Bears

When the Bears hired new HC Ben Johnson, QB Caleb Williams said he was excited for some hard coaching. That’s exactly what he’s gotten so far, with Johnson relentlessly drilling Williams on the details he wants to see in his game.

“Before it was a little bit more, ‘How can we just bridge him to this first year?'” Bears GM Ryan Poles said via ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. “This is like, ‘We have to set your foundation and you don’t really have a choice.’ It’s tough love, and I think he was looking for that. It’s honest feedback. No gray.”

Johnson’s exacting approach has been applied to the whole offense, not just Williams, and it’s led to a lot of critical reports about the Bears’ offense as a whole through camp so far. However, the players are saying the approach is opposite from the one the staff took last year and that led to disastrous results.

“The way Ben Johnson coaches, if the offense gets out the huddle and the receiver’s supposed to be plus two and he’s plus three, he’s sending everybody back,” Bears S Kevin Byard said. “So it’s not like, ‘Oh, Caleb’s not getting’ — no, it’s just how detailed he is with everything. And so like I said, I think those are going to help us out because I would personally just say last year that wasn’t happening and I think that’s what it takes to be great, and I think everybody’s doing all the necessary things to take this thing to the next level.”

• Poles mentioned Bears first-round TE Colston Loveland has been a much better blocker than anticipated, which opens up some exciting possibilities with their personnel groupings: “It just forces a decision from a defense: Do you go big and stop the run? Or do you have to respect Loveland’s athleticism and route-running ability to separate where you go light?”
• Bears QB Case Keenum on Loveland: “He’s friendly to throw to. He’s got good body language. There’s that non-verbal communication that lets the quarterback know that he knows where the ball is and should be and has good body position in relation to defenders.” (Kevin Fishbain)

Bears

Bears WR Rome Odunze said he’s trying to improve his route-running to be able to be consistently counted upon as a top target for the offense.

“I’m just really just trying to carry that (momentum from last year) over and expand on that within my entire route three, so that’s something that I think I can do well, as well as the contested catches and all those things that I have kind of carried on since college,” Odunze said via ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. “So all those different things, honestly, just looking to expand on and take it to a new level.”

The Bears have a crowded skill position group with Odunze, WR D.J. Moore, TE Cole Kmet, second-round WR Luther Burden, and first-round TE Colston Loveland. Odunze said he’s not worried about the...