The Chicago Bears completed their second week of organized team activities Thursday at Halas Hall and will transition into a three-day, full-team minicamp next week.
Under first-year coach Ben Johnson, the building process has been gradual but intense. And with only one week of the offseason program remaining for veterans, time is of the essence to continue down the runway toward the season.
All three minicamp practices will be open to reporters. After Wednesday’s open OTA session in Lake Forest, here are five observations about the team’s evolution.
1. Ozzy Trapilo is making his case for the left tackle job.
During the OTA practice that was open to media a week ago, second-year offensive lineman Kiran Amegadjie and rookie Trapilo both took reps at left tackle. On Wednesday, Trapilo appeared to take every snap with the first-team offense on the quarterback’s blind side.
The Bears drafted Trapilo out of Boston College with the 56th pick last month. He started 24 games at right tackle over his final two college seasons, but he played left tackle as a sophomore in 2022 and the Bears believe he can play on either side. They seem eager to give him an opportunity to compete for the starting left tackle job.
Trapilo and Amegadjie appear to be duking it out this spring, at least until incumbent starter Braxton Jones returns from his ankle injury. Jones needed surgery at the end of last season and won’t be back until training camp at the earliest.
Johnson wouldn’t comment much this week on how that battle is going, but he did suggest that third-year pro Darnell Wright ideally would remain at right tackle.
“We’re moving guys around,” Johnson said. “We want to give everyone an opportunity. (With) Darnell, we feel pretty comfortable keeping him on the right side right now. So that left side, until we get Braxton back in the mix, it’s going to be a little bit of musical chairs.”
When the Bears drafted Wright in 2023, they liked his versatility to play either tackle position. Since joining the Bears, though, he has played exclusively at right tackle, starting 33 games there.
2. Ben Johnson’s attention to detail continues to be felt — and heard.
Johnson’s ire flared briefly during Wednesday’s practice when the Bears were unacceptably sloppy coming out of the huddle and getting lined up during an 11-on-11 period. He immediately stopped the action and barked at quarterback Caleb Williams and the offense to get back into the huddle and restart.
“There’s a certain way the play needs to get communicated in the huddle,” Johnson said. “There’s a certain way the break should sound to us around that means that we’re ready for business and we’re ready to get going. And if it doesn’t sound that way, then we’re just not going to allow the practice to go south.
“Fatigue is something we’re going to combat. The longer practice goes, the more fatigue guys get. And the mental toughness has to come through of still doing the little things correctly.”
That was the latest example of Johnson’s practice demeanor as players quickly are starting to understand their new coach’s expectations.
“He’s demanding,” backup quarterback Case Keenum said, “and I love it. He will not let you show up with anything but your best every day.”
Williams, too, is acclimating to the standard and becoming familiar with Johnson’s demands to be razor sharp with presnap procedure.
“All these things matter,” Williams said. “Especially in big games and big moments. All the little things come up. That’s important to him and it’s important to us. We have to get on top of it and be on top of it from the head down. Like I’ve said, it’s the Ben Johnson effect, I guess, right?”
Time will tell how quickly Williams and the offense get on top of it.
3. Johnson’s work building the offense has put plenty on Caleb Williams’ plate.
While Williams spent most of his 15-minute news conference Wednesday addressing the noise that mushroomed two weeks ago after excerpts from a book detailed his early predraft reluctance to join the Bears, his effort to connect with Johnson remains one of the most significant storylines of the offseason.
As promised, the coaching staff is using the spring to test how much each player and unit can handle, a bit of an overloading process that will precede Johnson’s efforts to refine things for the season.
“With every position group on offense, we’re trying to see how much they can download and what they can apply,” Johnson said. “And we’ll revisit that as a staff at the end of OTAs and decide what the best course of action is for us going forward.”
To sum up Johnson’s late May progress report on Williams: So far, so good.
“He’s been very attentive,” Johnson said. “He has been very detailed in terms of the meetings. He’s taking great notes. He’s asking excellent questions. The more we’re out on the grass together, we’re figuring out what we can (install) in the morning and what we can execute later on in the afternoon.
“So that has been the part of it so far. Because for everybody, there’s a saturation level and we have to find what that point is so that as coaches we don’t ask too much out of any player over the course of the season. We have to be able to download a game plan and execute it. It has been a healthy process right now.”
On the weekend before each session of OTAs, Johnson and his staff give players the plan for the following week, testing their preparation.
“You can really see guys separate, not just at the quarterback position, but really all around on offense and defense,” Johnson said. “(You see) who is in their book a little bit extra than the next guy.”
4. Several key players have missed time this spring.
More than a dozen Bears were missing Wednesday, and Johnson acknowledged afterward that several were out with soft-tissue injuries. Cornerback Kyler Gordon, linebacker T.J. Edwards and rookie wide receiver Luther Burden III were among that group.
Others not present at practice included cornerbacks Jaylon Johnson and Terell Smith, safety Elijah Hicks, linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga, defensive tackle Zacch Pickens, left tackle Braxton Jones, guard Ryan Bates, running back Ian Wheeler and rookie tight end Colston Loveland.
Loveland, the No. 10 pick in the draft, is recovering from a shoulder injury he suffered last season at Michigan. Wheeler suffered a torn ACL in August, which caused him to miss his entire rookie season. Jones, as mentioned, is recovering from ankle surgery.
NFL teams are extremely cautious when it comes to handling injuries in May and June. Gordon’s absence, however, feels notable after the nickel cornerback signed a three-year, $40 million contract extension last month.
Gordon has missed time in each of his three NFL seasons. He missed three games because of a concussion as a rookie in 2022, four games with a broken hand in 2023 and two games because of a hamstring strain last season.
Next week’s minicamp is the only portion of the offseason program that is mandatory for all players. “We expect full attendance,” Ben Johnson said Wednesday.
In positive injury news, defensive tackle Andrew Billings was back at practice this week. Billings needed surgery after suffering a season-ending pectoral injury midway through the 2024 season.
5. Crossover practices are coming to Halas Hall this summer.
The Bears plan to have joint sessions with the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills in August ahead of their home preseason games against both teams. Johnson confirmed that each team will visit Halas Hall for one practice apiece, offering heightened competition that will help enliven training camp.
“It’s a good opportunity to break up camp a little bit,” Johnson said. “Controlled setting, yet high, high intensity. I think the competitive nature of just about everybody, once you get in between those white lines against an opponent like that, it goes up another notch. So that’ll be good.”
The Bears held crossover practices with the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots during the John Fox era; with the Denver Broncos and Dolphins under Matt Nagy; and with the Colts and Cincinnati Bengals under Matt Eberflus.
In most of those instances — aside from the Bengals’ visit to Lake Forest last year — there were multiple practices with each team. This summer, though, marks the first time the Bears will hold crossover practices with two opponents.
The Bears play the Dolphins on Aug. 10 and the Bills on Aug. 17. Both games are at Soldier Field.
