The Bears are humming along, 3-0 in the preseason. Might as well bring on the regular season. Matt Eberflus announced most of the starters, including Caleb Williams, will not play against Kansas City Thursday night. Eberflus is punting on using more game reps to get his rookie quarterback that much better before the opener versus Tennessee on September 8.
Hopefully the magic that we’ve seen pop up in the two games Williams has played will start coming out with more frequency when the games count. On to today’s three observations.
1. Boys will be boys. Bears will be Bears.
Raise your hand if you thought Ian Wheeler and Gervon Dexter Sr. would be two catalysts to start a training camp kerfuffle. Hopefully the Hard Knocks cameras will be allowed to show the action. Braxton Jones was amongst Bears who did not like a Dexter hit as tempers flared towards the end of practice.
Up next, Velus Jones Jr. was upended by both Tremaine Edmunds and T.J. Edwards. More pushing and shoving and finger-pointing. I’m not sure this means the Bears are ready for the regular season to start after a lengthy training camp that started one month ago, but it sure seems like it. Bring on the Titans.
2. Keenan Allen is a blessing for the Bears’ secondary.
We got to talk to Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson today. I used the opportunity to ask Stevenson what the difference is between guarding Rome Odunze and Keenan Allen. Stevenson shook his head in some sort of awe and disbelief when it came to the myriad of challenges containing Allen.
“I feel like if you play him too close, he’s good enough to make that incredible catch,” Stevenson explained. “So you have to give him space to see which way he’s going. If you sell on a route too hard, he can take it back the other way. And if you play him low, he’s definitely taking it over the top. So it’s just figuring out how to take him out of his groove and all that. I feel like his ability to create separation when he needs to is second to none.”
Stevenson capped off his praise saying that there has never been a wide receiver, DJ Moore included, that has given him this much trouble.
“With DJ last year, it was hard but I felt like I was coming along. With Keenan, now it’s like figuring out a whole new plan to stop somebody new. I see why he’s given so many headaches to DBs in the past.”
Give that man an extension.
3. Montez Sweat wins the Caleb Williams Praise award of the day.
The compliments for Caleb Williams continue to mount. If you ask any Bears player about Williams, you are going to first see them smile and then hear about how he is different, special, amazing… Any positive adjective will do.
Montez Sweat was asked what the defense has done to help Williams get ready for the regular season.
“Definitely showed him what a defense, what an NFL defense looks like. I feel like we’re definitely one of the top defenses in the league, so I feel like that is a great experience for him.”
So, how is he doing, Tez?
“He’s taking it head on. I see him getting better and better every day. It’s kind of scary.”
Scary. Add it to the Caleb list.
