The Offseason: Bears OTAs, Caleb Williams' silence & Ben Johnson coach of the year?
The Chicago Bears have gotten the right extensions done in the past two offseasons.
General manager Ryan Poles took care of Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon, calling the two extensions "priorities," and even extended TJ Edwards, who was heading into the final year of his contract.
That led to guard Joe Thuney, whom the Bears acquired in free agency this offseason. The Bears wanted to extend him and got that done this week with a two-year extension that ties him to the Bears through 2027.
Poles has been a man of his word with extensions. However, Thuney's extension may have said more about first-year head coach Ben Johnson.
Big picture view:
Thuney spoke with reporters Wednesday and got a chance to explain the details of his extension. He said he let his agent handle the fine print, which allowed him to focus on OTAs and the offseason.
Through those workouts, the Bears got a chance to show Thuney what this first-year staff is about. That convinced him to sign an extension. When asked why he wanted to sign his extension, he simply said "everything."
"Everything really," Thuney said Wednesday. "The players, the coaches, the whole management. It's been awesome to take part in this on this team."
The details weren't a stressor for Thuney. He said he just let the extension happen behind these scenes and was happy with the result.
When he explained in detail why Chicago felt right, he pointed to the things he'd seen early in OTAs. He was happy to see the connection from the coaches and how that's being communicated to the players.
Even though the Bears are in the early phases of establishing the team they want to be under Johnson, Thuney liked the ways Johnson was instilling what he wants to see out of this team.
"It's early in things, just the attention to detail, the focus, the passion from the players, the coaches, the staff, everybody," Thuney said. "It seems like everyone's pulling in the same direction. Everybody's really determined to keep working and improving. It's what I'm used to and it felt right. Chicago is a city, a franchise with so much history."
What's next:
The Bears' OTAs will play a big part in shaping the team's summer.
The offensive and defensive install will bring some frustrating moments but the more the Bears can focus on nailing the details, something that Thuney was already impressed by, the quicker the Bears can get into training camp without missing a beat.
Johnson knows that's the priority of OTAs will be to learn good habits. Luckily for Thuney, his All-Pro career is based on being consistent.
"When I was young, someone told me it takes 21 days to learn a new habit and let it get into your unconscious," Johnson said. "I don't know if that's true or not, but the good news is this, we had three or four good weeks on the grass with them in Phase II, and that prior Minicamp that we were able to get ahead of a lot of that."
The onus is on Johnson, and he's not shying away from being a teacher first. That's why it's a boon he's already gotten the veteran players to buy into what he's selling.
Thuney was asked about playing for Andy Reid and Bill Belichick, and where Johnson falls between the two. It was pretty early to discern that, to be sure. But Thuney was still impressed all the same.
It's why he's going to be in Chicago for the next three seasons.
"He communicates things very clearly, what he wants and what he expects which makes it easy for us players because we know exactly what to do to go execute," Thuney said. "He's just his own coach."
BearsSports