Top Observations from Chicago Bears OTAs: Caleb Williams and the offense struggle while the defense excels

LAKE FOREST — For the first time since organized team activities started on May 20, the media was attendance and able to watch the Chicago Bears practice at Halas Hall.

The first-team defense dominated from start to finish. Throughout 7-on-7s and in the team period, Caleb Williams and the starting offense struggled to complete passes. The offense was without four of its projected Day 1 starters: Keenan Allen, Rome Odunze, Nate Davis and Darnell Wright.

During DJ Moore‘s press conference, he gave a shoutout to Allen’s wife and daughter for their birthdays, and said, “I know that’s why he’s not here.”

As for Odunze, head coach Matt Eberflus provided an update on the rookie wide receiver on why he didn’t participate in 7-on-7s or the team period.

“Injury update, really the only one I have is Rome [Odunze],” Eberflus said. “Rome’s starting to work out there — you guys saw that. Did some walk-throughs today. We’re hopeful that he’ll be starting to ramp back in there next week during the OTAs that we have next week.”

[MORE: How Keenan Allen destroyed the Vikings for a career game ]

There was no update provided on Wright or Davis, but Eberflus did say that “everybody’s been here at some point during the offseason” when asked about players showing up to Halas Hall. Veteran offensive lineman Matt Pryor filled in at right guard while Larry Borom played right tackle for the starting offense.

A lot happend during Thursday’s OTA practice. Here are my notes and top observations from practice.

7-on-7s

This period did not go well for Williams and the offense. Williams completed three total passes in the entire period. The first one was a short completion to D’Andre Swift in the middle of the field. Williams then had a low pass to Tyler Scott and failed to connect with tight end Stephen Carlson on deep route towards the left portion of the field. Williams’ last pass attempt in this 7-on-7 series was nearly intercepted by Jaylon Johnson in the middle of the field. Johnson did pushups and sit-ups on the sideline after he couldn’t haul in the pick. The pass was intended for Scott.

Tyson Bagent then went in for a quick series, and the second-year quarterback completed his first two passes before Williams got another opportunity. Williams couldn’t connect with his intended receiver on a deep ball, but did complete back-to-back passes to Cole Kmet and Moore. Williams found Kmet on a short pass in the left flat, and on the completion to Moore, Williams extended the play and found Moore near the left sideline.

Those two passes were Williams’ final completions in the 7-on-7 period. In his third series, Williams started things off by running out of bounds after he couldn’t find anyone open. Then the defensive backs made good plays on the ball. Tyrique Stevenson broke up a pass intended for Moore on a slant. Johnson had good coverage on Gerald Everett on a high ball. The pass fell incomplete with plenty of defenders near the ball. Kyler Gordon also broke up a pass intended for Dante Pettis.

Bagent ended his 7-on-7 period with a touchdown throw to Swift.

11-on-11s

Williams nearly had his first pass intercepted by T.J. Edwards on a side-arm throw that was completed to Swift in the left flat. After that completion, Williams missed Pettis on a vertical route in the middle of the field. Before throwing the pass to Pettis, Williams looked at Moore, who was running a slant route. Moore was open but the rookie quarterback decided not to throw the pass. To end the first team series, Williams “completed” a pass to Roschon Johnson in the flat to the right side of the field, but the play took forever to develop, so the rep didn’t count.

On the first-team offense’s next series, Williams ran out of bounds to his left after he couldn’t find anyone open. It was tough to see if he gained any yards on the play. It easily could’ve resulted in a sack. Williams did complete a pass to Swift on the right for a decent gain on a stop route. Then Williams threw a good ball to Pettis in tight coverage in the middle of the field, but it was just out of the receiver’s reach.

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Williams tried to fit a ball to Moore on a slant on the left side, but Johnson was all over the route and the pass fell incomplete. On the next rep, Johnson traveled to the right side of the formation to shadow Moore. Williams connected with Swift on the left side. Then Williams was forced to scramble and run after the defense had good coverage down the field.

During the final team period session, Williams completed a pass to Everett in the left flat for a minimal gain. Two plays later, the offense had to re-huddle due to some kind of miscommunication. Then, Williams had to throw the ball away on one of his next reps.

Analysis

As expected, NFL fanbases are overreacting to Williams’ Thursday practice. Should it have looked better? Yes, especially during the 7-on-7 period. But when two of the top receivers are missing, it should be tougher to complete passes against a defense that has arguably one of the best back sevens in the NFL.

This isn’t making excuses. It’s just common sense. The offense is also still clearly learning with all of the new pieces around it. It’s not just a rookie quarterback. The Bears have a new offensive coordinator in Shane Waldron and seven different offensive coaches from a season before.

This offense is going to take time to develop, so fans need to calm down about this Thursday practice. Veteran safety Kevin Byard provided some context on how the offense has looked in a previous practice.

“I ain’t gonna lie,” Byard said. “The first day, the offense kind of got after us a little bit. He [Williams] was making some really good throws. We were in the bubble. He was making some good throws and I mean some deep passes. He had a really good day and then today we kind of got after him. So it’s one of those things. Sometimes it’s going to be back and forth and that’s how the season is going to be, week to week. Every week is not going to be great.

Some week we’re going to have to be on two-minute drill, he’s going to have to go win us a game. Some weeks we’re going to blow people out. Sometimes it’s not going to be like that.  So I would just kind of tell him, like, hey, days like this, just keep fighting, keep going, watch the them film, get better. And that’s for everyone on the team. Everything is not going to be peaches and cream. You know what I’m saying? But like I like his confidence  and he kind of just looked me straight in the eye and said ‘of course I will,’ and that was good to see.”

Other Observations

• We’re still getting used to all the new coaches and how they interact with the media and the players. Today, Shane Waldron showed how involved he can be with the practices. During the quarterback individual drills, Waldron caught the pitches from the quarterbacks. He illustrated to Williams, Bagent, Brett Rypien and Austin Reed where the pitch should be on that type of play. Then Waldron acted as defender in a throwing drill. The quarterbacks had two options in the drill. Everett positioned himself in the deep left corner of the end zone while Cole Kmet was just inside of the front portion of the end zone. Waldron could defend Everett or Kmet, and then the quarterback would have to make the right decision and throw to the person that Waldron didn’t commit to. The quarterbacks weren’t far from the end zone line, but it did force the quarterbacks to make a quick decision.
• From all the reps I saw in practice, Ryan Bates was the first-team center. That started in individual drills and translated into the team period. Coleman Shelton, who played over 1,000 snaps at center for the Rams last season, did practice today.
• Rypien drew rookie defensive end Austin Booker offside during the team portion of practice. Rypien tried to complete a pass to John Jackson on a seam route in the middle of the field, but Josh Blackwell made a really good play on the ball to force an incomplete pass.
• Ian Wheeler, Freddie Swain and Peter LeBlanc all got reps at kick returner. There may have been more individuals who got opportunities to returns kicks, but those were the three players I had written down.

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