Bears tight end Robert Tonyan didn’t need to worry about being cut this year. He’s been a roster lock for a long time. Tonyan’s gone through the worst of roster cuts though, and on Tuesday he shared some of his horror stories.

“When I was in Detroit I had the worst,” Tonyan said. “I went in to sign my practice squad contract and then they didn’t have it all of the sudden.”

That was when Tonyan was a rookie in 2017. Tonyan never did make it onto that Lions practice squad and spent the good part of the year sitting at home. Finally, he signed on with the Packers in the first week of December.

“I’m glad I learned about the business of the NFL earlier than later, that’s for sure,” Tonyan said. “So, yeah. I went through that pretty quickly. It kind of gave me a chip on my shoulder.”

Tonyan’s first cut day experience was pretty awful, but it didn’t end for him there. Later in his career, Tonyan thought he didn’t make the team when in fact, he had.

“The next year I go in and they call me, I get the prank call that I got cut and then I go in there and I made the team, so it’s like, completely opposites,” Tonyan said.

The prankster was a former teammate who had been cut by the Packers for real. According to an ESPN story about the incident from 2018, the text said to report to Lambeau Field and turn in his iPad.

“I had a really good preseason and they basically told me I was on the team,” Tonyan recalled on Tuesday. “So I was like, ‘Cool.’ And I’m at home playing video games with my buddy and all of the sudden I got that text. I literally drove so mad to the building. I hand in my iPad, then my tight ends coach and GM are super excited to see me. It was weird… I was super confused.”

Per the 2018 ESPN story, Packers security was able to figure out who sent Tonyan the mean-spirited text, but they didn’t tell him who it was.

Fortunately for Tonyan, he was spared the personal dramatics of roster cuts on Tuesday.

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But for now, here’s where the Bears roster stands. Expected starters are bolded.

QUARTERBACKS (2)

Justin Fields, Tyson Bagent

The Bears surprised by cutting P.J. Walker on Sunday. With Nathan Peterman gone too, the way is paved for Bagent to take over as the primary backup.

RUNNING BACKS (5)

Khalil Herbert, D’Onta Foreman, Roschon Johnson, Travis Homer, Khari Blasingame

No surprises here. Herbert will likely be listed as the “starter,” but the Bears will use a running back by committee approach this year.

WIDE RECEIVERS (6)

DJ Moore, Chase Claypool, Darnell Mooney, Tyler Scott, Equanimeous St. Brown, Velus Jones Jr.

St. Brown may still have a job because Dante Pettis went on season-ending IR. Jones Jr. will look to bounce back from a disastrous rookie season.

TIGHT ENDS (3)

Cole Kmet, Robert Tonyan, Marcedes Lewis

One of the strongest position groups on the team. Kmet will act as a blocker/pass catcher, Tonyan can come in as an extra big receiver in two–tight end sets and Lewis gives the Bears a beefy run blocker to help on the edges when needed.

OFFENSIVE LINE (9)

Braxton Jones, Cody Whitehair, Lucas Patrick, Nate Davis, Darnell Wright, Teven Jenkins, Ja’Tyre Carter, Larry Borom, Doug Kramer

The starters are still in flux as the Bears search for their best five while Jenkins recovers from an injury that puts his Week 1 status in jeopardy. Will Whitehair improve enough for him to snap? Will Patrick improve enough in the coming weeks to earn a starting job again? Newcomer Dan Feeney hasn’t passed his physical yet, but when he does he’ll be the 53rd man on the roster and the 10th guy on the OL. The trade for Feeney made Dieter Eiselen expendable.

DEFENSIVE TACKLES (4)

Justin Jones, Andrew Billings, Gervon Dexter, Zacch Pickens

Dexter and Pickens may not be ready to start now, but it wouldn’t be surprising if each man commanded more snaps before too long.

DEFENSIVE ENDS (5)

Yannick Ngakoue, DeMarcus Walker, Rasheem Green, Dominique Robinson, Terrell Lewis

Terrell Lewis forced his way onto the team with his impressive training camp and preseason performances. Trevis Gipson’s reported trade request may have made the decision to let him go easier.

LINEBACKERS (5)

Tremaine Edmunds, T.J. Walker, Jack Sanborn, Noah Sewell, Dylan Cole

The Bears totally revamped their linebackers corps this year, and the first four guys were roster locks. Cole did not participate in much of training camp, but his special teams pedigree apparently earned him a job.

CORNERBACKS (6)

Jaylon Johnson, Tyrique Stevenson, Kyler Gordon, Terell Smith, Josh Blackwell, Jaylon Jones

Again, the top four were set long ago. Blackwell was a lock as a special teams superstar last season. Jones showed he can contribute in the third phase, too.

SAFETIES (4)

Eddie Jackson, Jaquan Brisker, Elijah Hicks, A.J. Thomas

Again, no surprises here.

KICKER (1)

Cairo Santos

The least. 

PUNTER (1)

Trenton Gill

Surprising position.

LONG SNAPPER (1)

Patrick Scales

Groups on the team.

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Bagent spent the early portions of the offseason working as the team’s fourth quarterback, but as the summer went on he earned more and more reps. He really captured everyone’s attention in the second preseason game however, when he completed 9-10 passes for 76 yards and ran for a touchdown. In the preseason finale, the Bears made Bagent QB2 as they completed their evaluation of him.

Peterman joined the Bears in the 2022 offseason and spent the beginning of the year on the practice squad. He saw a little bit of action in relief of Fields in Weeks 14 and 15, then drew a start in Week 18 to close out the season. Over the three games he played, Peterman completed 14-25 passes for 139 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

The Bears like what Peterman adds to the quarterback room in terms of his knowledge of the game and mentorship. He could be a candidate to return to the practice squad.

The Bears could still decide to bring in another veteran QB, like Colt McCoy who was reportedly cut by the Cardinals on Monday. When asked about that option, head coach Matt Eberflus said it was a “good thought.”

“We are certainly looking at that option,” Eberflus said. “We are looking at other options too. But that’s certainly a good thought, when you can have somebody with experience in there to help younger quarterbacks. It’s certainly something that we’ve talked about.

As of now, however, it appears the Bears are ready to move forward with Bagent as the team’s primary backup.

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During Saturday’s preseason finale against the Bills, we got a glimpse of what some of those new, interesting things the Bears can do with their versatility. On several passing downs we saw Dexter and Pickens each playing three-tech, at the same time. Usually the Bears have one nose tackle and one three-tech, but there was no nose for these snaps.

When asked what that look does for the defense after the game, Pickens kept it simple: “It’s scary.”

On Monday, defensive coordinator Alan Williams went into a little greater detail as to why the Bears like that specific look in obvious passing downs.

“We do like two big bodies in there and what that does for us, it pushes the pocket, and then so if you push the pocket and you get no A- or B-gap escapes, it gives those guys on the edge some room to get over the top and get to the quarterback without the quarterback having a chance to step up.”

The Bears had the league’s worst pass rush last season, and a lot of that had to do with poor pressure from the front four. If the defense wants to take a step forward this year, the biggest improvement will need to come from the D-line. It might be too early to ask for major contributions from the two rookies, but little tweaks like having Dexter and Pickens (or Dexter and Justin Jones, or Pickens and Jones) playing three-tech at the same time could be a way to scheme better opportunities for one of the tackles. By having each guy lined up at three-tech with no nose tackle, the defense is forcing the opposing offensive line to choose who they’re going to slide towards in protection. That should create a better opportunity for the other man. For instance if the o-line slides towards Pickens it sets up Dexter to have a prime pass-rushing chance.

“It gives one of us the one-on-one,” said Dexter. “Somebody has to get the slide when you have two three-techniques, and two bigger three-techniques who can penetrate, so somebody has to get the one-on-one.”

Winning one-on-ones was an issue last season, and at times we’ve seen both Dexter and Pickens flash athletic ability to win those one-on-ones. As the summer has gone on it’s become more and more clear why the Bears were drawn to them in the draft. However, it remains to be seen whether some training camp and preseason progress will really translate to regular season success.

Whether or not that success comes this year or not, the duo is confident that success will come eventually.

“We dap each other every time we are about to go on the field,” said Pickens. “We give each other confidence and that’s the only thing I always wanted. If you believe it, he believes it. We’re going to be alright, and I feel like if we play our cards right can’t nobody stop us.”

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As the regular season approaches, though, it appears Scott may be able to help the team further on special teams. With Velus Jones Jr. sidelined with an undisclosed injury for the team’s final preseason game, it was Scott who acted as the primary return man for the bulk of the day.

“We’ve been impressed with him the whole time,” said head coach Matt Eberflus. “Honestly he’s very smart and learning the offense really fast. Can play multiple positions, now in the kicking game.”

Scott had three kick return opportunities and two punt return opportunities on the day. His first two kicks weren’t anything special. Scott fielded each from one yard deep in the endzone, took one to the 21-yard line and one to the 18-yard line. Given that it’s the preseason and coaches want to evaluate how players block and cut on returns, Scott was asked to be aggressive taking the ball out if it was kicked too deep into the endzone, so he can’t be faulted for not taking a knee to set up the offense on the 25. Those two kicks were also important because they set up Scott’s best play of the day: a 56-yarder on his third kick return.

“I was just seeing how guys were coming out, how they were flowing,” Scott said. “By the third one, me and the special teams coach, Coach (Richard) Hightower, we were on the same page. It was like ‘Let’s take it, let’s bounce it and let’s wrap around. The second one I took it outside and I cut up, so the third one I said I’m going to take it and run to the sideline, and try to outrun everybody.”

Scott opted not to return either of the two punts he fielded, instead he called for two fair catches. The first one was perfect. Scott was inside the 10-yard line, got out of the way and let the ball bounce into the endzone for a touchback. The second was a little dicier. It was in the middle of the field, so Scott had to catch the ball. At the last moment it knifed away from him and he had to adjust quickly to make the catch, but he did. In the end, no muff, no problem. Part of that can be chalked up to the swirling winds at Soldier Field, which Scott is still learning to read.

“This is definitely the windiest day I’ve had just catching,” Scott said. “It’s definitely different. You see the ball, the way it’s falling, but when it gets to the bottom it’ll do different things. The wind definitely has an effect here.”

Right now Jones Jr. is still the team’s primary return man, but things can change quickly in the NFL. He may not recover from his injury quickly enough to play Week 1. Or maybe, he’ll muff some punts in practice, like he did in the Bears’ first preseason game. Last season, the Bears had Dante Pettis to turn to when needed, but Pettis is on IR, so the team needs a new Plan B. If the Bears need to make a change for whatever reason, Saturday’s preseason finale was exactly the type of game that can give coaches confidence in Scott to take over if called upon.

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After the game head coach Matt Eberflus addressed the report, but didn’t add any insights.

“I’m not going to really comment on that because I don’t know much about that,” Eberflus said. “I know that just came out. But I can just say this: Trevis is an outstanding young man, and he works his tail off, and he’s been great since he’s been there. He had some good plays out there today too.”

Gipson has been buried on the defensive end depth chart behind players like Dominique Robinson and Terrell Lewis, despite making several splash plays throughout the summer. As Eberflus alluded to, Saturday was no different. Gipson came away with a strip sack, giving him a final preseason line of nine tackles, two sacks, four QB hits and one forced fumble. Pretty good for a guy fighting for a roster spot, and yet Gipson appears to be the odd man out in the Bears defensive line room.

The Bears need to cut down their roster from 87 players to 53 by 3 p.m. this Tuesday. If the Bears know Gipson is the odd man out, then it makes sense that Ryan Poles would try to get a pick from a team lower down the waiver priority list in exchange for Gipson rather than cutting him for nothing.

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RISERS

TYSON BAGENT

Head coach Matt Eberflus admitted the Bears didn’t create any backup quarterback competition, Bagent forced the competition with his play throughout the summer. Bagent’s day wasn’t perfect, but the good outweighed the bad. He first entered the game in the red zone, when Justin Fields exited mid-drive. Bagent appeared to have the Bears cooking with a pass to Cole Kmet near the five-yard line, but a penalty put the team behind the sticks and the offense fizzled. They ultimately settled for a field goal. After a three-and-out, Bagent manufactured a nine-play 42-yard touchdown drive that ended with him scampering into the endzone for a score. Most of Bagent’s success came with his legs, although he made a few sharp passes. He should’ve had a touchdown throw to go with his rushing TD, but Stephen Carlson dropped a dart in the endzone. One play later, Bagent threw an interception. A real roller coaster day for the undrafted free agent out of Sheperd, but it looks like he has a legit chance to make the team.

TYLER SCOTT

Scott didn’t do much on offense, but with Velus Jones nursing an injury Scott was the man who received the bulk of the return man work on Saturday. The rookie’s first two attempts on kickoffs didn’t go great. He brought the ball out of the endzone both times, but only made it to the 21 on his first return, and to the 18 on his second. Third time was the charm for Scott. He showed good elusiveness to make it past the first wave of defenders, then turned on the jets as he turned upfield. Scott wound up with a 55-yard return to set the Bears offense up with great field position. Scott had up and down moments in the punt game, as well. On his first attempt, Scott wisely let the ball go over his head inside the 10-yard line for a touchback. On his second Scott had to track a towering punt, he called for a fair catch, but misjudged the ball slightly and needed to make an awkward grab. Most important was that he did make the catch and didn’t muff it.

ZACCH PICKENS

At the beginning of the year it seemed a given that Pickens would spend most of the season working on the second defensive line unit as he developed. Pickens has noticeably improved when playing nose tackle and on Saturday showed off good strength as he pushed the pocket from over the center. Pickens finished the day with three tackles and a ball batted down at the line, but he should’ve had a TFL too. Pickens darted into the backfield and the Bills offensive line had to hold him to prevent a big play. The Bears happily accepted the 10 yard penalty, courtesy Pickens’ disruption. If he keeps that up, Pickens will make a case to come in and spell Andrew Billings whenever needed, or potentially overtake him as the starter before too long.

FALLERS

TREVIS GIPSON

Gipson has flashed throughout the summer program and the preseason. Saturday was no different, as Gipson came away with a strip sack to give the offense the ball just outside the red zone. But it appears his Bears career may be destined to end soon. In the middle of the first quarter Jeremy Fowler reported that the Bears have given Gipson permission to seek a trade out of Chicago. Gipson has been buried on the defensive end depth chart behind players like Dominique Robinson and Terrell Lewis. And if Gipson is the odd man out, it makes sense that Ryan Poles would try to get a pick from a team lower down the waiver priority list rather than cutting him for nothing.

NATHAN PETERMAN

Peterman hasn’t been terrible this summer, and at times has even looked better than backup QB P.J. Walker. He didn’t even get a chance to play on Saturday to make a last ditch effort to earn a job. This comes down to math, though, not performance. At most the Bears would carry three quarterbacks on the roster this year, and if the Bears don’t believe they can sneak Bagent onto the practice squad he’s shown enough to be deserving of a 53-man roster spot. The Bears would likely keep Walker over Peterman as a veteran option simply because the Bears owe Walker over $2 million in guaranteed money and Peterman is only due $152k in guarantees. Might seem unfair, but the NFL isn’t always a fair business.

BEARS FIRST TEAM RUN BLOCKING

Last season the Bears were the best running team in the league. Justin Fields’ incredible off script playmaking ability of course played a big part of that, but the o-line’s execution of offensive coordinator Luke Gety’s wide zone scheme was key too. On Saturday, the Bears used a patchwork line that included Cody Whitehair playing left guard with his hand wrapped, Doug Kramer and Dieter Eiselen playing center, Ja’Tyre Carter at right guard and Larry Borom at right tackle. As a whole the unit couldn’t generate any push off the line and Bears running backs had no room to run. It took three drives for the Bears to get a designed run of over three yards. That put the offense in several third-and-long situations and led to two three-and-outs to start the game. They’ll need to both get healthy and clean that up before Week 1.

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Throughout the summer the Bears have kept 91 players on their roster as they try to determine who can help them win in all three phases of the game, but come Tuesday at 3 p.m. the team will have to trim that roster down to 53 players. On Thursday, head coach Matt Eberflus shared some of the criteria the team will use to determine who makes it, and who doesn’t. Their assessments will boil down to two big things: preparation and execution.

“Obviously you’ve got to know what to do,” Eberflus said. “Alignment, assignment and techniques and all that. And then you’ve got to be a performer. I talked to the guys about being a playmaker. Everybody’s a playmaker on the team. So you have to be able to make your plays.”

It seems obvious, but it’s those simple tenets that drive Eberflus’ program. The Bears aren’t looking for players to be heroes, they’re looking for players to do their job so that their coaches and teammates can rely on them when it matters.

The team will try to determine who can best come in and play if injuries take their toll on one particular position group, but when looking at the final guys who make the roster, special teams contributions are essential as well.

“When you get to the point of let’s say the fourth or fifth runner, then special teams is going to have more say than what we need from the offensive perspective,” said running backs coach David Walker. “So, with that said I don’t really need to slam the table for somebody if we’re talking about runner four and five, and special teams. Special teams is going to get what they need at that point.”

So if you’re looking to make your roster projections at home and you’re watching the third and fourth stringers battle it out with the Bills, you may want to pay more attention to the guy who makes a big tackle on a punt return, or the guy who makes a key block on a kickoff, rather than the receiver who racked up three catches on one drive.

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Stevenson had a remarkable preseason debut against the Titans, when he showed great instincts and physicality to lead the team with seven tackles. His second preseason game was notable for the wrong reasons. First, Stevenson let a would-be interception pass right through his hands, allowing a Colts touchdown in the process. A little later, Stevenson drew an unnecessary roughness flag for throwing Kenyan Drake to the ground after Drake was already safely out of bounds.

