5 observations from veteran minicamp

New coach Ben Johnson and the Chicago Bears wrapped up minicamp Thursday in Lake Forest. The team spent three days on the practice field installing the offense and defense and working on situational football.

Johnson said every player attended minicamp, which is mandatory. The team has one more week of organized team activities next week, but many of the veterans will have the week off. After that, there’s about a one-month break until training camp begins in late July.

“The objectives we set out to achieve, really for the whole offseason program, we felt really good about introducing the scheme, strength and conditioning, just our standard of technique and fundamentals and finish,” Johnson said.

With minicamp in the books, here are five observations from a busy week at Halas Hall.

1. The connection between Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams must build.

During a team period Wednesday, Williams had difficulty calling a play. Whether he didn’t hear the call in its entirety or just faltered spitting it out to teammates, the young quarterback removed himself from the huddle and looked back at Johnson some 20 yards away for assistance.

Aggravated, Johnson pointed behind the end zone, made it clear to Williams the play clock had ticked below 20 and, with some choice words mixed in, ordered the quarterback to figure it out himself, to do something quickly to troubleshoot the matter. Ultimately the offense took a delay-of-game penalty, and Johnson’s frustration was obvious.

It was a minor misstep within an offseason that was expected to include growing pains for Williams as he takes on new demands and builds a new relationship with a new play-caller in a new system. But it was also another reminder of how much remains on the quarterback’s plate every day as he tries to become a standout as soon as possible.

Presnap demands — knowing the plays, calling the plays, commanding the huddle, diagnosing the defense, adjusting protections — will remain priority tasks well into training camp. Williams is also still polishing his footwork and becoming more comfortable operating from under center. Add in Johnson’s push for Williams to become quicker working through reads and selective with his off-schedule artistry, and there won’t be much time for the quarterback to catch his breath and decompress.

That, though, is life as a QB1 in the NFL, and the Bears are pushing Williams to understand just how demanding the responsibilities are to play the position at even an adequate level. Additionally, once the Bears check into training camp next month, Williams and Johnson must spend as much time as possible seeing the game through a shared lens. Working on that process with one-on-one meetings will be a big emphasis.

“You don’t develop that trust unless you spend a lot of time together,” Johnson said this week. “And for whatever reason, if you do that in the room with all the other quarterbacks, sometimes you can get a little defensive. Whereas when it’s one-on-one the truth can come out and no one’s feelings are going to get hurt and each person can speak the truth.”

From his time with the Miami Dolphins and Detroit Lions, Johnson learned a lot about quarterback development from starters Ryan Tannehill, Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff, absorbing lessons he’s applying today. His hard and often vocal push for Williams to be razor sharp with all the responsibilities of playing quarterback remains notable, something the coach believes ties back into accountability.

“It’s like that for every position,” Johnson said. “But certainly with that position you have to be able to tell them when it’s good and when it’s not good enough in front of their peers.”

2. Johnson’s high expectations for his offense will continue to be felt.

After Williams led a 94-yard touchdown drive during an end-of-game situational period Wednesday, Johnson made sure to praise his quarterback for his clutch playmaking.

“With Caleb, what we thought about him was that when the lights are brightest, he was going to show up,” Johnson said. “It felt like the game slowed down a little bit for him (on that series.) And he was able to just go out and find the open guy and get a completion. That was good to see.”

Along with that, though, Johnson cited a couple of plays that likely would have ended as sacks in a non-practice setting and also volunteered that, throughout OTAs, the Bears first-unit defense had frequently been getting the better of the offense in end-of-half and end-of-game situational work.

Then on Thursday, when a similar end-of-game situational period ended with a Williams interception over the middle on a chaotic play, Johnson acknowledged the discombobulated nature of the play and the work-in-progress state of the offense. (Williams’ scrambling pass back across his body to Cole Kmet sailed high and was picked by Tyrique Stevenson.)

“We’re not ready for prime time yet,” Johnson said. “I think that was loud and clear over the last three weeks of play. But that’s to be expected as well. We knew that was going to happen. We’ll look to take advantage of training camp to tighten the screws up and be ready to go for Week 1.”

The ability of both Johnson and Williams to find a healthy balance of patience and urgency during training camp will be critical. But over the last three weeks, with the coach’s admission that the Bears “are not ready for prime time yet,” it’s a reminder of the struggles that are likely for the offense during training camp. Handling those rough patches — and ultimately reducing them — will be important and increasingly difficult once the countdown to the regular season starts ticking louder.

