Defensive Chirping Continues Even as Caleb Williams Improves

The defense got the best of the Bears offense at minicamp as they had in OTAs, and they let everyone know it, but their edge seems to be dwindling.

The defense again got the best of Caleb Williams at minicamp but it wasn't as apparent as in OTAs. / Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

In his first Bears offseason practice at minicamp, Montez Sweat saw the team's defense in full yappy mode and gave a thumbs up.

They swarmed and disrupted the offense's passing game, although quarterback Caleb Williams did get in a few strikes. Still, the defense was able to trash talk all they wanted.

"It's exciting," the Bears defensive end said. "I think to play football, you've got to have maybe a screw or two loose.

"When you're out there having fun and talking smack, it makes it so much more fun for everybody around you."

Williams had a strong early full-squad passing scrimmage and a decent initial 7-on-7 with only one ball hitting the ground and that after a drop. In the end, however, Kevin Byard picked off an overthrow and the defense snuffed out successive two-minute drills as the completions became harder to get or went for too few yards.

This was a defense without Sweat playing as he only took part on a limited basis after missing OTAs, although coach Matt Eberflus said he might ramp up into more participation at some point in the next two days.

They also were without defensive end DeMarcus Walker, who was in attendance but not in full participation mode following an illness.

"They look like a top-5 defense," wide receiver Keenan Allen said after his first practice with the Bears. "They sound like a top-5 defense, too.

Bears GM Ryan Poles on how he has leaned into his former Boston College teammate Matt Ryan:

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— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 4, 2024

"Defenses are annoying, especially at practice. You just hear them every time they make a play. It's hooray: celebration. These guys are running up and down the sideline. So it's annoying."

Allen's description of how offenses denote success was much more subdued and respectful. 

"Offense, we get a first down, one guy just trots around," Allen said. "He comes back to the huddle. Everybody is like, 'OK, what's the next play?' You don't really see to much: "YEAHHHHHH!" You don't really get all that just because somebody did a rip-through and got back to the quarterback.

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"So it is what it is. Their energy, the way they communicate, the way they get lined up,  definitely high class."

Tyson Bagent and the second-team offense fared better at the end of practice with the two-minute drill by moving it, and Bagent showed he has a better mastery now of the offense's cadence.

Williams had problems with it at times and false starts have generally been an issue at OTAs and again Tuesday at minicamp. However, Bagent got the second-team defense to jump offsides on successive plays of a two-minute drive.

There was little celebration, though, as rookie defensive end Austin Booker broke around left tackle Jake Curhan on successive pass plays for what would have been a sack in a real game and also to force Bagent to throw it away. The second settled for a Cairo Santos field goal, instead.

A brash secondary?

At one point cornerback Jaylon Johnson even stepped over to the sideline after a Williams 25-yard completion on the run to Rome Odunze. He came up to media members along the sideline to point out it shouldn't called a catch and he admonished reporters for earlier OTA reports giving Williams credit for a similar completion, maintaining such catches should be considered dead plays because they would be sacks in a game.

This one wouldn't have been a sack because Williams came out of the pocket quickly, buying time with his feet first before finding Odunze.

Tight end Cole Kmet said all the defensive success in practice is only to be expected now.

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"They're a veteran group, they have guys that have been in the system for a while now," Kmet said. "You can kind of see the impact Kevin Byard has had since he's been here. He's very vocal, a really good leader over there for the defense."

Compliments are unlikely to impact this defensive group, once they get to chirping and defending passes.

Lining Up

Ryan Bates did the first-team center snaps while Coleman Shelton was with the backups. Guard Nate Davis did attend practice but after missing almost all of OTAs he was not yet able to participate. Right guard was manned by veteran free agent acquisition Matt Pryor again. ... On the defensive line, with Sweat and Walker not taking part in the team portion of practice, Jake Martin and Daniel Hardy took their place with starters on the edge for most of the plays. ... When the second-team defense took the field, the backup nose tackle was second-year former Michigan player Michael Dwumfour rather than Byron Cowart or Keith Randolph. Dwumfour was lining up alongside backup 3-technique Zacch Pickens.

West Coast Copy

Bears tight end Cole Kmet doesn't think it will take long for the offense to get down Shane waldron's offense.

The reason is, he doesn't think it's much different than the one they just had under Luke Getsy. Maybe that explains all the screen passes and short throws they ran in Tuesday's practice.

"In terms of scheme, its a very similar type of offense for running that we've been running," Kmet said. "Most of the league has been running this type of offense. Obviously some terminology is different.

"For guys that have played now, whether it's Keenan, myself, DJ (Moore) or Gerald (Everett), these are all concepts we're very familiar with. Obviously for Caleb this is brand new. Obviously he's the guy we have to bring along and keep helping him along the way."

More specifically, it's something everyone in the league is familiar with says Kmet.

"Schematically, west coast, everybody's running this now," Kmet said. "I'd say 70 percent of the league is running it. It's how you call it and how you go about installing it. Obviously Shane has his own tweaks on things. In terms of the overarching theme of the offense and the concepts and all that stuff, there's very similar things to it."

The Caleb Cadence

The troubles with players false-starting due to Williams' cadence when calling signals isn't worrying coach Matt Eberflus yet.

"Honestly, it's just reps," Eberflus said. "You just have to get the reps and get it right. You have to use cadence as a weapon on offense. You can't just go, 'Ready, set hut,' the entire time. Right? So, we got to do double counts, we got to do triple counts, we got to do dummy counts, we got to do silent counts, we got to do all the counts that everybody else has in the NFL. We have to use that as a weapon to hold those defensive linemen at bay a little bit and to get them offsides a little bit.

"I mean, Bagent had a couple free plays today where they (defense) jumped offsides. Shoot, we won a game last year doing it (Detroit). It's important that we continue to work on that because it needs to be a weapon for us."

Fight!

The first minicamp practice even came with a fight, or at least a shoving match between linemen whose identities were impossible to determine because it occurred at the opposite end of the field from media, where some Bears alumni were standing for alumni day at minicamp.

Eberflus seemed less concerned than in the past about such things.

When told during the post-practice press conference that no one swung, Eberflus said "yeah, that’s what my dad would say: ‘A lot of talk and no action.’

"Yeah, that happens, because we’re not in full pads, and people do certain things and hands to the face or yank a guy or whatever and guys get upset about that. We’ve gotta be better that way. I’ve been talking to the O-line and D-line. It’s really that group. Those guys have done a really good job this entire offseason, and again, there’s gonna be some flare-ups here and there. They’ve done a really good job of taking care of each other for the most part."

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