LAKE FOREST, Ill. — An up-and-down day for the Chicago Bears offense during the third OTA practice ended with an encouraging message for rookie quarterback Caleb Williams.
Nine-year safety Kevin Byard, who joined the Bears in free agency, approached Williams at the end of Thursday’s session with comments after a stretch of inconsistency during the red zone period.
“I told him something at the end of practice like, ‘Keep it up. We’re going to keep making you better,'” Byard said. “And I’m not necessarily saying he had a terrible day, but days like this will make you feel better.”
The Bears’ defense, which has operated the same system since 2022, had the best result of an offense that is learning a new scheme under first-year offensive coordinator Shane Waldron.
“We had a good day,” Byard said. “I’m not going to sit here and lie about it. But, to be honest, it’s to be expected. You’ve got a top-15, top-10 defense coming back, obviously going against a younger rookie quarterback who’s getting acclimated and learning things. “This is how it’s supposed to look.”
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Wide receiver DJ Moore noted the expectation of “growing pains” for Williams, whom the Bears selected No. 1 overall, and for Chicago’s entire offense. During several instances at 11-on-11, Williams was late on throws or held the ball too long. With incomplete passes and plays that would have resulted in sacks, frustrations arose over the offense’s inability to execute.
“It’s frustrating, but we also know we’re learning a new system,” Moore said.
Moore said he felt he needed to convey that reality to Williams.
“Yeah, they have to because our defense can get pretty loud, as everyone knows,” Moore said. “The best thing is to just calm everyone down in the meeting and refocus.”
Byard noted that the offense “haunted us a little bit” during the first practice of the week and came away impressed by several of Williams’ throws.
“Not every week is going to be good,” Byard said. “Some weeks we’re going to have to do a two-minute drill, he’s going to have to beat us in a game. Some weeks we’re going to blow people away. Sometimes it won’t be like that. So I would just tell him, hey, days like this, keep fighting, keep going, watch the film, get better and that’s for everyone on the team, not everything will be rosy “I’m saying, but I like his confidence and he just looked me right in the eyes and said ‘of course. I’ll do it,’ and it was good to see.”
Coach Matt Eberflus emphasized the growth he saw Williams make during his first week of real practices against NFL competition.
“This is the first time we’ve faced a professional defense, and it’s pretty good,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “It’s going to be a learning experience for everyone. They’re putting everything together. It was progress. I saw progress from the first day to the second, from the second to the third. So it’s good.”
Williams’ ability to process the information given to him by the Bears coaches and execute it during practice has been “very impressive,” according to Eberflus. As the Bears evaluate Williams’ development during the spring, facilitating him on offense is not part of the plan.
“We are not going to stop,” Eberflus said. “We’re giving him a lot of information. We’re giving him the offense and you want to be able to go over the entire offense before the offseason is over, mostly most of it, and work on it until the summer.”
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