3. Which offensive linemen can catch the football?

Every day at the start of practice, the wide receivers line up and run half-speed routes to get loose, while the quarterbacks throw high-arcing passes downfield.

On Thursday, those lines looked a little different.

The offensive linemen filtered into the line and took their turn running downfield, with passes coming their way. Some of them looked out of place, while others raised some eyebrows. Johnson most certainly saw right tackle Darnell Wright make a one-handed grab.

“We only do this once a year and it’s an evaluation and we’ll circle back in training camp and in the season to see who we can trust to catch the ball or throw the ball,” Johnson said.

Quarterbacks also joined the receiving line, and wide receivers threw some passes.

Johnson’s affinity for trick plays became a hallmark of the Lions offense. He ran two of them against the Bears last year — a pass play for tackle Penei Sewell on Thanksgiving (which didn’t work) and the infamous “Stumble Bum” fake fumble that went for a touchdown.

Last season, the Lions completed three passes not thrown by a quarterback, including a punter, receiver and running back. Johnson even trusted receiver Jameson Williams to throw a pass in the playoffs, which backfired and ended up going for an interception.

When the spring practice period opened, Johnson said the Bears would use this time to test every player’s strengths and weaknesses. He wasn’t kidding when he said he’d be testing everything.

“There’s a couple guys on the O-line that stood out,” Johnson said. “And then (quarterback) Case Keenum might have made the catch of the day, behind-the-back about 50 yards down the field. So I think we got some toys to work with.”

4. Cole Kmet embraces rookie Colston Loveland.

Kmet had to admit he was taken aback.

When the Bears spent the No. 10 pick on Loveland, it made him wonder. This was a big commitment to a player who played tight end — Kmet’s position.

What would that mean for Kmet? He couldn’t help but wonder, especially with Johnson being a new coach.

“Ben was awesome about it in terms of calling me right away and kind of explaining the decision,” Kmet said. “From there, you’re all on board.”

Johnson and the Bears have a vision for Loveland and Kmet. Johnson is a former tight ends coach. In Detroit, he helped Sam LaPorta emerge as one of the league’s best at the position. The Lions also did a good job of utilizing multiple tight ends effectively.

Loveland isn’t here to take playing time from Kmet. The vision is for both to be on the field as much as possible. That would allow Johnson to flex his creativity in both the run and pass games.

Kmet jumped on board quickly. Both players have different experiences and different skill sets. Even if that means fewer snaps played or fewer passes thrown his way, Kmet knows Johnson brought in Loveland with the best interest of the team and offense in mind.

“You understand that there’s going to be areas where we complement each other, and there’s obviously — just like any position room — there’s going to be areas that we compete for things,” Kmet said. “That’s football and that’s how it should be.”

Loveland missed minicamp as he recovers from offseason shoulder surgery. The Bears are hopeful he’ll be ready for training camp.

If Kmet was wondering where he stands with Johnson a month ago, the answer seems pretty clear now. The coach has been impressed with the way Kmet’s teammates look at him as a leader.

“You could tell instantly when he was around the other offensive players, the rest of the team, there’s an instant respect level,” Johnson said.

5. Johnson didn’t address Hail Mary with Tyrique Stevenson.

Johnson spent time this spring going over everything he saw on tape from the Bears in 2024. There was plenty to address, good and bad.

But he didn’t feel the need to bring up the Hail Mary play against the Washington Commanders with cornerback Tyrique Stevenson. The fact Stevenson didn’t appear to be paying attention when the play began turned into national headlines.

Months later, Johnson wasn’t going to add salt to that wound.

“I think he learned his lesson from that, and his peers have certainly talked to him about it and there really wasn’t any reason for me or the staff to piggyback on that because he’s learned from it,” Johnson said.

At the time, Stevenson apologized for the mental lapse. The Bears also kept him out of the starting lineup the following week.

Stevenson’s mistake was discussed ad nauseum last fall. Stevenson said he has focused on proving himself to the new coaching staff through his work ethic on the field.

“I feel like talking to me and getting through to me, they can see I already owned up to it and I owe them guys from last year nothing but effort from myself,” Stevenson said. “And they see that I am putting it in. So there’s really no conversation needed.”

Johnson loves Stevenson’s potential in coordinator Dennis Allen’s defense noting his length and fearlessness as assets. Allen’s defenses play a lot of press man-to-man coverage at the cornerback spots, and the Bears believe that will suit Stevenson’s style.

Click here to read article