Why the Bears should not play Caleb Williams in preseason video games this 12 months

This is the third preseason in 12 years the Bears have the identical head coach, offensive play-caller and beginning quarterback working collectively as they did the earlier 12 months.

They ought to act prefer it.

The crew’s first exhibition recreation is lower than two weeks away. If historical past is any indication, quarterback Caleb Williams gained’t play in it. If frequent sense has any say, the identical might be true of the Bears’ subsequent two preseason video games.

Williams was seemingly in all places this offseason, from hype lists to online game covers. Bears followers ought to hope the other is true in August.

There’s no cause to play Williams in video games. That’s not a declaration that Williams is a completed product. Far from it — the Bears have a particular checklist of traits they completely want him to enhance earlier than the Sept. 13 opener in Charlotte, and definitely earlier than they determine to pay him like a franchise quarterback. His accuracy wants to enhance, as does his skill to create chunk completions on the run. He must fine-tune how he reads coverages.

Rather, holding Williams out of preseason video games could be the reward for the quarterback and coach Ben Johnson establishing their on-field chemistry final 12 months. Risking harm for the sake of extra reps with Johnson on the headset and Williams listening for play calls simply doesn’t make sense.

Johnson wasn’t prepared to put out his recreation plan Monday for the Bears’ Aug. 15 preseason opener towards the Browns at Soldier Field. But he didn’t decide to enjoying Williams, or any of his starters, within the opener.

The stretching portion earlier than the sport may be one thing totally different. Of course, there aren’t any defenders attempting to plant you into the bottom then, both.

“I think it’s probably always good to at least go through the warmup procedure to where Game 1 [of the regular season] is not the first time at doing that,” Johnson, who doubles because the offensive play-caller, mentioned earlier than Monday’s apply. “So there’s a lot of merit in that regard, and we’ll see what it looks like. But we haven’t made a determination yet.”

The schedule appears to point in any other case. The Bears have a apply scheduled for the day after their first preseason recreation, the identical manner they did final 12 months. Williams didn’t play the primary preseason recreation in 2025, and neither did the vast majority of the Bears’ starters. They have been all capable of apply the following day.

The subsequent two preseason video games — Aug. 22 in Cincinnati and Aug. 29 in Nashville — every come two days after a joint apply. Johnson figures to place extra inventory in practices towards the Bengals and Titans, with the added bonus of getting extra management over the harm threat than he would in a recreation.

“We need all these guys to be as healthy as we possibly can going into the season because it’s a long year,” Johnson mentioned. “But at the same time, we want to make sure that we’re prepped and we’re ready also. We’re looking at numbers. We got sports science data, the number of reps we’re getting, the quality of the reps that we’re getting, it all goes into it.”

The advantages of holding joint practices on the street don’t have anything to do with who performs in video games.

“I think it’s a great chance for our team to come together,” Johnson mentioned. “When you go on the road in particular, there’s really not family. It’s you, it’s your buddies, it’s the hotel.”

The Bears performed Williams in 14 snaps within the second preseason recreation final 12 months and 28 in Game 3. But that was his first time working with Johnson, and he was nonetheless within the technique of studying not solely the playbook, however the pre-snap protocol. He is aware of each this 12 months. Sure, Williams has a brand new middle with which to develop comfy this month — however Garrett Bradbury has 105 profession begins. He is aware of what he’s doing.

Johnson has careworn toughness since his arrival, however that’s constructed on apply fields, not random Saturdays in August. The Bears will scrimmage throughout coaching camp and determine to have at the least one repeat of final 12 months’s grueling, violent showdown apply. That must be sufficient.

“It’s going to be a demanding ordeal,” Johnson mentioned.

Increasingly, the perfect veteran quarterbacks — at the least not named Patrick Mahomes — don’t play a lot this time of 12 months. Jared Goff, whom Johnson mentored in Detroit, hasn’t taken a snap in a preseason recreation since 2022. Aaron Rodgers informed Steelers coaches he wished to play in exhibition video games, coach Mike McCarthy mentioned Monday, however the crew was nonetheless evaluating what it wished to do.

As for Williams, the Bears have been right here earlier than. Entering his second season with Mitch Trubisky, coach Matt Nagy determined the quarterback wouldn’t throw a single preseason go. The Bears have been crushed by the Packers in an unsightly Week 1 and stumbled via 2019. Nagy, a 12 months later, mentioned he regretted not enjoying Trubisky extra.

“It sets the mentality,” Nagy mentioned.

Williams isn’t Trubisky — at the least the Bears hope not. And they hope Johnson has a endurance that Nagy by no means discovered.

They can’t determine Williams’ enjoying time this preseason primarily based on the ghosts of quarterbacks previous. Johnson and Williams, in any case, try to interrupt that mould.

“We’ll be smart,” Johnson mentioned.

Bryant, the gem of free agency for the Bears, got hurt in a one-on-one drill Monday.

 

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While the emphasis was the rushing attack, the Bears also had an exciting period of wide receivers going one-on-one against defensive backs.

 

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Handicapping the Bears’ 53-man roster before Monday’s first padded practice of training camp — and four weeks before cut day:

 

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