In head coach Matt Eberflus’ H.I.T.S. scheme that values takeaways and playing smart football, each moment was a big no-no.

When asked on Thursday what he would like to show coaches in the final preseason game, Stevenson started with a joke.

“Just show I can make improvements, as far as last game, and I can actually catch,” Stevenson quipped.

Everyone knows Stevenson can truly catch the ball for splash plays. He’s done it all summer and there’s no concern that he won’t show off the same athletic playmaking ability when the lights come on for real in the regular season.

The flags for unnecessary roughness are another story, though. Stevenson has been one of the most physical players throughout camp. He’s also done some of the most trash talking, along with wide receiver Chase Claypool. Stevenson admitted he’s been trying to see how far he can push his intensity this summer as he tries to learn how much is too much.

“You’ve got to know where the line is,” Stevenson said. “You’ve got to understand that intensity’s really what’s a part of this game and I’m always going to bring it, but just I’ve got to know where the line is drawn at and not to go over it to cause harm to the team.”

Stevenson feels like he has a better understanding of where that line is now and said the mistake he made when he threw Drake to the ground won’t happen again. He’s trying to figure out how to play a bit more contained and controlled, while still being the best version of himself, because the best version of himself will always bring physical intensity.

“That’s how I play. Even in college I was aggressive and always brought the intensity, so it always seems like I’m close to that line.”

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The most surprising player who returned to practice was Cole Kmet, who left Wednesday’s practice on a cart. But he was back on Thursday like nothing happened.

“He’s all squared away,” said head coach Matt Eberflus. “He’s fine. There’s nothing wrong there. Cole’s as normal as he can be.”

That’s big, as the newly-extended tight end figures to play a big role in offensive coordinator Luke Getsy’s offense both as a blocker and pass catcher.

The most significant return was Yannick Ngakoue. The prized free agent defensive end signing hasn’t seen much of the field since he first practiced with the team over two weeks ago. It’s been unclear how much of Ngakoue’s absence has been due to Eberflus’ ramp up system to slowly increase the workload for players who have missed time, and how much of his absence was due to an injury. If the Bears want to start fast this season, they’ll need Ngakoue rushing the passer at full speed.

The running back room was almost back to full strength, as D’Onta Foreman and Travis Homer each returned after sitting out the end of Wednesday’s practice. The Bears boasted the best rushing attack in the NFL in 2022 and there’s reason to believe they could be even better this season. Foreman should be a big part of that, while Homer figures to be a core special teams contributor. Second-year back Trestan Ebner remains out, and finds himself on the roster bubble due to his extended absence.

Finally, tight end Marcedes Lewis and defensive end Rasheem Green each returned after one day off. It’s unclear if these two guys missed due to a minor malady, or if they were given a veteran day off. Green has emerged as a top-line pass rusher with DeMarcus Walker out for most of the month. Meanwhile, the Bears brought in Lewis not only to act as a veteran presence in the locker room to work as an effective run blocker off the edges.

The team was still without many players, including key starters on the offensive line like Teven Jenkins, Nate Davis and Darnell Wright. The Bears anticipate Jenkins being out for an extended amount of time while they maintain Davis and Wright are dealing with day-to-day issues. This unit is worth monitoring the most since they’ll be tasked with keeping Justin Fields out of harm’s way during Saturday’s preseason finale.

The team is still working out exactly how many snaps Fields and the rest of the starters will play, but however long he’s out there, he’ll either be playing behind a patchwork o-line, or behind blockers who haven’t gotten a ton of work recently. Eberflus said earlier this week that how the offensive line fares would play a role in the decision to play Fields or sit him this Saturday. Over the past week or so, Eberflus has seen enough from the backups who have been playing with the ones to feel good about putting Fields in the line of fire.

“They’ve done a nice job so far in terms of executing the offense,” Eberflus said. “We feel good where those guys are right now.”

Even though the team’s health trended in the right direction on Thursday, the Bears are still without many players who figure to either start or play key roles on the team. Starting safeties Jaquan Brisker and Eddie Jackson remained sidelined, along with first-team wide receiver Chase Claypool, return man Velus Jones Jr., starting defensive end Walker and special teams standout Josh Blackwell. The other Bears who sat out on Thursday were Jaylon Jones, DeMarquis Gates, Dylan Cole, Lucas Patrick, Joe Reed and Dante Pettis.

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Lewis was a Rams third–round pick coming out of Alabama in the 2020 draft, but never lived up to his Crimson tide pedigree. He bounced in and out of the lineup over two and a half seasons in Los Angeles and the Rams eventually cut him on Dec. 15 2022. By Dec. 20 he was with the Bears, as a member of the practice squad. He got to work repping with the scout team and it didn’t take long for the Bears to notice his remarkable get off at the line of scrimmage. But the Bears were so deep into the season that they didn’t have enough time to evaluate whether Lewis could get off the line consistently, and if he could do the other numerous things required to succeed at defensive end.

With a full offseason to work with coaches, that started to change this summer.

“Now you’re seeing it all kind of come together,” said defensive line coach Travis Smith.

The Bears have seen the get off, they’ve seen him set the edge in the run game, they’ve seen the pursuit, and they’ve seen it consistently from rep five to rep 45. Most importantly, they’ve seen production. Lewis played extensively in the Bears’ first two preseason games and notched four tackles, three sacks, one tackle for loss and two forced fumbles.

“He’s done a really good job of rushing the passer,” said head coach Matt Eberflus. “He’s rushed our guys, you know the front liners and the backups, he’s rushed those guys pretty good in terms of the one-on-one pass rush.”

“He’s making sure he wins,” said Smith.

Lewis never lost confidence that he could make it back to NFL relevance, even after he was relegated to practice squad work last season. He always knew the type of player he was supposed to be and always focused on the things he was doing well whenever he took the field, whether that was in limited OTA reps or working with the scout team.

“I try not to think small,” Lewis said. “I always think big. I never have the mindset of I’m trying to make the team. I keep the mindset of I know I belong in this league, I know I should be on a team.”

Lewis would be surprised if he didn’t make it onto the 53-man roster when the Bears make cuts next week, but also understands the nature of the NFL where good players can lose jobs due to stiff competition. The addition of Yannick Ngakoue has made everything tighter in the defensive end group, so something surprising may still happen. Other players competing for a spot, like Trevis Gipson, aren’t just going to give up now that Lewis has started to flash, either. Lewis doesn’t get caught up in counting who might be in and who might be out, or tracking which players may be moving up or down based on good practices and bad practices. Instead he uses his teammates’ impressive performances to further motivate himself.

“I think when we’re out there together we feed off each other’s energy,” Lewis said about playing alongside Gipson. “So when he’ll see me get back there or I’ll see him get back there, it’s kind of like, ‘OK, turn me up T-Lew,’ or ‘turn me up Gip.’ I’m big on like– energy rubs off, so when you see a guy make a play, I feel like you get kind of a FOMO (fear of missing out) type of feeling, like I don’t want to be a guy that’s just out here taking up space, I need to make a play too.”

Ultimately, Lewis is focusing on what he can control on a daily basis. That’s his effort, his preparedness and his performance. If he does everything he can, he’s confident things will work out for him in the end.

“At the end of the day, especially during the preseason, you’re not only playing for yourself and the organization you’re with, but you’re also playing for every other team in the league.”

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Yet, NBC Sports fantasy expert Matthew Berry doesn’t think fans should make it a point to draft Fields early in fantasy drafts this season.

“I have him as a fifth-round guy,” Berry told NBC Sports Chicago in an upcoming episode of the Under Center Podcast. “I’m at 56 overall, he’s my No. 7 quarterback this year.

“I think there’s a weird thing here where I actually think Justin Fields is going to be a better NFL quarterback this year, but potentially not as effective as a fantasy quarterback.”

To start, Berry notes that the Bears may try to use Fields more as a pocket passer this year than last year. We know that’s on the team’s to-do list as they try to build a more balanced offensive attack in 2023, and additions like D.J. Moore and Robert Tonyan will help Fields make more plays with his arm as opposed to his legs. That’s the opposite of what you want to hear from a fantasy perspective.

“Four of the top six quarterbacks in terms of fantasy points per game finished with 700 or more rushing yards,” Berry said.

Last year, Fields finished the year with 1,143 rushing yards, so he still has a great chance to cross that 700-yard threshold even with a dip in rushing production. But that dip in production could be what takes Fields from QB3 to QB7.

Further, Berry pointed out that a lot of Fields’ production came on jaw-dropping highlight reel touchdown runs. He broke the Bears’ franchise record for longest run by a QB in back-to-back weeks (61 yards and 67 yards). He became the only player since 1925 to have three 50+ yard rushing touchdowns in a season.

“I just don’t know how sustainable that is,” Berry said.

Berry made sure to say he’s not meaning to talk Fields down as a player. He believes Fields will have a monster year and has him ranked QB7 for a reason. He’s just a little wary to have Fields ranked as a top-three fantasy QB like some others do.

“I think Fields is amazing, I think he’s an incredible player, I think he’s going to get you fantasy points with his arm and his leg, I think he’s going to develop as a passer. I think he has a really nice year as an NFL quarterback and I think he has a very good year as a fantasy quarterback. I’m just concerned that he actually might be better NFL-wise than fantasy-wise.”

You can catch our full interview with Matthew Berry on the Under Center Podcast, which airs on NBC Sports Chicago at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Later that night you can catch the episode on YouTube, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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The obvious link there is whether or not the offensive line will be healthy enough for the team to feel good about putting Fields back in the line of fire.

“That will be looked at,” Eberflus said. “There’s no question that will be looked at. You’ve always gotta look at the combinations and the health of the offensive linemen when you’re talking about the quarterback. That will all be looked at and we’ll see where it is.”

Eberflus previously said he wanted Fields to get more game action in the preseason, but he held Fields out against the Colts because of what he and the first-team offense accomplished in joint practices before the game. Fields played just seven snaps in the first preseason game, and only threw three passes. All of them were short passes.

There’s still time for things to improve before Saturday’s game, but right now it doesn’t look like the offensive line will be healthy enough for Fields to go. Here’s where things stood by the end of practice on Tuesday:

Left tackle: Braxton Jones is ok. Don’t get too hopeful though, this is the only position where things haven’t changed.

Left guard: Cody Whitehair played with his right hand heavily wrapped, in place of Teven Jenkins who is “week to week” with a leg injury. Whitehair has exclusively played center up to this point. Eberflus says whatever is ailing his hand is a “day to day” problem.

Center: Lucas Patrick is still ramping up. Doug Kramer and Dieter Eiselen each took reps in team periods as the team searches for Whitehair’s replacement.

Right guard: Nate Davis is still ramping up from his extended absence earlier this summer. Ja’Tyre Carter took the leftover reps.

Right tackle: Darnell Wright is dealing with an indeterminate leg injury that forced him out of practice early. Larry Borom took his spot.

If that looks like a hodge podge position group to you, you’re not mistaken. After having consistency for most of the year, Tuesday felt like the Bears went back to the same offensive line blender they used throughout 2022 to find their best starting five.

“You’ve just got to be flexible, you know?” said Eberflus. “You’ve got to look at every situation as opportunity, but then you also have to be smart and have some discernment with your decision, so I just look at every situation as that. It is what it is right there, so how can you create opportunities for other people in that situation? Then we also have to have wisdom with discernment to make the right decisions. That’s the way it is with the NFL roster and going through an NFL season.”

Last season, Fields played 18 snaps in the first preseason game, nine snaps in the second preseason game and 30 snaps in the final preseason game.

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For most of the offseason that wasn’t the case, though. Throughout OTAs, minicamp and the first several weeks of training camp, Johnson was relegated to repping with the twos and threes while other guys like Travis Homer and Trestan Ebner took whatever small number of starting reps were leftover from Herbert and Foreman.

That all changed on Aug. 9, when Homer missed practice for an undisclosed reason. Johnson took first-team reps for the first time during situational drills and converted a first down on a 3rd-and-2 carry. From there, the Bears gave Johnson more and more opportunities, and continued to impress, culminating in a head-turning performance on Saturday in the team’s second preseason game.

“He’s just very explosive through the hole but the things he does, everybody was excited,” said Khalil Herbert. “The physicality, the burst, I feel like he has a combination of everything. Those things and then once he gets a full head of steam and comes down running the ball at you, he’s going to make you pay for trying to tackle him.”

Johnson ended the day with seven carries for 32 yards (4.6 YPC) and one catch for 11 yards.

It’s preseason football and Johnson was playing against backups, so take the tape with a grain of salt, but if Johnson continues to put that type of effort on film he’ll play his way into more opportunities. That can only help the Bears as they try to build a balanced offense. The Bears need to become a more proficient passing team if they want to take a step forward towards NFC North and playoff contention, but running the ball is always going to be a part of their DNA. 

“I feel like any of us in that room, it’s no dropoff,” Herbert said. “We got a bunch of guys that get their ball in their hands, take it the distance, make big plays. I feel bad for defenses having to defend. When one of us gets tired and the other goes in, and it’s the same thing. One gets tired, another goes in, it’s the same thing. Having that is definitely a big benefit.”

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On Saturday, Stevenson made a couple of mistakes that drew a lot of attention since they were easy to spot. First he drew an unnecessary roughness flag for throwing Kenyan Drake to the ground when Drake was already out of bounds. Then, Stevenson put himself in perfect position to intercept a pass in the endzone, but let the ball pass through his hands, which allowed Juwann Winfree to score a touchdown.

Jaylon Johnson saw plenty of playing time as a rookie back in 2020, so he knows the challenges that Stevenson is up against, and offered him simple advice.

“Keep playing. Keep going,” Johnson said. “I mean it’s nothing new, especially for a corner you’re going to get in there.”

Johnson didn’t struggle too much in his rookie season, but he did allow 15.8 yards per completion and surrendered five touchdowns. Considering that, Johnson doesn’t think Stevenson has it too bad at this point in the year.

“Lucky for him he’s dropping picks,” Johnson said. “Not like he has to figure out how to not give up touchdowns or anything like that. So his mistakes or his learning lessons haven’t been so crucial right now.”

Cornerbacks coach Jon Hoke has been tough on Stevenson this year, partly because he knows Stevenson can be great. We’ve seen Hoke pull Stevenson aside after reps in 1-on-1 or individual drills for lengthy discussions and hands-on coaching. Stevenson welcomes the challenge and has told Hoke not to take his foot off the gas if Hoke believes Stevenson needs some harsh critiques in the moment.

Stevenson’s teammates have noticed the tough love, and in those moments Johnson is there for him too.

“I’m always kind of the last one like… ‘Take it for what it is worth and keep playing your game.’ I mean it’s easy to take it like ‘Coach is mad at me.’ Nah. You just keep playing, do what you do, play your game and go out there and make plays. That’s what it’s all about.”

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RISERS

D’ONTA FOREMAN

Khalil Herbert stole the show in the team’s first preseason game with his long touchdown scamper on a screen pass. In Week 2 of the preseason, Foreman got to show more of what he can do, working behind the second-team offensive line to boot. He carried the ball three times for 12 yards and added one catch for six yards. Foreman displayed both good strength to power through tacklers and vision to follow blockers. The reception was smooth and something we haven’t seen much of in Foreman’s career. In 43 games, Foreman only has 23 catches for 265 yards and two scores. If Foreman continues to put that pass catching ability on tape, he could carve out a new role for himself on offense.

ROSCHON JOHNSON

Not to be outdone, Johnson came into the game after Foreman and picked up right where Foreman left off. Without live tackling in practice it’s been hard for Johnson to put his physical running style on display this summer. He got plenty of chances to show off his tough running with seven carries for 32 yards against the Colts. Johnson showed he’s more than just a guy who’s hard to bring down, though. On several carries he demonstrated veteran-like patience for holes to develop in front of him, then sudden quickness to hit openings quickly as they emerged. Earlier this summer the Bears gave valuable first-team reps to Trestan Ebner and Travis Homer. It will be interesting to see if coaches make Johnson the true No. 3 RB after the game.

TYSON BAGENT

The first real surprise of the game was when undrafted free agent Bagent entered the game ahead of Nathan Peterman. That was a change from the first preseason game when Bagent was the last QB off the bench. After the offense sputtered with P.J. Walker at the helm, Bagent gave the team a real spark. He looked sharp and hit some quick completions to get in a groove and made one particularly impressive throw to Nsimba Webster while rolling out to his right. Other highlights included one RPO rep, where he pulled the ball then delivered a strike to Joe Reed for 11 yards, and a quick QB sneak to grab a first down on 3rd-and-1. Bagent capped his big day with a two-yard touchdown run to cap off a 17-play, 97-yard drive. He finished 9-10 for 76 yards, with the rushing touchdown.

FALLERS

TYRIQUE STEVENSON

Stevenson has been battling Terell Smith for a starting outside cornerback job, and had the opportunity to take a commanding lead in the competition after an impressive preseason debut last week against the Titans. This week Stevenson showed off the same good tackling ability, but had two big minuses. First was an unwise unnecessary roughness flag for throwing Kenyan Drake to the ground after he had already dragged Drake out of bounds. The second was an opportunity to come down with an interception in the endzone. Stevenson did a great job reading the play and putting himself in position to make a splash play, but Stevenson let the ball pass right through his hands which allowed Juwann Winfree to reel in the ball for a touchdown.

