The Chicago Bears held their first practice of new head coach Ben Johnson’s first training camp at Halas Hall Tuesday.
There was no sign of rookie wide receiver Luther Burden III. The second-round pick missed most of the offseason program with a hamstring injury. While Johnson didn’t speak to the press after practice and so didn’t give an update on his status, it’s not a good sign he wasn’t out there on day one.
Caleb Williams’ first pass of team drills in camp was intercepted by Tremaine Edmunds.
The Bears have done a lot to help Williams improve from a QB who completed 62.5% to one with more consistency. GM Ryan Poles added guards Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson, and center Drew Dalman, to avoid last season’s 68-sack debacle.
Johnson did pull the first team offense off the field at one point, unhappy with what their performance.
Cole Kmet said pulling the offense didn’t surprise him, because whatever mistake or mistakes they were making was “stuff we should know.” He added that under Johnson, “No detail goes unnoticed.”
“It was a lesson to us: We gotta be on the details going into practice,” Kmet said.
The training camp’s intensity was evident on day one. New defensive coordinator Dennis Allen’s defense did up-down drills to start practice, which Kmet said carried over to team drills as well.
“[Allen] brings a lot, especially the first days of camp,” he said.
“It’s a way to mentally train players to be tough, and to push through adversity,” Allen said. “As much as training them physically, it’s about training them mentally.”
Allen said he’s trying to build a culture of what type of defense they’re going to be. For that, Grady Jarrett seems to be a perfect fit.
“The key is going balls to the wall every day. That is what has really helped me in my longevity is going hard day in and day out. This is the time where you really callous your body so you can go sustain a long season and be healthy because this is going to be the hardest time of the season,” Jarrett said.
The drills brought TJ Edwards back to seventh or eighth grade, but he said it was “cool” to have everyone buying in.