is something Chicago must clean up to progress in 2026.

Injuries to monitor

Chicago Bears cornerback Kyler Gordon. | Peter van den Berg-Imagn Images

Bear Report noted Kyler Gordon, Jonah Jackson and Jedrick Wills were all present but not taking part due to injury. The fact the trio was out there suggests there's not much of a concern for them right now, but they are worth monitoring.

We would put a little extra concern on Gordon because he had an injury-plagued campaign in 2025 and has had issues with health his entire career. Wills didn't play at all last season after having a knee procedure and is trying to compete for the left tackle job.

Montez Sweat did not take part in practice, either, but his absence was not injury-related, Bear Report said.

Another situation to monitor moving forward is Cam Lewis, who appeared to leave practice early with trainers, the Chicago Tribune's Sean Hammond reported.

Lewis was one of the Bears' free-agent signings and is slated for a key depth role in the secondary.

Also not taking part in practice were T.J. Edwards, Ozzy Trapilo, Dayo Odeyingbo, Noah Sewell, Malik Muhammad and Jordan McFadden.

We know Edwards, Trapilo, Odeyingbo and Sewell are coming back from significant injuries, so no surprise there. It isn't clear what McFadden and Muhammad are dealing with.