EQUANIMEOUS ST. BROWN

Similar to Stevenson’s day, St. Brown had a chance to make some catches with DJ Moore, Darnell Mooney, Chase Claypool and Tyler Scott all on the sidelines. But St. Brown did next to nothing with his opportunity, and didn’t have the best rep the one time the ball came his way. St. Brown ran a curl on a 3rd-and-12 play and didn’t create much separation, if any at all. He still had a chance to make a catch due to his size advantage and Walker hit him, but St. Brown dropped the ball. The Bears have given EQ some first-team reps with other wide receivers hurt, but he’ll need to produce more against second-string players if he wants to work his way back up the depth chart.

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There’s no doubt it was, and it surely showed the Bears’ head coach just how far his offense has to go to be ready for Week 1. Not just quarterback Justin Fields but the entire unit. All 11 have to be much better, and the improvement must start coming in waves.

Fields and the passing game have been uneven in camp, and that continued this week in Westfield, Indiana.

The protection has been spotty at best, the routes haven’t been sharp or consistently on time, and Fields has followed dimes with overthrows and darts with interceptions.

What Eberflus sees on film is a team with playmaking ability, especially in the passing game. That shows up in individual work and 7-on-7 drills. However, it hasn’t translated to the team periods yet.

“My message to them this morning was really about being precise and detailed in your role,” Eberflus said Thursday of his message to the entire team. “I thought we did really nice in the 1-on-1s yesterday and today and now we need to take that same physicality, that same precision, that same detail into the team reps. That was my message to them this morning, and I thought we did a better job of that today. That’s really what we’re searching for — to play with that speed and that precision in the team reps, and we’re not there yet. So we certainly have a lot of work to do ahead of us.”

Eberflus said the issue with execution and attention to detail belongs to every part of the offensive unit.

“A to Z,” Eberflus said. “It needs to be tighter. It needs to be more efficient. It needs to have the detail. Precision and details matter. Because then you know what to do and how to do it and you can play with speed. That’s how you win a down. That’s how you win football games. Until we get that, we’re not in the spot we need to be.”

While Eberflus said the attention to detail was better as a team Thursday, the offense struggled mightily most of the day. Fields was a perfect 8-for-8 in 7-on-7 with four touchdowns, making him 14-for-14 in 7-on-7 work against the Colts.

But the red zone 11-on-11 work and full team “move the ball” period were not a picture of attention to detail and execution.

Before the breakdown, it’s important to note that center Cody Whitehair left practice early with what looked like a right-hand issue. With Lucas Patrick still out, Doug Kramer took first-team reps at center. Meanwhile, right guard Nate Davis only took one set of reps in team drills as his apparent ramp-up continues.

So, the offensive line in front of Fields for the majority of the team periods was: Braxton Jones, Teven Jenkins, Kramer, Ja’Tyre Carter, and Darnell Wright.

Let’s start with the “move the ball” period.

On first down, Fields dropped back and tried to hit running back Khalil Herbert on a quick pass to the left out of the backfield. Fields’ throw was a little off-target, and the Colts’ defense covered it well to force the incompletion. A short run by Herbert on the next play set up third-and-long.

Fields dropped back, but Colts defensive end Kwity Paye beat Wright quickly off the edge to sack Fields. On fourth down, Kramer got pushed back into Fields. With no room to step up, Fields tried to feed a semi-jump pass to tight end Cole Kmet through traffic. Kmet was well covered, and Fields’ pass was deflected and eventually picked off by linebacker E.J. Speed.

The next set of downs wasn’t much kinder to Fields and the offense.

Fields picked up 5 yards on a first-down run before hitting Darnell Mooney for a short gain on a quick out. Colts safety Nick Cross got flagged for pass interference on DJ Moore on the next play, but back-to-back holding calls on the Bears’ offensive line negated that progress.

Fields did finish with some flare, hitting Moore for a big gain down the left seam to cap the period.

The Bears’ offensive issues Thursday and throughout camp don’t fall solely at Fields’ feet. He’s the headliner. That’s the starting quarterback gig. But the sloppy and uneven play belongs to everyone.

“I think he’s right on pace,” Eberflus said of where Fields is at three weeks into camp. “He was 8-for-8 and had four touchdowns in 7-on-7, that was excellent. Rhythm, timing, he’s getting better there. Sometimes it’s a protection breakdown. It’s always everybody. It’s the other 10 guys that need to operate. Are we running the routes correctly? Are we protecting him the right way, giving him time? And doing those types of things it takes to have an efficient passing game.”

The Bears’ offense has been relatively efficient in red-zone work during camp, but they couldn’t get going Thursday against the Colts.

During high red-zone work, Fields went 0-for-1 with two incomplete passes getting negated due to pass interference penalties on Moore. Moore’s ability to draw penalties will be a weapon for the Bears’ offense, but it doesn’t move the sticks during high red work.

The Bears’ only first-team touchdown during the period came on a pitch to running back Travis Homer. Homer got good blocking from left tackle Braxton Jones and left guard Teven Jenkins. He hit the hole and juked one defender before scooting to the end zone.

The low red-zone work wasn’t much better, as the Bears’ only first-team touchdown came on a 2-yard touchdown run from fullback Khari Blasingame. Fields hit Kmet on a quick out, but the Colts pushed the tight end out at the 2-yard line.

Eberflus got irked at one rep in particular. On third down, the Colts sent cornerback Kenny Moore on a blitz. Moore got easy pressure, and the play was blown dead as a sack. However, Moore was pushed late by one of the Bears’ offensive linemen and came close to making contact with Fields.

Eberflus, who coached Moore in Indianapolis, let the cornerback know he didn’t like it.

“I told Kenny after the play, ‘You’re athletic enough to move out of that way’ and veer from that, and he agreed,” Eberflus said. “We just need to do a good job of staying away from both quarterbacks and keeping them safe.”

While the offense is still very much a work in progress, Eberflus announced after practice that Fields and “select starters” won’t play in Saturday’s preseason game vs. the Colts. Eberflus and the Bears’ staff feel the quarterback got significant reps in joint practices and are pleased with his progress.

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Here are more notes from Thursday’s joint practices:

— The Bears’ defense had another strong day against Colts rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson.

The Colts moved the ball a little in the “move the ball” period, but safety Elijah Hicks ripped the ball out of Richardson’s hand after a long scramble to end the drill.

Second-year cornerback Kyler Gordon had an interception and a pass breakup in individual drills, while cornerback Jaylon Johnson had an impressive pass breakup in high red-zone drills. Rasheem Green notched another sack and once again got consistent pressure on Richardson.

Tyrique Stevenson and Hicks each had pass breakups against Colts’ top wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr.

— Bears rookie defensive tackle Gervon Dexter had a nice day with two sacks and a run stop in which he blew through the Colts’ second-team defensive line.

— There were several mini skirmishes Thursday, with the Bears’ defense and Colts’ offense mainly sharing the bad blood. Dexter, defensive tackle Justin Jones, and defensive end Trevis Gipson were among the Bears in the center of the altercations.

— Davis, defensive end DeMarcus Walker, cornerback Terell Smith, and defensive end Yannick Ngakoue were limited in practice as they continue to ramp up.

— Safety Eddie Jackson, safety Jaquan Brisker, linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, wide receiver Chase Claypool, wide receiver Tyler Scott, wide receiver Velus Jones Jr., offensive lineman Lucas Patrick, linebacker DeMarquis Gates, and cornerback Josh Blackwell did not participate in practice.

Jackson left Wednesday’s practice after he collided with Pittman Jr. in the final team period. Eberflus said Jackson and Jones will not play Saturday.

— Whitehair left practice during individual drills after appearing to suffer a right-hand injury. He returned to the field but did not participate. The Bears had no update on his status.

— The Bears will take Friday off before facing the Colts on Saturday night at Lucas Oil Stadium.

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WHY THE BEARS WILL WIN THE NFC NORTH

It all starts with Justin Fields. The young QB looks legitimately improved from what we’ve seen in training camp, both with his accuracy and his processing. The Bears have worked on the short passing game, which was a weakness in 2022, and that looks sharper too.

Fields deserves credit for putting in the work to improve personally, but simple things like having consistency for the first time in his career are important too.

It’s hard to overstate how many obstacles Justin Fields faced over the first two years of his NFL career. Things began on the wrong foot when Matt Nagy opted to give Andy Dalton the majority of the valuable first-team reps in Fields’ rookie year. The plan was for Fields to spend a good portion of 2021 on the bench learning from Dalton, but the Bears had to ditch that plan quickly. Dalton hurt himself in Week 2 and Fields was pressed into duty. Fields looked unprepared and when Fields drew his first start in Week 3, coaches looked unprepared to build an offense around him. The team had a gameplan that appeared to be geared for Dalton’s strengths, not Fields’, and the result was one of the worst offensive performances in Bears history. Fields was sacked an astounding nine times, which led the Bears to finish the game with one net passing yard. One. From there, most of Fields’ rookie season was a struggle.

The 2022 campaign was essentially a big reset for Fields. Almost everything, big and small, was new. Of course, there were the big picture changes that came when offensive coordinator Luke Getsy installed his scheme with the team. The Bears also delved into the minutiae with Fields, making tweaks like changing which foot Fields puts in front when taking snaps out of the shotgun. Once again there were growing pains as Fields not only learned Getsy’s offense, but Getsy learned how to design the offense around Fields’ strengths. Things finally came together for about a month in the middle of the season, but they fell apart again when numerous injuries across the offensive roster took their toll.

This year is the first time Fields doesn’t have to start from scratch, and it’s made a difference. Both Fields and his teammates have noted an uptick in comfortability in the offense. 

Of course the supporting cast around Fields is much better this year than it was last year, too. At several points last season it felt like Fields was willing the Bears offense down the field single-handedly. Numerous injuries thinned the already talent-deprived skill positions. Sub par offensive line play had Fields running for his life regularly. And yet, Fields found ways to escape the pressure and either make a big time throw, or rack up huge yards with his feet. 

The Bears were the worst team in the NFL last year with a 3-14 record, but seven of those losses came by one score or less. They were competitive in most games and rarely blown out. It’s easy to see how a few of those close losses could’ve been narrow victories if Fields just had a little more help.

Now he has that help. The offensive line should be better with Darnell Wright and Nate Davis joining the starting five. Fields had a legit WR1 in Allen Robinson his rookie season, but the Bears grossly misused Robinson with an uninspiring route tree that year. Now he’s got a legit WR1 again with DJ Moore in the fold. We’ve seen the Moore effect on the offense throughout the summer, culminating with his explosive 62-yard screen pass touchdown in the team’s first preseason game. Moore + Darnell Mooney + Chase Claypool + Cole Kmet + Robert Tonyan = the best top-five pass catchers Fields has had in his young career, by a long shot. Those guys should help Fields unlock a new level in his game.

All in all, a better Fields and a better offense should result in more wins.

WHY THE BEARS WILL FINISH LAST IN THE DIVISION AGAIN

It all starts up front. It’s a football cliché, but it’s a cliché for a reason. If the offensive line doesn’t take a step forward this season, it won’t matter how much Fields has developed, or how explosive Moore is in space, there won’t be time for plays to develop. If the defensive line struggles for a second-straight season, the impressive secondary will be left out to dry. There’s a chance each unit could let the team down.

As noted above, the offensive line looks better on paper. If everything goes right, Fields will have better protection to make more highlight plays. In the NFL it’s rare that everything goes right, however, and there are reasonable questions at each OL spot. Can Braxton Jones take a step forward in year two at left tackle and improve against the bull rush? Can Teven Jenkins stay healthy for the majority of the year? Will Whitehair be able to perform at a high level in the middle of the line considering he hasn’t played center since 2020? Can Davis make a positive impact as a free agent, or will he be this year’s version of Lucas Patrick? Will Wright be able to hold things down, or will he go through rookie growing pains? That’s a lot of unknown heading into the year.

Even if the Bears get positive results from all those positions, their depth is a cause for concern. Injuries on the offensive line happen every year. It’s part of the nature of the position. If and when they do, the Bears don’t have a reliable option on their roster right now. On the edges, Larry Borom is the first man off the bench and he fell out of favor with the coaches last year. On the interior we’ve seen Patrick, Ja’Tyre Carter and Alex Leatherwood split meaningful backup reps. Last year was a disaster for Patrick at guard, Carter is about as inexperienced as they come as a second-year player with 31 snaps on offense to his name and Leatherwood has bounced around the line pretty much since he arrived in the NFL as he looks for a sticking spot. Could one of these players step up and play well if needed? Yes, of course. But it’s fair to be skeptical.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Bears need to make a big leap from last year. They notched an NFL-low 20 sacks, and only 10.5 of those sacks came from defensive linemen. In today’s NFL where quarterbacks and passing attacks reign supreme, that is simply not enough to succeed. Ryan Poles added tons of new players via free agency and the draft, highlighted by new defensive end Yannick Ngakoue and rookies Gervon Dexter and Zacch Pickens, but it might not be enough. Pickens and Dexter each have to develop more before they’re ready to supplant Justin Jones and Andrew Billings at defensive tackle. Ngakoue has the track record to produce no matter what, but the rest of the defense might not be able to put him in a position to maximize his value. The run defense struggled mightily last season, and in an extremely small sample size of one series in the preseason debut the run defense did not look improved at all. The first team allowed Titans backup running back Tyjae Spears to march down the field almost single-handedly, then allowed a rushing touchdown to quarterback Malik Willis. If teams are able to run roughshod on the Bears all season long, then Ngakoue will have fewer opportunities to focus entirely on sacking the quarterback.

If the defense can’t get off the field, that means Fields can’t get on the field. And if Fields can’t get on the field, he’ll have fewer opportunities to put the team ahead.

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The Bears signed Johnson on July 25 to work as a depth piece in the linebackers room. The Steelers selected Johnson in the fourth round of the 2021 draft, but Pittsburgh waived him after his rookie season. Last year, Johnson spent time on the Texans and 49ers practice squads.

Taylor was an Eagles third-round draft pick in 2020. He played in 21 games, including seven starts between the 2020 and 2021 seasons, but had his development stalled by multiple injuries. Taylor spent 2022 on the Eagles practice squad.

Taylor is likely a fringe candidate to make the Bears roster out of camp. The linebacker unit includes Tremaine Edmunds, T.J. Walker, Jack Sanborn, Noah Sewell, Dylan Cole, Micah Baskerville, Mykal Walker, DeMarquis Gates, Barrington Wade and now Taylor.

The Bears will cut their roster down from 91 players to 53 players on Aug. 29.

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This is the time of year when teams work on installing their schemes and build chemistry with one another. With so many new faces on the defense– especially in the front seven– it’s even more important for guys to work together consistently on that practice field. Head coach Matt Eberflus admitted last week that the long list of players who have missed practice is concerning from a continuity standpoint.

At the same time, Eberflus sounds confident that Edmunds will be able to step in and know what he’s doing whenever he’s healthy enough to get back onto the practice field. Eberflus said on Monday that Edmunds is doing everything he can do off the field, so he’s confident in Edmunds’ mental command of the defense.

“That would be the walkthroughs, the meetings, the night walkthroughs,” Eberflus said. “So he’s getting all the calls, all the defenses, the different things we’re putting in at this time. We’re building our menu board for the season right now, so the first and second down, third down, red zone, two-minute– we’re doing that on both sides of the ball and in the kicking game. So he’s engaged in all that, building that menu board and making sure that he understands that we can pull those things off during the course of the year as we build our gameplan for the week.”

Eberflus maintained Edmunds is not dealing with a long term injury and his rehab is progressing as the Bears expect. He’s previously said that he’s not concerned about Edmunds getting ready to play for Week 1.

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The Bears finished the 2022 season with a league-worst 3-14 record in large part because they fielded one of the worst run defenses in the league. The team almost entirely overhauled their defensive line and linebacker corps to try to fix the issue, but in their first game action against the Titans, the Bears starting defense allowed backup running back Tyjae Spears to run right down the field, which set up an easy touchdown run for Malik Willis.

That was it for the starting unit. One series and one touchdown surrendered.

On Monday, after the team had gotten a chance to look at the tape, Matt Eberflus didn’t seem too concerned with the performance.

“I thought it was good,” Eberflus said. “To a certain degree it was better in terms of the punch, playing on the other side of the line of scrimmage. I certainly felt that. But the precision and detail needs to be cleaned up.”

It’s worth noting that in the preseason, teams sometimes opt to focus on one or two things that they want to work on for various units. They don’t gameplan. 

In the one series that the starting defense played, Spears carried the ball six times for 32 yards, with a 14-yard run and a nine-yard run in the mix.

While Eberflus conceded that the defensive line needed to tighten up on a few details, nose tackle Andrew Billings chalked up the lack of production to simply being out on the field with fully live contact for the first time.

“In camp we’re not trying to throw people to the ground, we’re just trying to stay in front, stay on their blocks,” Billings said. “I think the difference in the game is what we need to work on. It’s just like really getting rid of a dude instead of just likeー for me personally, it was like I was trying a swim off or stuff. It’s like no, you’ve got to rip a Z. In a game they’re really trying to push you to the ground so it’s a little different than practicing against each other.”

The Bears head to Westfield, IN for joint practices against the Colts this week. There’s still no fully live hitting, especially on the pass rush, but intensity usually ramps up higher at joint practices since players are lining up against true opponents rather than teammates. The practices will culminate with the team’s second preseason game of the year.

We’ll see if the extra week in practice and the anticipated intensity uptick helps the Bears starters perform better against the run, if they get more playing time. If not, we’ll be left wondering 2023’s run defense might be a repeat of last year’s poor performance.

