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Bear Digest

Three Reasons for Premature Worries at Chicago Bears OTAs

It's early and issues at OTAs can't be regarded as tough to overcome. Still, the Bears had a few potential problems crop up at Thursday's first open practice.
Gene Chamberlain|
Offensive linemen go through pad drills at the second day of Bears OTAs.
Offensive linemen go through pad drills at the second day of Bears OTAs. | Chicago Bears On SI Photo: Gene Chamberlain

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Chicago Bears

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Long Caleb Williams pass plays to Rome Odunze, Zavion Thomas, and D'Andre Swift all had special spots on social media from Thursday's second OTA practice.

Those plays said plenty for Williams' ability to pick out players coming open, although risk is mitigated because he's not really going to be hit when he throws in an OTA.

While the big plays were great for the offense, not so much for the defense. Then again, the defense the Bears put on the field against the offense for that workout had only about half the starters playing because of absences due to injuries or otherwise.

Here were the most alarming parts of the first OTA practice opened to media.

1. Absences

Sure, this is voluntary. Wink. Wink. It's supposed to be, anyway. However, players benefit from being there. Those missing for whatever reason might be excused to be gone but they're still not helping their cause. Also, There can be players injured.

The Bears have an awful lot of players trying to get past injuries and their available 90-man roster for practice is much smaller when they don't have Dayo Odeyingbo, Shemar Turner, T.J. Edwards, Noah Sewell, Ozzy Trapilo, Terell Smith after they had season-ending injuries in 2025.

Also, rookie linebacker Keyshaun Elliott and rookie cornerback Malik Muhammad, and reserve running back Brittain Brown were unavailable Thursday for unexplained reasons.

However, what he did do was give up big plays. He allowed 15.5 yards per completion. No other NFL cornerback who started regularly gave up 15.5 yards per completion, according to Stathead and Pro Football Reference. Stevenson allowed a lower average per catch than only Tennessee's Marcus Harris, who played only 39% of plays and wasn't really even a starter on the outside.

Also, rookie linebacker Keyshaun Elliott and rookie cornerback Malik Muhammad, and reserve running back Brittain Brown were unavailable Thursday for unexplained reasons.

Montez Sweat also not being there is one thing. Most of the bigger names at edge rusher don't seem to have an interest in being at these, anyway. Myles Garrett, T.J. Watt, and Micah Parsons aren't at them, although Parsons is coming off knee surgery. Still, his absence doesn't help when they are also without Odeyingbo and Turner at that position. Pretty soon they'll be lining up equipment manager Tony Medlin in a three-point stance on the edge.

A real gauge for attendance is in two weeks when the Bears hold mandatory minicamp. They all need to be there then, unless they're among the group injured. Then you can worry for another reason.

2. Too much toast

Although he generally performed well, cornerback Tyrique Stevenson got burned by two of the long passes the Bears had Thursday. Zavion Thomas ran downfield past Stevenson so quickly it almost looked like the fourth-year cornerback thought he had help downfield on that side.

It can look that way when the receiver runs a 4.28-second 40. Stevenson also was the cornerback who was trailing Odunze downfield when Williams rolled out of the pocket to his right and rifled a bomb on a play covering almost 70 yards.

The passing game looked great on those plays — the pass defense by Stevenson not so much.  

It's only a couple of practice reps in non-mandatory work, but considering Stevenson's need to impress in a contract year nothing can be taken lightly. It would really be a concern for him if the Bears knew that Muhammad could play at an NFL starting level, but Muhammad wasn't even at OTAs Thursday.

Last year Stevenson had an impressive 86.3 passer rating against when targeted, per Stathead and Pro Football Reference. He also allowed a solid 57.9% completion rate and 190 yards after the 33 catches he allowed, which wasn't terrible at all. Still, the big plays allowed dog him. They have ever since the Hail Mary pass against the Commanders in 2024.

When someone is coming off a season allowing far too many big plays and they start out OTAs allowing a couple of big passes, it could be time for an early practice reboot by a player who needs to start fast at training camp.

Also, just a point of order here regarding the Bears. All of those practice videos on social media with actual scrimmage or 7-on-7 action are posted through the team. They don't allow regular media members to shoot video of practice except in the first 15 minutes when all they're doing is stretching, running through drills or running.

The OTAs and minicamp are closed to the public. So if your cornerback is constantly being beaten deep, why put those plays out on social media for all to see? Maybe it looks good for the offense, but everyone already know thay can pass the ball. The pass defense is a concern.

It's good for fans that they let people see tho, but from their own standpoint they're pointing out a potential weak spot for other teams to attack.

3. Braxton Jones deja vu

Braxton Jones' play before he suffered an ankle injury is often underrated by fans on social media. He had high blocking grades at times both in the running game and passing game, per Pro Football Focus.

One thing he did wrong was the occasional blowout. The defender would occasionally run virtually untouched around him. It didn't happen a lot but when he's protecting a QB like Williams, the Bears can't afford this.

If Jones is going to be left in the blocks or whiff, the camp competition won't go well for him. He has players trying to take his spot now, like Jedrick Wills Jr., Theo Benedet, and Kiran Amegadjie.

It really doesn't look good when you're beaten at this time of year because there are no pads on. It's just blocker pushing and defenders looking to get around them or out-technique them.

So, on the long pass play completed by Williams to Odunze, Austin Booker went right around Jones and quickly flushed the Bears QB out of the pocket. An offsides flag was thrown on the play. It wasn't apparent whether it was Booker offsides and it could have been. Officials who make calls during practices can sometimes be heard giving out the number of the violator, but the uproar from players after the long bomb to Odunze made it impossible to hear who the official flagged for the offsides. If it wasn't Booker, the Bears can start worrying.

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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.