Bears coach Ben Johnson likes to get a little crazy with play designs, but the drill he ran at the end of practice Thursday was probably meant more for entertainment.
With Caleb Williams at quarterback, Johnson lined up an offensive lineman at wide receiver to go one-on-one against a defensive lineman playing cornerback. Williams went 2-for-3.
Right tackle Darnell Wright — quite a target at 6-5 and 325 pounds — made a remarkably athletic catch over defensive end Montez Sweat to open the drill.
Offense wins this round 🍿 pic.twitter.com/llNkEJBOOu
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) August 14, 2025
On the next snap, right guard Jonah Jackson blew past defensive tackle Andrew Billings in a matchup that totaled 659 pounds and had several steps on him as Williams lofted a pass toward the end zone. The ball, however, went right through Jackson’s hands.
“Fifty-fifty ball, you know?” Jackson joked afterward.
The last play was between arguably the two most accomplished players on the roster: guard Joe Thuney and defensive tackle Grady Jarrett. Thuney cut toward the center of the field on a slant and caught Williams’ pass as the team erupted.
Jarrett started doing push-ups after losing, and wide receivers coach Antwaan Randle El yelled, “Those don’t count,” and made him redo them. It was a light moment for the group at the end of a relatively light practice. A more grueling day is planned for Friday, when the Bills arrive at Halas Hall.
“It’s a good little team-camaraderie thing,” Jackson said. “It’s fun to switch it up here and there.”
Left-tackle carousel
It’s hard to tell if the Bears are getting any closer to settling on a starting left tackle. It appeared to be down to Braxton Jones and second-round pick Ozzy Trapilo after Kiran Amegadjie missed time with a leg injury, but now upstart Theo Benedet is in the mix.
Benedet, an undrafted player from Canada who spent last season on the Bears’ practice squad, was once thought to be a long shot to make the roster. But he got first-string snaps at left tackle Thursday, including during the two-minute drill near the end.
Jones got first-string snaps earlier in practice but was the second-team left tackle in that drill, and Trapilo was at right tackle.
Keenum exits
Third-string quarterback Case Keenum left early in practice with an unspecified injury. He didn’t appear to get hit at any point.
Keenum, 37, is entering his 14th NFL season and was signed in part to be a mentor to Williams and second-stringer Tyson Bagent. Johnson had opened the competition for the No. 2 spot going into camp, but Bagent is solidly in position to win it.
With Keenum out, Austin Reed ran the third-team offense.
Booming kicks
Kicker Cairo Santos spent part of his offseason training trying to increase his distance. It showed Sunday against the Dolphins when he drilled a 57-yard field goal into the south end zone with room to spare just before halftime.
“I’m just seeing a guy that’s even more dialed in,” special-teams coordinator Richard Hightower said. “It probably was good [from] way more than that, which was good to see. . . . I saw at least four or five more yards.”
Santos’ 55-yarder against the Panthers in 2020 was the longest of his career, but he said he consistently made kicks from 60 to 65 yards while practicing in Florida during the summer.
Notes
Cornerback Terell Smith got an extended run with the first team, lining up opposite Tyrique Stevenson. Smith, Stevenson and Nahshon Wright are vying for the No. 2 corner spot as the Bears wait for Jaylon Johnson to recover from a leg injury.
† Williams’ top targets — as they have been for most of training camp — were wide receivers Rome Odunze and Olamide Zaccheaus.
† New Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill, a Detroit native, was on the sideline for practice and visited with Johnson.