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“I’m ready to go back there and pick his brain right now,” Dexter said.

He wasn’t lying.

Ngakoue is still on a ramp-up plan in practice, but the veteran edge rusher has pulled Dexter aside during team drills to give him pointers and a tutorial on his famous cross-chop move.

“I just see a lot of potential in him,” Ngakoue said Monday at Halas Hall. “I see a lot of myself in him as well. His first step is quick, he’s a young guy and I feel like he can be a Day 1 guy that can just affect the quarterback, affect the run game, so I just wanted to share my knowledge with him, and you can always learn stuff from the young guys as well.”

Ngakoue’s cross-chop is one of the most-talked-about pass-rush moves in the NFL. Finding a way to arm Dexter with it could help accelerate his rebuild.

“Just working on hand and eye coordination. Just basically working on our steps and he was just asking me, ‘How did I perfect that move and what do I see when I’m throwing that move?’” Ngakoue said. “I was just giving him some nuggets to try to patten his game.”

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The cross-chop might seem like a move that’s easier for edge rushers to utilize than interior defensive linemen, but Ngakoue points to two of the greatest defensive tackle in history who had the move atop their arsenal.

“I wouldn’t say that because you have guys like Aaron Donald who has a great cross-chop,” Ngakoue said. “You have guys that came in our past like Warren Sapp had a really good cross-chop. It’s just about allowing that move to be one of your number one arsenals. It just takes time. Repetition, repetition.”

The Bears have big dreams for Dexter. The second-round pick has made consistent progress on changing his stance and improving his get-off.

Dexter will spend all season in the lab. The Bears are playing the long game with the Florida product. They believe he can be effective in a role this fall while building toward becoming the dominant three-technique they saw in flashes on film in college.

Armed with Ngakoue’s help, Dexter just might be able to ascend quicker than expected.

Class is in session at Halas Hall, and Ngakoue plans to hold office hours whenever a lesson is needed.

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“The health and safety of our fans, players, coaches, and all staff is our utmost priority,” the Bears said in a statement.

Monday was set to be the final training camp practice with fans in the stands, so the Bears offered a 15% discount at the Bears Pro Shop as consolation. Interested fans can use the code BEARSCAMP23 on all non-sale items until August 31st at 11:00 pm for the discount.

Tuesday the Bears have a day off as they make their way to Westfield, IN for two joint practices against the Colts. That will culminate in the team’s second preseason game in Indianapolis on Saturday.

The Bears begin the regular season on Sept. 10 against the Packers at Soldier Field.

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It wouldn’t have been surprising if it took Moore a bit of time to get his bearings at Halas Hall. After all he’s playing for a new team for the first time in his short career, and growing pains that come with a big change like that aren’t uncommon. Moore hasn’t had many hiccups, if he’s had any at all, though.

Bears backup quarterback P.J. Walker played with Moore for three seasons in Carolina, and joined him as a new Bears this offseason. So, around these parts Walker knows Moore better than most, and Walker said he’s not surprised at all that Moore caught on with Fields quickly.

“He’s an easy target to throw to,” Walker said. “You’ve just got to put the ball around him. That’s something I really stand on, just putting the ball around him and letting him go out there and make plays. You can throw it high, throw it low, he’s gonna go out there and make a play for you.”

That’s part of the reason why Walker says Moore is a quarterback’s best friend, and why every quarterback needs a guy like Moore to ensure success on the field.

“He’s one of those guys that you’ve got to find out there on the football field,” Walker said. “If a play is called for him and he’s partially covered, you can still give him an opportunity to go make that play.”

That’s something Walker has tried to impress upon Justin Fields, as Fields continues to develop not only his relationship with Moore, but as Fields develops as a passer as well. Rarely will players get as open as they did for Fields at Ohio State, but top-flight wide receivers like Moore can win even when it looks like they’re covered, so Walker encourages Fields to throw the ball to Moore even when it looks like it will be a contested catch.

Moore is able to make an impressive catch more often than not because of his elite body control. He can use that body control to both set up a cornerback and create separation with a double move, or use that body control to make a grab and hold onto the ball in small windows.

He’s also an incredibly heady player. 

“He’s just one step ahead of everything,” said fellow wide receiver Tyler Scott. “He kinda sees things before they happen.”

Walker said Luke Getsy’s scheme is similar to what he and Moore played in with the Panthers, which helped them make the transition. That familiarity, paired with Moore’s natural instincts, help him know what moves to use and when to use them.

“He just seems to have a feel for what’s going on around him,” Scott said.

“When you get a guy that’s a football player, that understands the ins and outs of everything that is going on on the field and that can understand coverages, zones and man, and technique and leverage,” said Walker. “That’s the best thing that you can have as a quarterback from a receiver.”

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Still missing starting right guard Nate Davis and Lucas Patrick, the Bears’ first-team offensive line of Braxton Jones, Teven Jenkins, Cody Whitehair, Ja’Tyre Carter, and Darnell Wright struggled to give quarterback Justin Fields any time to throw.

A move-the-ball period in the middle of practice served as a glaring example of how far the Bears’ offensive line has to go entering preseason play.

Fields and the offense started at their own 25-yard line.

On first down, the Bears set up a tight end screen to Marcedes Lewis. The Bears executed the play perfectly, and the veteran tight end rumbled for around 20 yards. However, the offense was flagged for an illegal shift on the play, which negated an otherwise well-run screen.

A 5-yard run by Khalil Herbert and a 5-yard pass to Robert Tonyan set up a manageable third-and-5, but that’s when the cracks in the offensive line started to get exposed.

On third-and-5, the newly-signed Yannick Ngakoue ripped past left tackle Braxton Jones to pressure Fields. The Bears left the offense playthrough the rep, but Fields’ pass for Tonyan fell incomplete.

Head coach Matt Eberflus was extremely animated after the rep, signaling that the defense committed a penalty to give the offense a free first down.

A first-down zone read saw Fields pick up 5 on the ground. On second-and-5, linebacker Noah Sewell came free on a blitz to “sack” fields. The rookie flew into the backfield and started screaming and flexing as he ran behind Fields. The Bears once again allowed the offense to play through the sack, and Fields completed a short pass for 2 yards.

On third-and-3, Rasheem Green roasted Darnell Wright to put immediate pressure on Fields. The third-year quarterback felt the pressure — likely would have been sacked — and lofted a pass down the right side toward Equanimeous St. Brown. The pass fell incomplete, but cornerback Kyler Gordon was flagged for defensive holding, giving the offense another free first down. Gordon didn’t like the call and pleaded his case to the official along with cornerbacks coach Jon Hoke.

The next set of downs had to have defensive line coach Travis Smith smiling.

Dominique Robinson batted a screen pass down at the line on first down before Green and Justin Jones notched back-to-back sacks. Green beat Carter on a stunt while Jones got passed Jenkins. While the Green “sack” was counted, the offense played through the Jones pressure and picked up a gain of 9. On fourth-and-5, Robinson beat Jenkins and Jones on a poorly passed-off stunt to notch a “sack.”

The next team period was a high red zone period that saw the offense start at the 15-yard line.

Once again, it was nothing to write home about.

The offensive line gave Fields time on first down, but his throw to DJ Moore was a little off-target on a quick slant to the left, and the receiver couldn’t haul it in. Andrew Billings and Rasheem Green blew up a second down run by Khalil Herbert, and Green spun passed Wright for a drive-ending “sack.”

With the offensive line struggling in pass protection, the Bears’ offense focused on the run game in the next team drill.

Even that wasn’t successful.

D’Onta Foreman picked up 5 on first down. Robinson blew through the line on a stunt but could not get to Foreman in the backfield. Robinson made up for it on the next play when he blew through the line to stop Foreman for no gain.

On third-and-5, the Bears busted out a wild-cat wrinkle. Foreman took the snap and ran a zone read with Fields. The running back pulled the ball and picked up 4 to set up fourth-and-1. The Bears opted to go for it, but Wright was flagged for a false start, forcing Santos to attempt a 54-yard field goal that he drilled.

The Bears’ offense closed the day with one more unsuccessful “get a first down” drill.

Fields opened with an 8-yard pass to Moore, but the final 2 yards proved difficult.

Gervon Dexter batted down a pass at the line on second down, and Robinson beat Jones off the edge on third down, forcing Fields to throw the ball away.

After practice, offensive coordinator Luke Getsy attributed the offense’s issues to a slow start after a big reps day Wednesday and the fact that they were “on the ball” a lot more Thursday, making it more difficult on guys in terms of knowing their assignment.

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Here are more notes from Thursday’s practice:

— Dexter had another great day in pads. On top of the batted ball at the line, he blew up a few run plays and notched at least two “sacks” against the second-team offense.

“I just said it today, that’s a huge dude,” backup quarterback P.J. Walker said of Dexter. “Like huge. And for him to just go out there and push the pocket and get the batted down balls he’s getting, he’s a hard dude to throw around, and you can feel his presence in that middle of the field when you’re back there playing quarterback. So for us, that’s huge because I think it starts up front, especially playing quarterback, nobody don’t like to throw around him. So I mean, you have him pushing that pocket, that right there could cause a lot of havoc, and I think it’s going to help the secondary because they’re going to feel like they can go out there and make plays on the football now that you get somebody that can go out there and push that pocket and push that center and that guard all the way into the quarterback.”

— Fellow rookie defenisve lineman Zacch Pickens also had a good day in pads. Pickens has been working exclusively at nose tackle in camp. He blew up a couple of run plays against the second-team offense. On one rep, Pickens bulldozed Dieter Eiselen before “wrapping up” Trestan Ebner.

— Billings and Sewell continue to have an impressive start to training camp. Getsy pointed to them, along with rookie cornerbacks Tyrique Stevenson and Terell Smith, as the players who have given the offense fits early in camp.

“Noah has had a couple days where he showed up, he stood out,” Getsy said. “The young DBs have all kind of showed up. The guys up front – Justin and The Big Dog Billings. All those guys. They have done a really nice job of challenging us upfront, changing the line of scrimmage. The way they have so much movement upfront this camp compared to last camp has been really good for us.”

— After two days ramping up, Ngakoue got his first reps in team drills Thursday. The veteran played just a few snaps but quickly showed why the Bears wanted to sign him.

At the end of practice, Ngakoue was giving Dexter what looked to be a tutorial on his famous cross-chop move on the sideline. Dexter, Justin Jones, Rasheem Green, and Terrell Lewis have spent time talking with Ngakoue on the sideline between reps.

— With Tremaine Edmunds still out, linebacker Jack Sanborn took first-team reps at MIKE linebacker while Sewell manned the SAM.

— After injuring his hamstring Wednesday, wide receiver Chase Claypool did not practice Thursday.

— St. Brown and Foreman were full participants after exiting practice early Wednesday.

— Edmunds, Claypool, right guard Nate Davis, safety Jaquan Brisker, defensive end DeMarcus Walker, offensive lineman Lucas Patrick, cornerback Terell Smith, running back Travis Homer, linebacker Dylan Cole, cornerback Josh Blackwell, and quarterback Nathan Peterman.

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King says he was struck by the strides made by quarterback Justin Fields, revealed the decision that Ryan Poles ultimately made in choosing to sign defensive end Yannick Ngakoue, and the rookie that impressed him most in camp.

Here were his three takeaways:

Justin Fields Looks More Comfortable in the Offense  

“You talk to Luke Getsy, his offensive coordinator. You talk to his receivers. Ryan Poles, the GM, and you really find that’s the one thing they’ve noticed. It’s not a lot of adjustment from last year to this year, even though there’s a franchise receiver here in DJ Moore,” he said. “I think you’re going to see a much-more comfortable quarterback in Justin Fields.”

The Bears Think They’ve Hit a Home Run with Yannick Ngakoue

“When the general manager of this team, Ryan Poles, was in Hawaii on vacation, a guy came up to him and said ‘man, you need a pass rusher.’ He said ‘I’m on vacation with my family, and I know,’” King recalled. “So what he did was he went out and had a choice between Justin Houston and Yannick Ngakoue. They signed Ngakoue….The Bears believe is that he’s going to be that missing piece, that 10, 11, 12 sack guy, that they’ve been looking for to add to their defensive front.”

Tyrique Stevenson is Ready to Turn Heads  

“He’s showing a lot of signs of being from ‘The U.’ As we watch practice here in Lake Forest, it was amazing how feisty he was. He had to be separated from a couple of different receivers,” he said. “I think one of the things you’re going to see is teams probably will go after him early on, and I don’t think he’s going to be intimidated. When you come from Miami, you’re a good fast corner and you work every day against DJ Moore, I think the Bears are confident that he’s going to be able to hit the ground running.”

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Almost every member of the 2022 Bears spent last season playing for their job, hoping to prove to Poles and head coach Matt Eberflus that they could be part of the long-term solution in Chicago.

Things are different this August.

Poles injected talent into the roster this offseason, forcing some notable names from last season’s 3-14 team down the depth chart.

As a result, a few notable Bears appear to be squarely on the roster bubble entering Saturday’s preseason opener against the Tennessee Titans at Soldier Field.

TREVIS GIPSON, DE

When the Bears traded Robert Quinn midway through last season, the company line was that Gipson could step up and fill the No. 1 pass rusher hole vacated by Quinn.

That didn’t happen.

Gipson finished the season with just three sacks and only 30 total pressures.

He entered training camp as the expected No. 2 edge rusher opposite free-agent acquisition DeMarcus Walker.

But that’s not how things have played out in camp.

Gipson opened camp running with the second-team defense as Rasheem Green got the nod opposite Walker. When Walker left the first padded practice with an injury, Gipson seemed like the likely candidate to take his first-team reps.

Once again, that was not the case.

Dominique Robinson has gobbled up most of the first-team reps in Walker’s absence, with Terrell Lewis also getting a small share.

Add in the signing of Yannick Ngakoue, and it appears Gipson will need an excellent preseason to secure a roster spot.

The Tulsa product has had some nice moments in camp, but he enters the first preseason game in the DE 5/6 category. The Bears could keep all six edge rushers, but there’s a good chance it comes down to Gipson or Lewis.

KINDLE VILDOR, CB

This one isn’t a huge surprise.

Vildor started opposite Jaylon Johnson in the nickel package last year, allowing Kyler Gordon to slide inside. Vildor gave up 26 catches on 39 targets (66.7 percent) for 369 yards and three touchdowns while allowing a passer rating of 112.

The Bears drafted cornerback Tyrique Stevenson in the second round and Terell Smith in the fifth round. Both rookies are currently battling to win the starting spot opposite Johnson. The Bears also liked what they saw from Jaylon Jones and Josh Blackwell last season. Both have passed Vildor on the unofficial depth chart and in the reps chart in camp.

Without an impressive preseason, Vildor’s time in Chicago could be coming to an end.

EQUANIMEOUS ST. BROWN, WR

The Bears will likely keep six wide receivers on the 53-man roster.

DJ Moore, Chase Claypool, Darnell Mooney, Tyler Scott, and Velus Jones Jr. are locks.

That leaves one spot for either St. Brown or Dante Pettis.

Pettis has missed all of training camp after being placed on the non-football injury list at the end of July. But the Bears removed him from the NFI list following Wednesday’s practice. Pettis is a reliable returner and had good chemistry with quarterback Justin Fields last season.

St. Brown is a good run-blocker who knows the scheme but offers little upside as a pass catcher.

Wednesday’s practice could have a ripple effect on the future outlook of the wide receiver room. Claypool left practice early with a hamstring injury, allowing St. Brown to run with the ones full-time. St. Brown made a few solid grabs over the middle in situational drills but left practice early after appearing to tweak an ankle in 7-on-7.

If Claypool’s hamstring injury turns out to be a multi-week issue, then St. Brown’s size becomes an important asset to a receiver room filled with shorter, quicker receivers.

The Bears like St. Brown and believe he’s a valuable depth piece of a revamped receiver room, but his spot is far from guaranteed.

TRESTAN EBNER, RB

When the Bears drafted Trestan Ebner in the fifth round last April, the hope was that the speedy back out of Baylor would be able to give them something as either a pass-catching weapon out of the backfield or a returner.

That never materialzied.

The Bears let David Montgomery walk in free agency but signed D’Onta Foreman and Travis Homer before drafting Roschon Johnson.

Ebner enters the preseason as the fourth running back on the Bears’ depth chart ahead of Homer. But the Bears gave Homer a two-year, $4 million contract with almost $2 million guaranteed, which suggests he’ll be on the roster come Week 1. Homer is a talented special teams contributor and a good pass protector.

Could the Bears keep five running backs and fullback Khari Blasingame on the 53-man roster? It’s not out of the question, but Ebner has to continue to improve in camp to cement his spot.

The second-year back has been getting a decent amount of reps with the first-team offense during third-down and red-zone drills. On Wednesday, Ebner ripped off a 70-yard touchdown run against the second-team defense.

“I think the experience factor,” head coach Matt Eberflus said of Ebner’s improvement from last year. “He had a couple of nice runs in the red zone the other day at Family Fest. I thought he made a couple of nice cuts. I think his vision is improving because he knows the scheme. He knows where he’s supposed to be running the ball and where he’s supposed to be looking.”

The arrow is pointing up for Ebner, but there’s work to be done.

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Mission accomplished.

Sanborn missed all of the offseason program while rehabbing the ankle injury that ended his 2022 season. He arrived at training camp fully healthy but left the first padded practice with what looked to be an ankle issue. Sanborn missed the following four practices before returning in a limited capacity Tuesday.

