Lou Canellis and Cassie Carlson break down Bears' mandatory minicamp
LAKE FOREST, Ill. - The Chicago Bears held their final day of mandatory minicamp on Thursday, capping a three-day span where all veterans were required to be at Halas Hall.
Head coach Ben Johnson wanted to see the team stack success and understand the playbook before hammering out concrete roles.
There was plenty of that Thursday, as well as throughout the entire week.
"We felt really good about introducing the scheme, strength and conditioning, just our standard of technique and fundamentals and finish," Johnson said. "That was really encouraging to see over the course of the last nine weeks."
Here are our takeaways from the three-day minicamp this week.
Big picture view:
The offense's struggles in the first two weeks of OTAs were very well-documented.
Williams was throwing interceptions and the offense was looking to stack successful plays on top of each other.
As minicamp bore on, the offense found a way to stack those plays.
Williams' best day was on Wednesday when he led touchdown drives in situational drills. He did so again on Thursday, throwing a touchdown to DJ Moore to cap a drive in a situational drill.
The significance of that drive was how Williams and the offense picked themselves up and dusted themselves off.
The offense had a false start and a delay of game in the first set of plays. Right away, the Bears were backed up with second and 15. The offense responded with a short pass to Cole Kmet – and easy "layup" type pass to get the offense moving – which went for a first down.
From there, plays felt intentional. Williams knew what reads to make and where to put the ball.
The Moore touchdown was a pass that had anticipation, showed off the chemistry between Williams and Moore, and went between multiple defenders in the middle of the end zone.
Granted, it wasn't all perfect.
On the next situational drive, Williams rolled out to his right and tried to throw a pass across his body. He overthrew that pass to Kmet and Tyrique Stevenson intercepted the pass to end the drill.
The defense had the offense's number, but the offense rallied. There's a reason for the improvement on both sides.
A direct approach:
The Bears' quarterback room has seen one of the biggest impacts with Johnson running the ship. The first sign of it was when he was quizzing the quarterbacks in Phase I back in April.
Bears back-up quarterback Tyson Bagent said those quizzes now continue but have an end goal for them.
Bagent said quarterbacks coach JT Barrett had a three plays in mind, and puts asks the quarterbacks to go through them.
"JT would spit the play out," Bagent said. "We'd go through our operation until we got it down."
This is a dynamic shift from last season. ESPN's Seth Wickersham reported in his book "American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback" that Williams would often times watch film alone with no direction at all from the offensive staff.
With Johnson, that's far from the case. The results are beginning to show now and the hope is they'll keep showing in training camp next month. Johnson expects that.
"He's very coachable," Johnson said of Williams on Wednesday.
Johnson's standout players:
On Wednesday, Johnson was asked if any players were standing out during minicamp. He said to ask that question after the final day of camp.
Johnson was asked again Thursday, and he had an answer.
Tight end Joel Wilson
One of the players who perhaps saved his best for last, Wilson caught Johnson's eye with consistency. On Thursday, Wilson went over the back of a defensive back to make a catch and caught a touchdown from Case Keenum in a situational drill that displayed crisp route running and reliable hands.
"He's kind of had one or two of those almost every OTA," Johnson said,.
Defensive end Dominique Robinson
Once a player the Bears had as inactive for most of the 2024 season, Johnson has singled out Robinson as a boon.
Johnson had Robinson running with the first-team defensive line alongside Gervon Dexter Sr., Grady Jarrett and Montez Sweat during minicamp, and saw plenty of potential in Robinson's size and speed.
"Even without the pads on, he's done a great job of consistently speed rush up the field or countering back to the inside," Johnson said. "Of course, he's got some special teams value that he takes a lot of pride in as well."
Linebacker Ruben Hippoltye II
The Bears drafted Hippoltye because of his speed. Johnson praised that speed and more, saying the rookie out of Maryland has been the one of the most improved players throughout camp.
Running back Kyle Monangai
The second of two rookies to catch his attention, Johnson praised Monagai's ability to pick up the offense.
"I appreciate the attention to detail and the pride he takes and how quickly he's picking things up," Johnson said.
What's next:
The Bears have one more open day of OTAs next week on Tuesday. Johnson said the Bears have an open plan for that.
"We're leaving the last week of OTAs open," Johnson said. "We'll be on the field, we'll be practicing, but it'll be a little bit more young guy emphasis and special teams emphasis."
After that, Johnson said the team will give players specific items to work on before training camp begins.
"There's a general plan for us as a team, and every member of the team, of things that we'd like to accomplish over the course of the next six weeks going into camp," Johnson said. "It's to expand on when they came in."
"Each position coach had specific items of action for them to focus on." Johnson said.
BearsSports