LAKE FOREST — Rookies reported on Tuesday and veterans reported on Friday, meaning the Chicago Bears roster has gathered at Halas Hall and it’s time for training camp to get underway. But with a new quarterback under center and new expectations abound around the team, what will define success for the Bears in 2024?
“It’s hard to define. I like that we start training camp and we have an ability to define that,” said Bears general manager Ryan Poles. “In terms of what our ceiling is, just continue to improve. Our goal — I’ve never backed away from it — Our goal is to always win a Super Bowl and take the division, and I feel like we are continuing to get closer and closer to that.”
Poles said he challenged his front office staff to read The Wisdom of the Bullfrog this offseason — A book on developing leadership traits by retired admiral and Navy SEAL William McRaven. The messaging behind one of the chapters in the book is the foundation for how Poles said they will approach training camp as it gets underway.
“One of the chapters was talking about, the only easy day was yesterday,” Poles said. “That’s going to be our approach. A daily approach, a daily effort. The work ethic has to go in training camp this year in order for us to reach our ceiling, and really define who we are going to be in 2024.”
Other tenets of the chapter include defining the character of people who find themselves in leadership positions, with buzzwords like “resilience,” “coachability,” and “grit” being used as descriptors for what Poles said are the characteristics the team looks for in the players they bring in, and the coaches they hire.
“They have to have that, and we are constant and very intentional about developing those traits as well,” Poles said.
Caleb Williams
Football is a team sport where production is needed across the board at 26-plus different positions in order to be successful, but no one position has a greater impact on a football team’s success than that of the starting quarterback.
A small mountain of hype has surrounded Caleb Williams ever since he rose to prominence as a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback and potential No. 1 overall pick as a “generational prospect,” and that hype has only picked up steam since his arrival in Chicago.
As mandatory minicamp got underway during the first week of June, Williams said he was “just trying to find the green line,” aka learning cadences and how to verbally lead the offensive going into the huddle, and after breaking it.
When asked how their rookie starting quarterback has handled learning the offense, Bears head coach Matt Eberflus said Williams has “done a really good job” of studying their offensive scheme and “that’s the level up for him this summer.”
“We’re looking for improvement. I just texted him a couple minutes ago about looking for improvement from the first practice to the fourth practice,” Eberflus said. “We’ll take a day off and we’ll assess where he is, and then we’ll do the same thing for the next stack of practices.
“The concepts were there in the summer and he did a nice job learning those — Formations, motions, everything we ask him to do — He’s going to level up from there during camp.”
As for reps in training camp and how many snaps Williams will see during preseason games, Eberflus said both “exposures are equally as valuable” and Chicago’s coaching staff has looked at getting him around “45-55 reps” during preseason games, but they haven’t made any concrete decisions in that department yet.
From Williams’ end of things, he said he’s taking a multi-faceted approach because playing quarterback successfully in the NFL can be a lot like peeling an onion — There’s multiple layers to it.
“Partly, it’s just being myself every day and just coming in and working hard, getting after it. Another part is understanding the situation that I am in,” Williams said. “Coach always talks about it. We have our vision … We’re trying to work toward that every single day that we get, every single day that I get, and [I’m] making sure that I’m putting myself in the right position.”
Williams said he’s getting to the team facilities early, going over film and getting the incremental details he needs to understand the “why’s” of Chicago’s offense, so that he can keep progressing during year one of his NFL career.
“There’s times that are going to be tough, times that are going to be good. In tough times, you keep going,” Williams said. “Good times, you also keep going so, as always, I like to kind of think about it as progression is key, and keep doing that over time and I’ll be able to reach goals at the end of my career, and we can reach the goal at the end of the year as a team.”
The topic of edge rushers
Poles took the time to address multiple topics Friday, including the much talked about lack of depth at edge, outside of Montez Sweat.
Poles appeared to be satisfied with where the roster stood heading into the first day of training camp, but he didn’t shut the door on making moves if the current group of defensive ends doesn’t come together.
“[The] topic of defensive end has popped up multiple times,” Poles said. “In the front office, it’s our job to look at every option that’s out there to improve our football team. We feel really comfortable with the guys we have on our roster, for now.
“I’m excited — We’re both excited — To see Travis [Smith] and Eric [Washington] really put their hands on those guys and develop them as we go through the beginning of training camp.”
Aside from Austin Booker, who the Bears took in the fifth round of this year’s draft, the edge position remains largely the same from the end of last season.
Sweat and Andrew Billings are listed as their two starting ends, according to ESPN, with Khalid Kareem and Booker serving as their primary backups, and Dominique Robinson and Jacob Martin deeper down the depth chart after them.
New (and familiar) Faces
The Bears brought back one player and added another over the offseason and Poles said he was excited to see how both contribute to this year’s team.
“Marcedes Lewis comes back. I think you all know what he means to this football team, to both of us. He’s a special man, a special leader, and still has gas in the tank to help us on Sundays and still be effective,” Poles said. “We also added DeAndre Carter. A player that has a lot of speed that can add to the competition in the receiver room and also on special teams as a returner.”
Lewis, who turned 40 years old in mid-May, will be embarking on his 19th season as a tight end in the NFL this September, his second with the Bears.
In 268 games played, Lewis has amassed 436 receptions for 5,113 yards and 40 receiving touchdowns. He played sparingly last year in Chicago, catching 4 passes for 29 yards and a touchdown that came against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 15.
Carter joined the Bears in mid-June after he signed with the team as a free agent, which will be his second stint with the club.
The Sacramento State alum has spent six years in the NFL overall, with his last stint in Chicago coming during the 2020 season, where he served as a return specialist that returned four punts for a total of 30 yards across four games.
In 2022 with the Los Angeles Chargers, he reeled in 46 catches for 538 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
From 2021-23, Carter also returned 69 punts for 705 yards (10.2 YPR) and 73 kickoffs for 1,663 yards (22.8 YPR), which included a 101-yard kickoff return touchdown against the Atlanta Falcons during week 4 of the 2021 NFL season — His first career touchdown — when he was playing for the Washington Commanders.
Trainer’s Room
The Bears placed Rookie third round offensive tackle Kiran Amegadjie on the Non-Football Injury (NFI) List Friday, and defensive lineman Jamree Kromah was placed on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list.
“Kiran is going to start on NFI. He has done an outstanding job this offseason in working and rehabbing,” Poles said. “We love his work ethic, it’s one of the reasons why he’s here. He’s progressing, everything is positive, but I don’t have a specific timetable right now.”
“Kromah … He’s going to start on PUP,” Poles added. “Had an issue with his finger, a small operation. Don’t have a timetable for his return either.”