Sewell has taken all the first-team reps while Sanborn has been out. The fifth-round draft pick has shown steady improvement each day at camp. Sewell flies around like he’s shot out of cannon and always appears to be around the ball.

“He’s doing well,” head coach Matt Eberflus said Wednesday of Sewell. “He’s very strong, right? He’s very instinctive. He’s got good ball skills. And he’s very instinctive. I just like the way he knows where the ball is. He can key read fast, and I think it’s a good competition. We’re leaving it there, and I know that Jack hasn’t had a bunch of reps to be able to fully compete in there, and I’m excited about when he gets back to be able to compete at that spot, and we’ll see where it goes.”

Sanborn practiced in full Wednesday but ran with the second-team defense while Sewell played with the ones.

Veteran linebacker T.J. Edwards has spent two weeks manning the second level alongside Sewell. Sewell’s ability to quickly digest the playbook and put himself in position to make plays is rare for a rookie just 12 days into camp.

“Understanding the playbook is one thing when you’re doing it on paper,” Edwards said Tuesday. “It’s a little bit easier. But once you get out there and the bullets are flying, that’s when it gets difficult, and the biggest thing you see with him is just trusting it — him having the confidence in what he’s doing to go out there and execute and make plays, man. He’s making a lot of plays right now.”

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The Bears wanted Sewell to push Sanborn to add competition to an improved linebacker room and raise the floor of that unit.

Sewell’s elite athleticism, downhill attacking ability, and capability as a blitzer should give him an edge over Sanborn. The Wisconsin product is a high-IQ linebacker who understands the scheme, is always in the right spot, and is a sure tackler. He’s an excellent depth linebacker who can fill in at the SAM or MIKE spot if needed.

Wednesday was the first time Sewell received first-team snaps with Sanborn healthy and practicing. It was also the first time that Eberflus acknowledged a full-on competition for the starting SAM spot.

Sewell has made impressive progress in short time, but he’ll have to keep trending in the right direction to take the job from Sanborn.

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Now that the Bears have put the pads on a few times, Herbert’s had a chance to see how far he’s come in his development, particularly as a pass blocker. He’s happy with the results so far.

“I feel like I definitely came a long way,” Herbert said. “Putting that intention toward it, working on this offseason and doing different things to work on it I feel like has helped. It’s good to see some of it pay off. We still got a long way to go. I still got a lot of things to get better at. But It’s good to see some of it paying off.”

As the summer has progressed it’s become clear that Herbert will be part of a multi-faceted Bears rushing game. It does not look like there will be one bell cow this year. However, D’Onta Foreman has started taking more and more reps with the first team, leaving Herbert to fight for those valuable snaps along with others like Trestan Ebner.

On Wednesday, however, Foreman left practice early with an apparent injury. He didn’t participate in any team drills which left Herbert to take the majority of first-team snaps. Herbert made the most of his opportunity by coming down with several catches out of the backfield, in several different situations.

“The route tree is expanding for him,” said head coach Matt Eberflus. “I feel the trust happening with the quarterbacks, especially with Justin, and it’s starting to grow. I think it’s been growing over the last three or four weeks.”

If everyone’s healthy, it seems unlikely that Herbert ever approaches 20+ carries a game like a true workhorse. But if he keeps making improvements with his third-down skillset, he could show coaches that he can shoulder the load if injuries necessitate it during the regular season.

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Claypool lined up against rookie cornerback Tyrique Stevenson in individual drills. Stevenson tried to jam Claypool at the line, but the receiver tossed him aside to spring open down the sideline. Claypool was flagged for offensive pass interference, though.

As Stevenson picked himself off the ground, the rookie cornerback started jawing at Claypool. The two continued their expletive-laden back-and-forth until cornerbacks coach Jon Hoke pulled Stevenson away to talk with him.

Claypool continued to yell in Stevenson’s direction until his next rep. It would be his final one of the day.

Claypool fired off the line to run a vertical route against Jaylon Jones but pulled up almost immediately. Claypool turned around and looked at Stevenson before saying he hurt his hamstring while roasting the rookie cornerback. The two then continued to jaw until Hoke once again pulled Stevenson aside.

Claypool did not participate in the rest of practice but stayed on the sideline and appeared to be in good spirits.

“That’s just physical,” head coach Matt Eberflus said of the Claypool-Stevenson altercation after practice. “The guys are just being physical out there. That’s why we’ve got pads on, There’s nothing wrong with that. You’ve gotta have some of that, for sure. It’s a physical game.”

Claypool and Stevenson have been going at it a lot in recent practices. During one practice last, Claypool and Stevenson were exchanging words when the rookie cornerback’s mouthpiece fell on the ground. Claypool stepped on the mouthpiece before scuffing his cleat on it.

The fourth-year receiver also got into a scuffle with safety Eddie Jackson last week. Jackson gave Claypool a solid hit with his shoulder pad as Claypool was heading out of bounds. The wide receiver took exception to the hit and went back at Jackson, eventually taking the safety’s helmet off. General manager Ryan Poles eventually had to step in to calm everything down between the two.

The Bears have lauded Claypool’s fire throughout camp. The offense is full of quiet leaders, and Claypool brings a needed edge. But even Darnell Mooney admitted there’s a risk that Claypool might go over the line.

The constant jawing with Stevenson and other defensive backs hasn’t reached that point, though.

“I just look at when you talk to another opponent, and that certainly happens during the game and that’s part of some people’s game, and some guys are more focused and more quiet,” Eberflus said. “But if that’s part of the game, as long as it doesn’t lead into penalties or lack of execution. So if you can keep your focus and that’s how you do it and you don’t fight — because that’s a penalty — that’s part of the game. That’s how I look at it.”

Claypool has had a good camp to this point. He has been healthy, used his body well in the red zone, and developed his chemistry with quarterback Justin Fields. Even a moderate hamstring injury could be a severe setback to his efforts to hit the ground running in a contract year.

There was no update on Claypool’s injury after practice.

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Here are more notes from Wednesday’s practice:

— Quarterback Justin Fields and the first-team offense had a clunky, sloppy day in a return to pads.

The Bears’ offense worked on a lot of situational drills, including a lot of third-down work.

Execution and consistency were lacking in the play-it periods.

We’ll start with the third team period:

The first-team offense started with the ball at midfield. The offense opened the drill with a play-action bootleg to the right. Fields hit tight end Stephen Carlson for a catch-and-run of 16. Two Khalil Herbert runs — one for a loss of 3 and one for a gain of 5 — along with a Darnell Wright false start, set up third-and-13 at the 39.

Fields dropped back and threw a seed to Equanimeous St. Brown on a deep crossing route for a gain of 19 and a first down.

The Bears picked up 4 yards on the next two plays to face a third-and-6 at the 16-yard line. Fields faced some pressure but made a beautiful side-arm throw to DJ Moore. The off-script throw had first down written all over it, but Stevenson made a terrific play on the ball to break up the pass and win the drill for the defense.

— The high red-zone period was unkind to the first-team offense.

Fields opened the drill with an incomplete pass intended for Darnell Mooney. Jaylon Johnson played tight coverage to break up the play. The Bears handed the ball to Herbert on second-and-10, but Andrew Billings mauled Ja’Tyre Carter, blowing the play up for a loss of a few. Fields looked for tight end Cole Kmet up the seam on third-and-long, but Stevenson deflected the pass to force a three-and-out.

The second attempt in the high red zone was a little more successful.

After a run for no gain by Hebert on first down, Fields hit Moore for 6 on a slant before picking up a first down with his legs on third-and-4.

— The Bears’ offense ended the day with a two-minute drill. Fields and Co. had 1:40 left and the ball at their own 30-yard line against a mixture of the first- and second-team defense.

The drive got off to a poor start as Dominique Robinson beat Braxton Jones around the edge for a sack. But Fields bailed the Bears out of second and long by connecting with Moore on a beautiful pass down the left sideline. Moore made a nice leaping catch for a gain of 35.

Fields picked up 6 on the ground on the ensuing first down before hitting Darnell Mooney for 7. With 48 seconds left, Fields found Herbert out of the backfield for a gain of 6 and then again for 10 before clocking the ball at the 24.

On second-and-10, Fields once again hit Herbert for a gain of five to set up third-and-manageable. Fields looked for Moore up the seam on third-and-5, but Kyler Gordon had good coverage on the play and broke up the pass.

Eberflus wanted a touchdown out of the drill, so the Bears went for it on fourth-and-6 with the clock running down.

Fields threw it to Herbert on the left side to set up a lateral, but the defense easily rallied to stonewall the attempt.

— The Bears’ offense did show some poise in the third-down situational drills. Fields had several nice connections with Moore and two impressive darts to St. Brown in the middle of the field.

— The first-team offense had four false starts, including two on Wright and one on Jones.

— Rookie linebacker Noah Sewell continues to be all over the field. He punched a ball out of St. Brown’s hands and returned it for a touchdown, but the refs ruled the receiver was “down” and let the offense keep the ball. Sewell was also the first to stop Herbert on the final play of the two-minute drill.

— Running back Trestan Ebner broke off a 70-yard touchdown run in team drills.

— Left guard Teven Jenkins briefly left team drills but returned. Jenkins was good in pass pro and opened up some solid holes in the run game.

— Undrafted rookie free agent Micah Baskerville recorded two interceptions Wednesday. P.J. Walker and Tyson Bagent threw the passes.

— St. Brown came up hobbling during the 7-on-7 period. He did not return to practice.

— Running back D’Onta Foreman didn’t take a rep after the first team period.

— Right guard Nate Davis, safety Jaquan Brisker, linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, running back Travis Homer, defensive end DeMarcus Walker, cornerback Terell Smith, defensive end Terrell Lewis, offensive lineman Lucas Patrick, linebacker Dylan Cole, tight end Marcedes Lewis, and wide receiver Dante Pettis did not participate.

— The Bears activated Pettis from the non-football injury list after practice.

— Safety Eddie Jackson returned to practice Wednesday but was limited.

— Defensive end Yannick Ngakoue continued his ramp-up period. He did not participate in team drills.

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Over the course of the 12th practice of Bears training camp, Chase Claypool, D’Onta Foreman and Equanimeous St. Brown all went down with apparent injuries. At this time of the year, the Bears only disclose injuries if they’re deemed to be long term, so we don’t know exactly what happened with those three players.

Claypool and Foreman both project to have significant roles on offense, and St. Brown came in to play with the first-team offense when Claypool went down, so if any of those guys misses an extended period of time it could hurt the team as they try to install schemes and prepare for the regular season.

The absences also added to an already long list of players sitting out due to various ailments. The team started the day without Tremaine Edmunds, Nate Davis, Jaquan Brisker, DeMarcus Walker, Lucas Patrick, Terrell Smith, Dante Pettis, Travis Homer, Terrell Lewis and Dylan Cole. Marcedes Lewis also sat out but there’s a chance he’s not participating yet since he recently joined the team and is at the beginning of a ramp up period. Either way, that means the Bears ended Wednesday down seven players who are either projected to start, or have played significant first-team snaps. They’re without some key backups, like Patrick, too.

Head coach Matt Eberflus said there’s no concern that Edmunds or Walker won’t be ready for Week 1, physically or mentally, but last week admitted there is some concern that so many guys are missing time on the grass.

“When you miss practices you can’t get better,” Eberflus said. “When you have guys playing off each other and communicating to each other during the course of any play, offense or defense, that’s an important part.”

The Bears host the Titans for their first preseason game of the year this Saturday.

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There was reason to believe the plan might be different this preseason. Eberflus and his staff are comfortable with who Fields is and what he needs to work on. Teams with established starting quarterbacks often sit their signal-callers until Week 1.

That won’t be the case with Fields. Eberflus announced Wednesday that the third-year quarterback will play a limited number of snaps in Saturday’s preseason opener against the Tennessee Titans at Soldier Field.

“I just think you gauge it year by year,” Eberflus said Wednesday when asked if he thought about sitting Fields until Week 1. “And you make an educated decision based on what your offensive coordinator’s saying to you and what your quarterback coach is saying to you and what you see with your eyes as the head football coach. And you just take in all the information and make a decision. And that’s the decision we made.”

The Bears’ offensive line has dealt with a few injuries early in camp. Starting right guard Nate Davis has missed more than a week outside of Tuesday’s limited participation in an unpadded practice. Backup right guard Lucas Patrick left Sunday’s practice with an injury and has missed the last two practices.

While the Bears want to be careful with Fields, they also believe facing live bullets will help him develop.

“You’re always mindful of that certainly with your starting quarterback, you know, who’s aligned in front of him?” Eberflus said Wednesday. “You’re always mindful of that. And what types of plays. So, we’re always discussing that. He’s gotta be in there in playing.”

What do the Bears want to see out of Fields in what likely will be no more than 10 snaps? It starts with command and execution.

“I would just say when you’re looking at the quarterback position, you know, the operation No. 1.” Eberflus said. “Can we get in and out of the huddle crisp and, you know, execute the play if we have any run to pass or pass to pass, run to run stuff going on? We gotta make sure we look at that. Can he make all the protection calls that he needs to make? Make the adjustments. Just the operation. That’s what we’re looking for.”

Eberflus said “select starters” will play Saturday. He didn’t have a definitive answer about the number of snaps those select starters will play. He plans to talk with each position coach on Wednesday to gauge where each player is after 12 practices.

Last preseason, Fields played 18 snaps in the preseason opener against the Kansas City Chiefs. His snap count dropped in the second game against the Seattle Seahawks. He played the entire first half in the preseason finale.

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It’s fair to expect “selected starters” to play between seven and 12 snaps on Saturday, depending on the player.

The Bears also have a lengthy injury list that likely will see key players Davis, linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, safety Jaquan Brisker, and defensive end DeMarcus Walker not play Saturday. Wide receiver Chase Claypool injured his hamstring early in Wednesday’s practice and did not participate in team drills, putting his status for Saturday’s game in doubt.

But Fields will be out there for a handful of snaps Saturday. The Bears think the opportunity to grow, no matter how small, is too important to pass up.

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When training camp began in late July, things started to shift. Smith, who missed most of OTAs and minicamp with an unknown injury, started to split reps with Stevenson. There were several days where it was Smith who took the majority of first-team reps at CB2, not Stevenson.

“They didn’t tell me anything but they made it real clear that it’s going to be a competition,” Stevenson said.

Stevenson didn’t worry, nor did he go to anyone to complain or ask why Smith started eating into his reps. He understood the situation.

“I didn’t earn anything. I have no stripes in the league.”

It also became clear to Stevenson very quickly that the Bears were going to demand a lot from him. He knew Matt Eberflus’ H.I.T.S. program was important, but it didn’t fully sink in until his first few practices at Halas Hall. Stevenson had been a part of teams where coaches handed out “loafs” for sloppy or lackadaisical play during games. Putting a loaf on an athlete’s playsheet after a game is a way for coaches to let players know specifically when and why they didn’t meet the team’s standards. But the Bears assign loafs after practice, too, and that was new for Stevenson.

“(Cornerbacks) Coach (Jon) Hoke is like, ‘If it’s 50-50 to me, you’re getting a loaf. Especially you, I want you to sprint to the ball. I want you to have it become a habit.’

“Every day he tells me, excuse my language, ‘I’m on your ass,’ because he wants me to be the best version of me. I tell him that, too. ‘Don’t take your foot off the gas. If you feel like you need to be harsh, be harsh. If you feel like you need to be understanding, at the end of the day you’re the coach and I’m here to take in the information that you’re willing to give.’”

Other players notice Hoke being tough on Stevenson and commend how the rookie has responded. Jaylon Johnson hasn’t seen Stevenson waver or complain, even when he was bumped back down to playing with the second-unit. Eddie Jackson praised how Stevenson locked in more and more after coming in as a shy rookie. But even as Stevenson tried to focus and attack practice, his loafs piled up over the early stages of the summer program.

“I was asking (coach Hoke), ‘How?!?’ And he was like, ‘Look!’ And I was like, ‘You want me to run all the way over there?’ Coach Flus and everybody was like, ‘No, we just want to see your initial burst. We want to see you take the right angle. And if you’re close to the ball, we want to see you finish on the ball. We want to see you finish on the right level. So everything that goes into technique and being on the right spot on the field goes into a loaf.”

When Eberflus and defensive coordinator Alan Williams first came to Chicago, they admitted the H.I.T.S. system isn’t for everyone. The acronym stands for Hustle, Intensity, Takeaways (and Taking care of the ball), and playing Smart, Situational football, and Eberflus has developed specific criteria to measure whether or not players are meeting the standard. It demands a lot of players, both physically and mentally. They’re judged on each and every rep. The grading is so tough that players who enter the 90% club– or players who manage to go through a season with a loaf on 10% of their players or fewer– are celebrated at the end of the year. Some players never get on board with the program. Some players get down on themselves. Stevenson is not one of those players. He’s used to being knocked down.

When Stevenson was little he got picked on by other kids. He wasn’t some obviously athletic talent, like most NFL players. In fact, it was the opposite.

“When it came to sports I was never the guy you needed to pick. I was the last pick.”

He loved football and wanted to play, but growing up he never got the opportunity to play a skill position like he dreamed. Coaches put him in at center or guard. When Stevenson finally got a chance to play corner during his sophomore year of high school, it didn’t go well.

“I got picked on every game… I had to change positions from corner to receiver because it was so bad.”

One thing that still sticks with Stevenson is that he was so ineffective his sophomore seasonーand he was still picked on so muchー that he was forced to change jersey numbers not once, but twice.

