It's the type of practice expected during the dog days of camp, in mid-August when coaches want to test what their team is made of.
But if you're Ben Johnson, it's the type of practice you hold the Thursday of Week 0, just 10 days before the 2026 season kicks off. While the players' blank stares and sweat-covered jerseys at the end of the drill may say differently, no one is second-guessing their coach.
All 69 players between the active roster and practice squad have grown accustomed to the challenges Johnson gives his players. They know everything they do boils down to one concept.
"I had a college coach when I first started coaching up at Boston College named Frank Spaziani," Johnson told ChicagoBears.com. "He kept bringing up, 'we're not better than anybody, but we are different.' And that's something that's always resonated.
"We take pride in being different, and I think our guys have really caught on to that. Our play style, how we practice, what it's like coming into the building on a daily basis, and it's something we can rally around. And really, they're starting to say it as much as the coaching staff is now at this point. So, it's just part of our culture."
Different is a word commonly used by those inside and outside Halas Hall to describe how things work now with Johnson at the helm. From a different level of physicality in practices to a different standard demanded and a different caliber of players in the locker room, the outlook is the same.
The 2026 Bears are on a different path.
"I think it's different in the sense of it's hard and it's demanding every day and maybe some places aren't like that all the time," tight end Cole Kmet, the longest tenured Bear, said. "We're gonna grind during training camp and it's a little old school in that sense, but it works for us and it works for the type of guys that they want here."