“There’s nothing wrong with wearing 58 or 56, but when you’re around other people in the neighborhood and you have 56 or 58 and they have 1, 2, it kinda plays its part.”

It was a rough year, so Stevenson was determined to make his junior year different.

“I was just like, ‘I’m tired of it. I’m tired of being picked on.’”

Around that time, Stevenson started to realize that he was good enough to hang with the other players on the field. After all, he was on the team. So he changed his mindset and challenged himself to really excel. Stevenson says that’s when things really turned around for him, and his new mentality became a lifestyle. Now, Stevenson doesn’t need to think about the fire inside of him, or the chip on his shoulder. They’re always there.

So when Stevenson started losing out on reps to Smith it was no big deal.

“I know if I want something on the field, I’ve got to earn it, I’ve got to be the best version of me and I’ve got to put in the work for it.”

There’s also no bad blood between Stevenson and Smith. In fact, it’s all love. The duo met at the NFL Combine, because Smith was CB30 and Stevenson was CB31, and they’ve been friends ever since.

“We already had a great relationship, so when he bumped up I was happy for him,” Stevenson said. “At the end of the day we know we’re both working, and we’ve got to come into the building and work hard to be able to earn that CB2 spot.

“I know he’s just as hungry as I am… Terell was making great plays with the twos. He was just able to bump up and split reps with me, which is obviously cool at the end of the day. I want to be able to have somebody else go out there and make sure the defense doesn’t fall apart. It doesn’t make sense to have only two corners able to go out there and play.”

Stevenson uses the competition as motivation. He sees the H.I.T.S. program as motivation too, and writes those four letters down at the top of his notebook every day. He doesn’t run from the adversity, because he knows it makes him better.

On the practice field we’ve already seen how Stevenson has taken the critiques from his loafs, internalized them, and applied the teaching points to make great plays. As he said, coaches wanted to see him finish plays better. He took that to heart and used that emphasis on finishing to intercept a Justin Fields pass intended for Chase Claypool last week. That play sparked a series of good practices with more takeaways.

To an outside observer, that first interception looked like a confidence booster, but it wasn’t. Just Stevenson taking his coaching and applying it on the field.

“My confidence is always through the roof, always at a high level because I know what type of player I am and I know what I’m capable of.”

That includes winning a starting job that won’t be handed to him. And Stevenson knows what it will take to get there.

“Prepare. Come out and dominate every chance I get. Be the best version of me. Come out and show the coaches I’m getting 1% better every day and go out there against the 1s or 2s, or special teams, whatever drill it is, just show them that I’m willing to go out there and compete.

“I feel like nothing in the world can stop me right now. So just losing a couple reps is not going to bring me down. All I know is I’ve got to go out there, prepare harder, put my foot on the gas and make sure that I earn. Nothing is ever given.”

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But things are much different this go around. Head coach Matt Eberflus has been clear that the large injection of talent this offseason has given the Bears a lot of roster clarity heading into training camp. Most of the training camp battles will take place at the backend of the Bears’ roster.

However, there are three notable position battles taking place at Halas Hall during training camp. With the preseason opener against the Tennessee Titans on Saturday, here’s a brief check-in on where those battles stand after 11 training camp practices.

STARTING CORNERBACK

Tyrique Stevenson vs. Terell Smith

This is a competition we didn’t really see coming. Smith missed all of the offseason program with an injury while Stevenson quickly rose up the “reps chart” to take the second boundary corner snaps opposite Jaylon Johnson.

But when asked about Stevenson at the end of mandatory minicamp, Eberflus started talking about Smith, who he wanted to see more of during training camp.

Smith and Stevenson have split first-team reps throughout the first two weeks of camp. Both rookies have good and bad on their ledger through 11 practices.

Stevenson has taken a lot of reps against wide receiver DJ Moore in individual work and held his own against the Bears’ top target. Smith, meanwhile, has found himself matched up against Moore in individuals while getting a lot of time against Chase Claypool in team drills.

Both Stevenson and Smith have been around the ball a ton and turned the ball over.

At the moment, I will give the slight edge to Smith because I think his man coverage has been stickier, and he has seemed more comfortable in zone coverage.

I think Stevenson has been more up and down than Smith.

Tuesday’s practice was a great example. With Smith not participating due to a minor injury, Stevenson got all the first-team reps. He made a terrific leaping interception on a pass to Claypool along the left sideline. The coverage was impeccable, and he did an excellent job boxing Claypool out and high-pointing the ball.

But Stevenson also gave up a third-and-18 in the “win the game” drill at the end and surrendered several catches to Moore.

While I think Smith has a 51-49 edge right now, availability is important. If Smith continues to miss practice, Stevenson will secure the job.

Edge: Even (lean Smith)

RUNNING BACK

Khalil Herbert vs. D’Onta Foreman

We talked a lot about this being a three-horse race during the summer, with rookie Roschon Johnson also factoring into the equation. But Johnson has missed a few practices and has run almost exclusively with the second-team offense during team drills.

It has been an even 50-50 split between Herbert and Foreman with the first team.

While Herbert has been solid through 11 practices, Foreman has been noticeably more effective in the run and pass game.

Foreman runs with great physicality, vision, and wiggle. Since the pads have come on, the Bears’ ground attack has been more explosive when Foreman is in the backfield. More importantly, Foreman has been very good as a pass-catcher in the screen game and on swing and sneak routes. The Bears want their running backs to be reliable targets for quarterback Justin Fields, and Foreman has exceeded expectations in that regard.

The Bears will give Herbert every chance to win the job, but their offense might be in a better spot with Foreman leading the way and Herbert serving as a change-of-pace back with home-run potential.

Edge: Foreman

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SAM LINEBACKER

Jack Sanborn vs. Noah Sewell

Eberflus said the starting SAM linebacker job would be Jack Sanborn’s to lose in training camp. The Bears wanted to see if Sewell, a fifth-round draft pick out of Oregon, could push the second-year linebacker.

Unfortunately for Sanborn, he has missed a chunk of camp after leaving the first padded practice with what looked to be an ankle injury. Sanborn went on IR at the end of last season with an ankle injury.

Sanborn returned to practice Tuesday but was limited.

Sewell, meanwhile, has vacuumed up all the first-team reps. The physical, explosive downhill backer has impressed T.J. Edwards with his quick growth in the system.

“He’s a physical dude,” Edwards said of Sewell on Tuesday. “He’s a big dude. He’s very athletic as well. Just kind of working with him. He understands the game, he understands what his responsibilities are in the plays, and a guy who is just a football player, man. He finds the ball. He’s powerful.

“Understanding the playbook is one thing when you’re doing it on paper,” Edwards said later of Sewell. “It’s a little bit easier. But once you get out there and the bullets are flying, that’s when it gets difficult, and the biggest thing you see with him is just trusting it — him having the confidence in what he’s doing to go out there and execute and make plays, man. He’s making a lot of plays right now.”

Sanborn is an intelligent linebacker who is a tackling machine. But he doesn’t have the elite athleticism or blitzing ability that Sewell does. The Oregon product has shown great instincts against the run and the pass. He has been effective as a blitzer and has not been a liability in pass coverage.

With Sanborn still working his way back, Sewell appears to have at least pulled even, if not ahead, in the battle for the starting SAM spot.

EDGE: Sewell

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Ngakoue immediately gives the Bears’ pass rush a reliable veteran with a history of consistently pressuring the quarterback. The Bears believe the addition of Ngakoue will help their rebuilt secondary thrive. There’s also belief that Ngakoue’s impact can be greater than pressures, hurries, and sacks.

After taking a few days to pack up things at home, Ngakoue arrived at Halas Hall on Tuesday to start his ramp-up period.

Rookie Gervon Dexter has been itching to get in the ear of a pass-rusher whose cross-chop is famous around the NFL.

“I’m ready to go back and pick his brain right now,” Dexter said Tuesday after practice. “He is a great guy. Even coming to the room, he introduced himself. You can tell he’s a great leader. He’s a great guy as well. He has all the tools, so I’m definitely super eager to go in there and pick his brain.”

While Ngakoue didn’t participate in team drills Tuesday, he spent a lot of time talking to Justin Jones, Rasheem Green, Terrell Lewis, and other edge rushers when they were on the sidelines.

Ngkaoue should make everyone better. But allowing Dexter and fellow rookie Zacch Pickens to observe how he works and pick his brain for at least a year can potentially have long-term ramifications.

Expect Dexter and Pickens to be hounding Ngakoue in meetings, film sessions, and on the practice field.

Both the young defensive tackles have shown impressive growth early in their NFL careers, but Ngakoue’s arrival could wind up being a vital accelerant.

The Bears also believe adding Ngakoue will help accelerate the development of second-year left tackle Braxton Jones and rookie right tackle Darnell Wright.

Even before Ngakoue arrived, the Bears started giving Jones and Wright different looks in individual drills. Facing Ngakoue provides the Bears’ young tackles with an elite edge rusher to measure themselves against.

“I think it’s just going against a different skill set,” head coach Matt Eberflus said about Ngakoue’s impact on Jones and Wright. “We started to mix that up again today. We had guys going with the same guy every single time in 1-on-1 pass rush. During our meeting we evaluated each player yesterday in our meeting with the scouts, we talked about what matchups we want to see, so we kind of switched them up, mixed that up today, and that was better and we’re going to continue to do that. But adding that piece to it is the same thing; you’re going to be able to see a different skill set and a different guy rushing them.”

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Ngakoue’s potential impact on the younger members of the Bears’ roster is important. But it’s secondary to what they hope he provides on the field to a defense that struggled to breathe on opposing quarterbacks last season.

The Bears were already confident about their defense this season. They have seen growth from Brisker and second-year cornerback Kyler Gordon. The additions of linebackers Tremaine Edmunds and T.J. Edwards give them one of the best linebacking corps in football.

They needed an impactful edge rusher. Now, one has arrived.

“It’s just getting scarier and scarier,” Jackson said after the Bears signed Ngakoue. “You know, you’re just adding more talent and more talent. When that starts to mesh together it’s, I mean, everyone in here, has seen what’s going to happen. When you’ve got a lot of large group of talented players and people that’s actually locked in and really love football, that’s just more fuel to the fire. We feel like, ‘OK we just keep taking it up a notch.’ Now we done added him. It’s like, ‘oh man, it’s up,’ like this thing is headed in the right direction.”

Yannick Ngakoue’s value to the Bears starts with rushing the passer. But the Bears hope he can be much more than that. If he can meet their expectations, his impact will wind up being much greater than the number of sacks on Sunday.

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Cairo Santos capped the drill by hitting a 50-yard field goal. The Bears reracked the kick to give Santos another 50-yard rep, and he hit it again.

It’s exactly the thing the Bears offense wants to see at this time of the year. Overcoming adversity, using practically every second on the clock to gain just enough yards, and ultimately scoring points.

But Cole Kmet isn’t ready to call Tuesday’s successful one-minute drill a sign of growth from the offense.

“We’ve got to go do it in games,” Kmet said. “This is practice still, and we’re doing these things in practice and it’s awesome to see. I feel like we’re executing really well, but what matters is the games. We can talk about growth when we see it in games and it’s for real.”

That doesn’t mean the progress in practice should be entirely discounted. Last summer the Bears passing attack never really got off the ground, so it wasn’t surprising that they struggled when they started playing on Sundays for real. This year there are still rough periods, but things generally run more smoothly. The players notice a jump from year one in Luke Getsy’s offense to year two.

“You definitely see the details show up where they weren’t there last year,” Kmet said.

Saturday will be the first opportunity for the Bears to show they’re making real growth when they take on the Titans for the first preseason game. There will be live hitting. Pass rushers won’t let up just before reaching the quarterback. The game won’t count in the standings, but it will be a game.

“All these practice situations are preparing us for that,” Kmet said. “So it’s good that we’re executing now and doing these things now, but we’ve gotta carry these things over when it’s for real.”

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While Tuesday’s unpadded training camp practice at Halas Hall yielded little excitement, Fields and the offense showed noteworthy fight and grit during a “win-the-game” drill at the end of practice.

Starting at the 50-yard line with 55 seconds left, one timeout, and the game tied, Fields and the offense put themselves immediately behind the sticks.

Tight end Cole Kmet ran a deep post route and came open when safety Adrian Colbert fell down. Fields threw a strike to Kmet for a big gain, but the tight end was flagged for offensive pass interference, setting up a first-and-20 at their own 40.

Fields immediately got a chunk back when he hit DJ Moore on a deep curl for 12 yards against rookie Tyrique Stevenson. But on second-and-8, defensive tackle Justin Jones blew past left guard Teven Jenkins to “sack” Fields, putting the offense in a third-and-17 hole and forcing them to use their timeout.

Last season, third-and-17 would have required Fields to put on his cape and dazzle with an improbable escape act. But things seem, at least in August, to be different this year.

Fields dropped back on third-and-17, got good protection, and threw a rope to rookie Tyler Scott on a deep in for 18 yards. Scott ran a precise route, using his speed and wiggle to get a step on Stevenson. He caught the ball a few yards short of the sticks but quickly turned it upfield to secure the first down.

After a first down spiked to stop the clock at 13.7, Fields hit Moore for 8 yards on a curl in the middle of the field against Stevenson. Fields rushed everyone to the line and spiked the ball with 0.6 seconds remaining. Cairo Santos trotted out and drilled a 50-yard field goal to give the offense a win.

The offense showing an ability to overcome a penalty and a sack is a positive, but tight end Cole Kmet isn’t putting too much stock in the unpadded drill.

“That was good,” Kmet said Tuesday after practice. “They ripped me on an OPI to start it off so that wasn’t great. I went through that film, and eh, but whatever. They called that, and we kind of had to fight back through that, and we were able to get into field goal range there and get the field goal there to win it. All of these situations that we are working on are awesome. We got a lot of them and a lot more to go before the end of camp. These are all things that need to be repped so when the moment comes up, and these end-of-game situations happen like we’ve had this past year, we can go out and execute and win the game.

“I don’t want to say signs of growth,” Kmet later said. “We’ve got to go do it in games. This is practice still and we’re doing these things in practice and it’s awesome to see. I feel like we’re executing really well, but what matters is the games. We can talk about growth when we see it in games and it’s for real. But all these practice situations are preparing us for that, so it’s good that we’re executing now and doing these things now, but we’ve gotta carry these things over when it’s for real.”

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Here are more notes from Tuesday’s practice:

— The Bears’ first team offense failed to get a first down in their first 11-on-11 situational drill. Backed up in their own territory, the Bears’ offense needed to get at least a first down to give Trenton Gill room to flip the field.

Fields completed a first-down pass to fullback Khari Blasingame for a gain of 2, but the offense went no further. A second-down run by D’Onta Foreman went nowhere, and Chase Claypool was flagged for offensive pass interference on third down, ending the drive.

The Bears’ offense didn’t do much better on their second attempt. Fields felt pressure up the middle on first down and had to throw the ball away. Equanimeous St. Brown had a step down the right sideline, but Fields couldn’t step up due to the interior pressure.

On second down, Fields threw wide of Darnell Mooney on a quick out to the left. Facing a third-and-10, Fields swiftly evaded pressure by moving to his left before hitting Khalil Hebert out of the backfield for 9, giving Gill a little room to try to flip the field.

— Justin Jones and Andrew Billings applied consistent pressure on Fields on Tuesday. The defensive line is expected to have the edge when the pads are off.

— Stevenson picked off Fields on a deep pass intended for Claypool during the first team period. The rookie corner had tight coverage on the play and made a leaping interception.

— Tyler Scott shook Jaylon Johnson in individual drills with a crafty double move but dropped a pass that hit him in the hands.

— Yannick Ngakoue practiced for the first time as a Bear on Tuesday. The veteran is on a ramp-up schedule, so he did not participate in team drills. Ngakoue was on the sidelines coaching up Jones, Rasheem Green, and Terrell Lewis.

— Right guard Nate Davis and linebacker Jack Sanborn “returned to practice” Tuesday but did not participate in team drills. Ja’Tyre Carter took first-team reps at right guard with Patrick out and Davis limited.

— Linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, safety Jaquan Brisker, safety Eddie Jackson, cornerback Kyler Gordon, offensive lineman Lucas Patrick, running back Roschon Johnson, cornerback Terell Smith, defensive end DeMarcus Walker, linebacker Dylan Cole, wide receiver Dante Pettis, and wide receiver Joe Reed did not participate in practice.

— Gervon Dexter continues to pop in practice. The rookie defensive tackle blew up several run plays Tuesday.

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All eyes are understandably on quarterback Justin Fields as he looks to take a big step forward as a passer in Year 3. Fields and the offense have had an uneven camp so far. The Bears’ defense has dominated most of the padded practices, including a complete drubbing last Wednesday. But Fields and the offense found their groove Sunday, authoring arguably their sharpest practice to date.

With 10 training camp practices, including four padded days, in the books, today’s off day is a good time to look at some of the camp standouts so far.

You won’t find Fields or wide receiver DJ Moore on this list. They have been solid, but the bar is high for them, and a handful of other players have strung several strong practices together in a row.

Jaquan Brisker

I’d argue that Brisker has been the Bears’ best player in camp so far.

The second-year safety has missed the last two days with a minor injury, but that won’t keep him from headlining this list. Brisker has been flying around the field early in camp, setting the tone with his play and energy.

The Penn State product has recorded several interceptions early in camp, including a leaping pick of backup quarterback P.J. Walker. Brisker has also picked off Fields a few times in team drills and 7-on-7.

Brisker’s motor is always running high, but he ramped it up when the pads came on. He delivered several tone-setting pops to backs and receivers and was one of the biggest trash talkers in the defense’s domination last Wednesday.

“He’s one of our guys that is definitely an elite competitor,” head coach Matt Eberflus said. “He loves to compete, he loves football. We love Jaquan’s emotion, his passion, and with a guy like that, his motor runs that hot where he has to harness it into a controlled situation where it works for him all the time. He’s done a great job of that. We’re excited to see him play this year.”

Brisker had a solid rookie season but made several Year 1 mistakes that he must clean up this fall.

“I feel like last year I came in just I feel like I was just moving too fast,” Brisker said during mandatory minicamp in June. “I caught up to the game, but I messed up my thumb and things like that. I feel like when I came back, I was trying to move too fast instead of being under control, being myself, making plays, and not giving up certain things or not being consistent. Usually, I’m a consistent leader and things like that. You see it during the OTAs this year, a lot different energy. I’m flying around playing both safeties and things like that.

“So definitely going to get a different nine this year.”

So far, Brisker has held true to his pledge, but the Bears need him to get healthy and back on the field as soon as possible.

Chase Claypool

Things looked bleak when the Bears put Claypool on the Physically Unable To Perform List one day before report day. Twenty-four hours later, the Bears removed him and gave him the all-go to participate in camp.

The results so far have been exactly what the Bears wanted to see from the fourth-year receiver.

Claypool has participated in all 10 practices. That’s important for a guy who missed most of the offseason program with soft-tissue injuries.

He has run good, crisp routes and used his big frame and physicality to make contested catches in red-zone drills and third-down situations. His chemistry with Fields is clearly at another level, and the trust between the two seems to grow with each practice.

“Chase has been doing his thing lately,” Fields said Wednesday. “I’m proud of him. He’s one of those guys on offense that he’s going to bring that energy pretty much every day. He’s an emotional player. He’s been doing good. Making contested catches. He’s such a big body where he’s a big presence out there. When he gets going on every route, it’s hard to stop him. Even in the running game, he’s crushing linebackers. It’s definitely great to have Chase.”

Claypool also has shown himself to be a vital emotional leader for the Bears’ offense.

During that brutal Wednesday practice for the offense, Claypool was the lone member of the first team to show an edge and go back at a chippy defense. Fields called for more juice after that practice, and on Saturday, Claypool got into a scuffle with Eddie Jackson after the safety delivered a nice pop to the receiver along the sideline.

That energy is important for a Bears’ offense filled with more “silent assassins,” according to Jackson. However, Claypool does need to find a way to toe the line, which is where Darnell Mooney comes in.

“You’ve gotta watch him. He’s a hothead, for sure,” Mooney said, chuckling on Wednesday. “You’ve got to calm him. That’s why I’m jumping in there like, “Yeah, OK, calm down.’ But I’m really like, ‘Hey, c’mon.’ No, yeah, Chase is a hothead for sure. He’ll run through you guys and don’t know how to calm down. He just needs somebody to pull you back and be like, ‘Hey, chill out.’ I’ll be that guy for him, for sure.”

Claypool entered camp with question marks about his future with the organization. While his production in games will ultimately determine his fate, the Bears are pleased with everything they have seen from the big receiver so far.

Kyler Gordon

Brisker isn’t the only second-year defensive back who looks different entering Year 2.

Gordon has been open about how his mind was moving too fast during his rookie season. He spent the offseason studying film to see the mistakes he made and the receivers he will face in 2023.

That work seems to have paid off early in camp. Like Brisker, Gordon has been flying around and seems to always be around the ball.

During the defense’s domination last Wednesday, Gordon blanketed Velus Jones Jr. and easily picked off a throw from Fields on a quick out to the right sideline. Later in that practice, Gordon blew up an outside zone run to the right and then snuffed out a play-action bootleg to the right. The nickelback came on a blitz and blew past tight end Robert Tonyan to “sack” Fields.

Gordon missed Sunday’s practice with a minor undisclosed injury.

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D’Onta Foreman

The Bears entered training camp with an expected three-way battle for the running back spot between Foreman, Khalil Herbert, and Roschon Johnson.

But through 10 practices, Foreman and Herbert have received the majority of the reps with the first-team offense.

While Herbert has been solid, Foreman has been the Bears’ best back so far in camp. Since the pads have come on, Foreman has shown great physicality and excellent vision running the football, allowing him to pick up yards after “first contact.” Foreman has also been a reliable pass-catcher in the screen game and as a quick release when Fields has faced pressure.

The Bears will go with a running-back-by-committee approach all season, but Foreman has separated himself a bit through 10 practices.

Andrew Billings

In case you didn’t know, the Bears’ run defense was an outright abomination last season.

The Bears ranked 31st in rushing yards allowed, 32nd in rushing touchdowns allowed, and tied for 27th in yards per carry allowed.

Enter Andrew Billings.

The Bears brought the veteran nose tackles to Chicago to solidify a run defense that was ripped apart last season.

So far, the Billings impact has been quite noticeable.

The Bears asked the 28-year-old to reshape his body during the offseason, and he arrived at camp in pristine condition. Billings has bullied just about everyone who has lined up across from him, and he has had his way in team periods against starting left guard Teven Jenkins and center Cody Whitehair. When the first-team defense faces the second-team offense, Billings has been an absolute game-wrecker.

On Sunday, Billings blew up several run plays and generated pressure on backup quarterback P.J. Walker.

“I always knew he was strong at the point,” Eberflus said of Billings on Sunday. “I saw that on tape when I watched him with opponents. But he’s really got some good quickness. His initial quickness. He’s got a quick set of hands. When you play that nose tackle position, your hands have to move from the ground to the man super fast. It’s gotta be elite, and he does a really good job with that. And he’s got the foot quickness to be able to stay where he needs to stay.”

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Last season, quarterback Justin Fields using his legs was the best chance the Bears had at converting a third-and-long. Things are different with DJ Moore in town, though.

Moore lined up left and recognized zone coverage. He ran a quick in-breaking route and sat in a hole. Fields quickly got the ball into Moore’s hands, and the receiver made one defender miss and turned it upfield for a gain of 10 and a first down.

Sunday’s “Family Fest” practice at Soldier Field offered a glimpse at the Bears’ new offensive reality — one with a legitimate No. 1 receiver who makes everything easier.

Later in the day, Moore got a step on safety A.J. Thomas on a deep crossing route, and Fields hit him in stride for a 19-yard touchdown.

Then came the cherry on top of the Bears’ best offensive day of camp.

During a red-zone drill against the first-team defense, Moore ran a route along the backline of the end zone. He got the defender to overplay the route, quickly stuck his foot in the ground, and gave Fields an open target. The quarterback put the ball on Moore’s back shoulder, and the receiver secured the ball and kept two feet inbounds while falling.

Red-zone threat? Check. Make a play on third-and-long? Check. Explosive plays? Check.

“He’s just quicker than I thought he was,” head coach Matt Eberflus said of Moore on Sunday. “He really captures space well and separation. Those are the things that I see out there. There was that first third down — we got a penalty and backed it up, it was third-and-8 and that was a conversion because he was able to twirl around there, split two and get vertical and he made it by a couple yards. That elusiveness that he has. And then that catch at the end, the ability to stop, put his right foot in the ground, come back falling down and make the play, that’s concentration and quickness and the ability that he has.”

There’s a reason the Bears coveted Moore. He’s a proven top-tier receiver with room to grow at 26. Getting Fields a true No. 1 target he can rely on to get open, especially in “got-to-have-it moments,” should also help the young quarterback make quicker decisions.

Moore and Fields developed a quick connection this offseason. That’s a product of off-campus work and time on turf at OTAs and minicamp. The chemistry developed quicker than expected, leading to a trust factor that will be vital to the Bears’ hopes in 2023.

“I just think that the trust is growing,” Eberflus said of the Moore-Fields connection. “It’s more about trust I think. When you can trust a guy and the receiving corps, the tight ends that we have and the receivers that we have and the ones that he’s working with primarily on a day-to-day basis, those guys that are running with the ones, there’s a trust factor there, and I can see that growing and growing and growing. Guys are where they’re supposed to be. He knows that. He knows the rhythm and timing of that. And then the adjustments off that. If you’re playing man to man, if a guy’s going to stop and work away for example, he knows that and he knows to put it six inches in front of the guy. There’s a lot of detail to that and those guys are starting to trust each other.”

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The excitement level for the Moore-Fields connection started the second general manager Ryan Poles acquired the receiver in early March. It has grown steadily over the past five months, and on Sunday, Moore and Fields put that connection on display for the faithful at Soldier Field.

Just call him crowd pleaser.

“At the end of the day, that’s what I’m going to do. I bring excitement to the team,” Moore said after practice Sunday about the fan buzz around his arrival. “I guess it’s on a bigger platform now, so I guess everybody is excited and I’m going to just keep running with it.”

Last season, the Bears’ offense had few answers outside of Fields’ remarkable playmaking with his legs. Now, they have a “break glass in case of emergency” receiver capable of wiping away offensive sins and resuscitating drives that are on life support.

Life will be different with DJ Moore in the fold, and two plays Sunday offered a window into the Bears’ new offensive reality.

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When Matt Eberflus’ defense really starting humming in Indianapolis, not only did he have star three-tech DeForest Buckner, he had a reliable running mate for Buckner in Grover Stewart.

“It makes a world of difference,” Eberflus said of having two impactful tackles in the middle of the line. “Because if you’re able to set edges at the defensive end… then if you’re able to keep your gap and dominate inside with the two tackles, there’s really not a lot of work for others to do, to be honest with you.”

Everything starts up front for the Bears defense. If the front four do their jobs as Eberflus described, that allows the linebackers to scrape downhill and attack the ball carrier for easy stops in the run game. If they’re able to create pressure by themselves, that allows everyone else to drop back in pass coverage which limits passing lanes for opposing offenses.

The Bears also need their front four to work in concert. If one man isn’t holding his own things can fall apart. That’s where Billings comes in.

“He commands a double team,” said Justin Jones. “That singles me up. Teams just can’t slide to me every time. Teams can’t just send a chip my way, send a slide my way. I don’t know if you’ve seen, a lot of the games that we played (last season), the center is always on me, every time. 

“Now that we have ends that get upfield and get around the edge, and we’ve got a guy who can split a double teamー not just Andrew Billings, but Gervon Dexterー you know, guys who can push the line back and stuff like that, that frees me up a lot. So it’s exciting.”

The Bears just put the pads on for the first time earlier this week, so we’ve only recently gotten our first real chance to see what Billings can do in the middle. On Sunday, Billings flashed into the backfield several times working against Alex Leatherwood and the second-string offensive line. He both flushed Justin Fields out of the pocket and forced incomplete passes, and stuffed runs for TFLs or minimal gains. We’ve seen Billings give starters like Cody Whitehair trouble in one-on-one reps, too.

“You could see the quickness,” Eberflus said. “I always knew he was strong at the point. I saw that on tape when I watched him with opponents, but he’s really got some good quickness, his initial quickness. He’s got a quick set of hands. When you play that nose tackle position, your hands have to move from the ground to the man super fast. It’s gotta be elite and he does a really good job with that, and he’s got the foot quickness to be able to stay where he needs to stay.”

Part of that success this summer is because Billings is what Jones describes as a “real technician” at the position. Another part is because Billings really attacked his training regimen between minicamp and the start of training camp. Eberflus praised Billings for changing his body to boost his athleticism on the field.

The Bears were one of the worst teams against the run last season, so they’ll need Billings to be at his best.  In 2022, the Bears surrendered the most rushing touchdowns in the NFL (31), the most rushing first downs (151), the second-most rushing yards (2,674) and tied for the sixth-worst yards per carry average (4.9). It will take big time improvements to climb out of that hole this season, but Jones believes he’s seen enough already to be confident that a jump is coming.

“It’s going to be night and day from what we were last year.”

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The Bears selected Zacch Pickens just 11 slots after Dexter. The 6-foot-4, 300-pound defensive tackle had 19 pressures and three sacks in 292 pass-rush snaps during his final season at South Carolina. He also registered a pass-rush win rate of 11.5 percent, per Pro Football Focus.

While most of the training camp focus is on Dexter’s progress, the Bears have their own plan to help Pickens thrive early in his rookie season.

The South Carolina product has the potential to be a disruptive three-technique in the NFL. The size, athleticism, length, and burst are all there. But the rookie must find a way to consistently put all of those together.

Pickens has improved each day since the pads came on, and the Bears are starting to see the desired growth from the third-round pick.

“I really like what he did this stack, the last three stacks here,” Eberflus said of Pickens on Sunday after the Bears’ practice at Soldier Field. “He did a really nice job. We really worked with him on his pass rush and real simple: just take off, long arm and then working one move from there and I think that he’s doing a really good job with that. When you have a rookie, you just keep it real small like that and a guy can improve, and when he gets that down you need to move onto the next thing. He’s doing a real nice job so far.”

Defensive tackle Justin Jones will play a vital role in the development of both Pickens and Dexter. As a trusted veteran in the defensive line room, the Bears are relying on Jones to help the rookie defensive tackles grow into the impactful players their talent suggests.

Jones sees the potential for greatness in Pickens. It’s his job to help bring it out.

“I think he’s going to be good,” Jones said Sunday. “He kind of reminds me of myself. Also a third-round pick coming out of NC State and everything. I was also playing nose my first year coming out of college. It’s for the same reason, really want you to use your hands and learn how to knock guys back and really get your feet in the ground, and stuff like that. I think he has the chance to be a really, really explosive D-lineman, because he definitely has the edge for it. He showed that at South Carolina. We’re just trying to get it where he can show it in the NFL.”

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Pickens popped during this latest stack of practices. He has generated consistent disruption, which has shown up in both the run and pass game.

During Sunday’s practice, Pickens’ best play came against the first-team offense in the two-minute, end-of-half drill.

On the first play from scrimmage, the offense ran an inside zone to D’Onta Foreman. Pickens diagnosed it quickly, shed center Cody Whitehair and stopped the play for a minimal gain.

Later in the day, Pickens flew off the ball and used his length to get past Ja’Tyre Carter to put pressure on Fields. Fields evaded the pressure and completed a pass to Chase Claypool, but the play was indicative of the type of impact Pickens can provide early in his career.

He just has to stick to the simple plan.

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Eberflus listed some obvious reasons why he wants as many projected starters on the field at the same time over training camp. Players need to get used to communicating with each other. They need to build continuity since there are so many new faces. Coaches need time on task with each player so that they can get a better idea of each man’s strengths and weaknesses. That will help coaches tweak schemes to fit those strengths, and adjust individual drills to work on the weaknesses.

Most of the absences are on the defensive side of the ball. On Sunday, Tremaine Edmunds, Jaquan Brisker, Kyler Gordon, DeMarcus Walker, Jack Sanborn and Dylan Cole all missed with unknown ailments. Of that group, only Cole is not projected to be a starter, meaning the defense was without nearly half of its first-team unit. Eberflus explained how that many absences prevents the team from working on certain things during practice.

“We have a thing called four equals one where you rush four guys and they have to play off each other and cover for each other so the rush lanes are good in the pocket,” Eberflus said. “We haven’t had a chance to go do that during practice.”

The Bears are still early in the summer and haven’t played a preseason game yet, so it’s not time to slam the panic button just yet. It’s admittedly curious that “short-term” injuries have kept DeMarcus Walker out for five days, Nate Davis out for six days and Dante Pettis out for the entirety of training camp, but this is also the time of year when teams will err on the side of caution with anything related to players’ health. For instance, a minor strain could sideline a player in the first week of August, but a guy might be able to play through that same minor strain in the regular season.

Along those lines, defensive tackle Justin Jones isn’t worried at all about players missing a handful of practices now.

“Every guy, that’s their body, that’s their vehicle,” Jones said. “That’s their business right there, so you have to take care of it as such. I want guys to be able to take care of themselves and be able to get back on the field when they’re ready to be 100% because that’s what we need.”

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Fields and the offense’s best period came in the red zone.

The offense started in the high red zone at the 17-yard line.

After opening the drill with a timeout, Fields and Co. started their march on the end zone.

Khalil Herbert opened the drill with a 4-yard run before being wrapped up by Gervon Dexter. Fields hit Herbert for a 1-yard gain on second down to set up third-and-5 at the 12-yard line.

The quick curl over the middle has been effective throughout camp, so it’s no surprise Fields went back to that well in a got-to-have-it situation. The third-year quarterback dropped back and quickly threw a strike to tight end Cole Kmet, who turned it upfield for a touchdown.

Next came low red zone work, but Fields and the offense only needed one play to find pay dirt.

With the ball at the 9, Fields dropped back and immediately felt pressure up the middle. He kept his eyes downfield while moving to his right and delivered a rope to Chase Claypool for a touchdown. Claypool got a step on Kindle Vildor on a left-to-right crossing route.

It wasn’t all good for the first-team offense in the red zone.

On the ensuing snap from the 6-yard line, defensive end Trevis Gipson snuffed out a play-action bootleg to the right and sacked Fields.

The sharpest offensive day of the week continued in the “move the ball” period.

Starting at their own 26-yard line, Fields led the Bears on a nine-play, 74-yard touchdown drive.

The Bears opened the period with two runs and a short reception by running back D’Onta Foreman.

With the ball just shy of midfield, Fields faked a toss and rolled out to the left. He felt pressure from linebacker Micah Baskerville but stepped up and threw a strike to Claypool on a deep corner route to the left side.

A defensive holding by cornerback Michael Ojemudia and a catch-and-run by Claypool got the Bears down to the 19-yard line before Fields ended the drill with a 19-yard touchdown pass to DJ Moore on a crossing route with A.J. Thomas in coverage.

A final “go win the game” period gave Fields and the offense an opportunity to put an exclamation point on their best day of camp.

The Bears started with the ball at their own 25-yard line with 1:40 left and two timeouts. They needed a touchdown to win the game.

Terrell Lewis beat Braxton Jones on the first snap, but Fields got the ball out quickly, hitting Kmet for a gain of 12.

A quick throw to Darnell Mooney picked up 4 before a 10-yard catch-and-run from Moore set the Bears up near midfield.

On first-and-10 from midfield, Fields dropped back and hit Moore on a quick slant. The Bears’ top target made a quick move to juke a defender and turn it upfield for a gain of 13.

After taking their first timeout, Fields took a shot down the left side for Claypool, but the receiver couldn’t come up with a diving grab along the sideline.

A quick curl to Mooney picked up 5 on second down, and Fields threw a dart to Velus Jones Jr. for a gain of 7 to move the sticks.

The Bears used their final timeout after the second down completion to Mooney, so Fields rushed to the line to spike the ball at the 25-yard line with 25 seconds left.

Fields’ pass on second down was batted at the line of scrimmage, setting up third-and-10 from the 25 with 22 seconds left.

Fields dropped back on third down and hit Kmet on a curl in the middle of the field for a gain of 9. With no timeouts and the clock ticking, Fields rushed to the line and got everyone organized. Fields dropped back and looked for Kmet up the right seam, but the pass was well-defended and fell incomplete, giving the defense one of their few wins Sunday.

“Today it was good,” head coach Matt Eberflus said of the first-team offense Sunday. “There’s a lot of good operation there. I love the connections that we made with DJ and Clay. There were some really good connections there. And I like the way some of the runners were running. When we’re running behind the one line it’s a little bit different. [than] when you’re running with twos and threes. We have to have a good blend of that because I think we’ve been doing a good job of running the football during camp so far. And really the screen game has really picked up. We’re really doing a good job with all types of screens. And that’s starting to pay off for us.”

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Here are more notes from the Bears’ 10th practice of camp:

— Fields and the offense ended their day with a quick low red zone drill against the first-team defense.

On the first play, Fields looked left for Claypool on a corner route, but cornerback Jaylon Johnson read it and made a nice leaping interception. Fields bounced back on the next play, though. The offensive line gave Fields a nice pocket, and he threw a strike to Moore in the back of the end zone for a touchdown. Moore ran along the back line, put his right foot in the ground, and made a nice catch while falling down.

— The first-team defense continues to have its way with the second-team offense. Even down several starters, the ones won the day in the end of half, end of game, and move the ball period against backup quarterback P.J. Walker and the second team.

— Rookie running back Roschon Johnson continues to show his physicality with the pads on.

During the first team period, Johnson picked up a chunk of yards with a physical run up the middle and shook a cornerback with a quick juke on the next play before stiff-arming a different defender after making a reception in the flat.

— Rookies Gervon Dexter and Zacch Pickens had another nice day in pads. The rookie defensive tackles continue to generate pressure against Lucas Patrick, Ja’Tyre Carter, and Cody Whitehair.

— Patrick left practice early Sunday. He entered the blue medical tent during a team period and left with an athletic trainer shortly thereafter. With Nate Davis still out, Carter took over as the first-team right guard.

— Rookie wide receiver Tyler Scott had a better day Sunday. During the first team period, he beat fellow rookie Tyrique Stevenson on a deep curl route. Scott ran several smooth routes to create separation against Stevenson and Terrel Lewis throughout the day, but Walker was often unable to get him the ball.

— Rookie linebacker Noah Sewell has shown good instincts while running with the first team. Sewell has good acceleration moving downhill and has not been a huge liability in coverage.

— Defensive tackle Andrew Billings has been one of the standouts of camp. The Bears are pleased with how he reshaped his body in the offseason. That work has paid off, as Billings has been a load for Teven Jenkins, Whitehair, and Alex Leatherwood to handle.

— Safety Jaquan Brisker, linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, cornerback Kyler Gordon, defensive end DeMarcus Walker, guard Nate Davis, and linebacker Jack Sanborn did not participate in practice Sunday. New tight end Marcedes Lewis was present but did not practice. Defensive end Yannick Ngakoue is still away from the team but is expected to practice Tuesday.

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“I talked to Getsy probably four days a week for like two months,” Lewis said. “Because I was just at the crib trying to figure out what I want to do.”

Tonyan did his part to try to convince Lewis to come to Chicago, as well. Tonyan said he owes everything he knows about playing tight end to Lewis, so he knows first-hand the impact he can make as a veteran leader. At the same time, Tonyan knows that entering his 18th year in the league, Lewis isn’t just looking for a paycheck. Lewis is looking for a place that’s a good fit and a place where he can make an impact.

“My words to him were just, with the system and who he’s around and who’s in this building, he’s definitely not wasting his time with where this program and where this team is going,” Tonyan said.

According to Tonyan, Lewis didn’t need too much convincing once Tonyan had stated his case.

“One thing that kept coming up was just: young, hungry, active, the culture, you’re gonna love it here, the building,” Lewis said about the pitches from Tonyan and Getsy. “And, yeah, here we are.

“Obviously Luke is somebody I got to know in Green Bay and really respect him and his coaching style and always treated me like a man and we respect each other that way and Bobby is my guy, he’s like an extension of me, so if he’s saying something, I believe it.”

So when Tonyan finally got word that Lewis had signed on to join the Bears, his first emotions weren’t feelings of excitement or joy, they were feelings of accomplishment.

“I did my job.”

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The word on Ngakoue is that although he’s an incredibly talented pass rusher, his run defense leaves something to be desired. If you’re into this sort of thing, from 2020-2022, PFF has graded Ngakoue’s pass rush between 56.9 and 76.2. He topped out at a 90.5 grade in 2017. From 2019-2022, PFF graded Ngakoue’s run defense between 28.2 and 45.8. The 28.2 was his worst grade, and it came in 2021.

Ngakoue has consistently played between 70% – 80% of a defense’s snaps, but with a rep like that against the run, some have questioned whether he might be better suited as a situational player, when offenses are backed up in obvious passing downs. The Bears don’t buy that and Matt Eberflus said Ngakoue will continue to be a three-down defensive end in Chicago. Further, Bears coaches believe the criticism of Ngakoue’s run defense is overblown.

“He’ll be just fine,” said defensive coordinator Alan Williams. “He can choke a guy out. Believe me about that. He can choke a guy out.

“We are going to stop the run and we are going to earn the right to rush the passer. He’ll be part of that too. The mentality is we stop the run. He’ll be just fine. I’ve watched the tape, and he’ll choke a guy out too.”

The Bears will need Ngakoue to play well against the run, considering it was one of their biggest deficiencies last season. In 2022, the Bears surrendered the most rushing touchdowns in the NFL (31), the most rushing first downs (151), the second-most rushing yards (2,674) and tied for the sixth-worst yards per carry average (4.9).

It’s not surprising that after seeing those numbers, some are focused on how Ngakoue can help or hurt in that area. But Ngakoue has a message for those who still doubt his run-stopping prowess.

“They’ll see this year.”

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On Saturday, Ryan Poles spoke about the signing for the first time, and he was frank when explaining why he made the move to bring in an extra pass rusher now. Poles said it was a mix of realizing the Bears defensive line could use a boost at the edges after seven training camp practices, and knowing that adding a player of Ngakoue’s caliber would elevate the defense overall, regardless of any perceived deficiencies.

Further, the Bears secondary has appeared to be a team strength in the early goings of the summer. By adding Ngakoue, the Bears can play up to that strength on the back end of the defense.

“You want to be able to shorten that time to get the ball out,” Poles said. “You want your secondary– which I see right now– being really good in coverage, which is going to buy the guys up front time to get home.That was an emphasis that (head coach Matt Eberflus) and I had, was to get more pressure on the quarterback and create turnovers.”

As for why the Bears didn’t make the move earlier, Poles said this was a deal that simply needed more time.

“There’s a level of patience that you’ve gotta have to be a sound decision-maker… There’s time we’re gonna hit the gas and sometimes you wanna hit the brake. This one we wanted to be patient and make sure both sides are comfortable with what was going on.”

Ngakoue immediately becomes the top pass rusher on the Bears defensive line and joins fellow 2023 free agent signees DeMarcus Walker and Rasheem Green. In addition, the Bears are looking for Trevis Gipson, Dominique Robinson and Terrell Lewis to take the next step in their development along the edges.

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A move like this wasn’t unexpected. The Bears were open about their interest in adding free agents throughout the summer, including at defensive end where it seemed they could use a boost. The Bears just needed to make sure they did all their homework first.

“We had some intel on him,” Eberflus said. “Obviously what kind of teammate he is. What kind of person he is. What kind of worker he is. And he checked all the boxes there for us. He’s gonna be a good addition.”

Eberflus considers Rod Marinelli to be one of his biggest influences as a head coach from their time working together with the Dallas Cowboys. Marinelli was Ngakoue’s coach for one season in Las Vegas, and Eberflus asked Marinelli about Ngakoue. Current Bears defensive line coach Travis Smith was an assistant defensive line coach for Ngakoue during his one season for the Raiders, too. Of course, Eberflus asked Smith for whatever input he had, as well.

Each guy gave feedback that made Eberflus and GM Ryan Poles comfortable enough to offer Ngakoue a reported one-year, $10.5 million deal.

“The way he practices, I guess he’s full tilt when he practices,” Eberflus said. “He keeps himself in great shape. He’s very mindful of his body and how he stays in great shape to be able to go hard like that.

“To be really good and effective in pass rushing, you’ve got to bring it and you’ve got to bring it every single down. You can’t take a play off and that takes being in great shape, and you’ve got to have that mentality.”

Eberflus doesn’t have any first-hand knowledge of what Ngakoue’s like as a player, so after Ngakoue finishes his ramp-up periodー the time when the Bears slowly increase a player’s reps if they haven’t played ball in awhileー he’s looking to confirm that Ngakoue will fit into his demanding H.I.T.S. program.

“We have standards here of how we operate, how we hustle, how we finish, how we play. That’s our style, right? And the style’s not just for the game, it’s for the practice too. So we want to see him buy into that and really take that on and have ownership of that.”

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“A guy that was a great power rusher,” Ngakoue said. “A guy that had great speed off the edge.”

Ngakoue has just one degree of separation from Peppers via longtime NFL coach Rod Marinelli. Ngakoue played under Marinelli when Marinelli was the Raiders defensive line coach in 2021. Peppers played under Marinelli when Marinelli was the Bears assistant head coach and defensive coordinator from 2010-2012.

Peppers’ stop in Chicago was short but he made a big impact in his time here. He made the Pro Bowl in three of his four seasons with the team, and was an All-Pro twice. Peppers notched 37.5 of his 159.5 career sacks with the Bears, and added 10 forced fumbles and seven fumble recoveries. He’s a surefire Hall of Famer, and apparently Marinelli sees a lot of Peppers in Ngakoue.

“He used to tell me we have a lot of the same attributes and I just have to tap into that skillset and just show the world.”

Ngakoue has a ways to go to match Peppers’ output, but there’s no denying he’s highly talented and remarkably consistent. If he can tap into that Peppers skillset even more, he’ll go a long way towards improving the entire Bears defense, single handedly.

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The Bears closed out an unpadded, installation-focused training camp practice with a “win-the-game” drill. Trailing 17-15, the offense got the ball on the 50-yard line with 1:00 remaining and one timeout against the second-team defense.

The first attempt to win the game ended before the drive got out of the starting blocks.

Fields’ pass on first down was a little wide of tight end Robert Tonyan and was picked off by cornerback Josh Blackwell. The pass protection on the play was suboptimal, and a poor throw followed. Tonyan’s route also wasn’t as crisp as it needed to be.

Training camp is the time to make mistakes, so the Bears ran it again.

Fields opened the second attempt with completions to DJ Moore and Robert Tonyan before faking a spike and hitting Chase Claypool on the sidelines for a 2-yard gain that stopped the clock at 26.5

A 6-yard completion to Moore gave the offense a third-and-2 at the 26-yard line.

Fields dropped back, diagnosed the blitz, and hit running back Travis Homer on a quick wheel route down the sideline with Rasheem Green in drop coverage. Fields threw the ball away on first-and-10 from the 22-yard line, and the Bears took a knee before kicking a game-winning field goal.

“I thought the offense responded, came back and did a nice job of practice today executing in those areas, and that was good to see a good bounce-back practice for those guys,” head coach Matt Eberflus said after practice, referring to both the offense’s response to Wednesday’s tough outing and the failed first end-of-game drill.

The only other noteworthy section of Thursday’s “red day” was when Fields and the first-team offense went up against the first-team defense in the high red zone.

The offense started with the ball at the 12-yard line and scored on the first play when D’Onta Foreman waltzed into the end zone untouched.

A false start by Darnell Wright put the offense behind the chains to start their next attempt in the high red zone. On first-and-15, Fields booted out to the right and threw a strike to Foreman, who was pushed out at the 2-yard line. On the ensuing play, Fields looked left to start before quickly going through his reads and throwing a strike to Claypool in the front of the end zone for a touchdown. Safety Jaquan Brisker was in coverage on the play.

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Here are more notes from Friday before the pads come back on Saturday:

— Luck was the offense’s friend in Friday’s low red zone drills.

On first-and-goal from the 3-yard line, the Bears ran a reverse to Moore, but linebackers Noah Sewell and Dylan Cole blew it up along with cornerback Terell Smith.

Fields threw a quick slant to Claypool on second down, but the ball bounced off the receiver’s hands and popped into the air. Luckily, the ball landed right in the hands of Tonyan, who was downed at the 2. The roles were reversed on the next play as Fields tried to hit Tonyan in the end zone. His pass was a bit high (it should have been caught) and deflected off Tonyan’s hands but into the arms of Claypool for a touchdown.

— Running back Roschon Johnson returned to practice Friday, as did defensive tackle Justin Jones.

— Right guard Nate Davis, left guard Teven Jenkins, linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, defensive end DeMarcus Walker, and linebacker Jack Sanborn did not participate.

— Center Cody Whitehair did not participate in the final team portion of the day. Lucas Patrick took the first-team reps at center while Ja’Tyre Carter manned right guard, and Alex Leatherwood slotted in at left guard.

— The Bears formally announced the signings of defensive end Yannick Ngakoue and tight end Marcedes Lewis on Friday.

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Fast forward to this past offseason, and general manager Ryan Poles made it a priority to shore up that unit so the Bears had their “best five” the minute OTAs began. The signing of right guard Nate Davis bumped Teven Jenkins to left guard and Cody Whitehair to center. First-round pick Darnell Wright immediately filled the biggest hole on the line at right tackle.

The starting five was set in May. All the Bears had to do was cross their fingers and hope to get 14 or 15 games out of that unit.

Davis’ OTA absence shined an early light on the Bears’ troubling lack of depth upfront. With Davis out, Lucas Patrick and Ja’Tyre Carter split reps at starting right guard. Behind them? Converted tackle Alex Leatherwood and Dieter Eiselen. Meanwhile, Larry Borom remains the Bears’ only real option at swing tackle. Borom was benched halfway through last season in favor of veteran Riley Reiff.

Davis arrived toward the end of OTAs and was healthy throughout mandatory minicamp. The Bears opened training camp with their “best five” healthy and taking all the first-team reps together.

That lasted about four days.

Midway through Saturday’s practice, Patrick and Carter split reps with the first team at right guard while Davis watched from the sideline.

Head coach Matt Eberflus said there was nothing wrong with Davis, and he just wanted to look at other combinations to prepare for a potential injury during the season.

After an off day Sunday, the Bears returned to practice Monday, but Davis did not participate. This week, he has not participated in practice, leaving Patrick to take the first-team right guard reps. The Bears do not have to disclose Davis’ injury but maintain it’s nothing serious.

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With Davis out and Patrick in at right guard, Leatherwood and Carter become the Bears’ top reserve interior offensive linemen.

The pads came on Tuesday, and the first-team offensive line struggled mightily, particularly the right side of Patrick and Wright. Trevis Gipson gave Wright fits, while the Bears’ fleet of interior defensive linemen had their way with Patrick.

It was a shaky opening salvo for an improved unit down a key man.

One injury might not break the Bears’ offensive line. The Bears believe Patrick can provide serviceable reps if needed. But two injuries and the dam starts to splinter quickly.

That brings us to Wednesday when Jenkins left practice early with an athletic trainer, meaning Leatherwood slotted in at first-team left guard with Whitehair and Patrick forming the rest of the interior.

A brutal day for the offense followed.

To be fair, everyone had a hand in Wednesday’s “flat” outing for the offense. Fields’ accuracy was off, receivers made alignment errors and dropped passes, and the line provided little resistance against a Bears’ defensive front without Justin Jones and DeMarcus Walker.

But it gave the Bears a glimpse at how quickly their season can evaporate with just two injuries.

The Bears entered camp confident they had an offensive line that would be an unstoppable force in the run game and top-tier club security for Fields in the passing game. But with no quality depth behind the top five, the Bears were always going to be playing with fire this season.

Few teams can survive losing multiple starting offensive linemen. I’m not sure the Bears can afford to lose one. Two will likely be a death sentence.

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