The Bears held their first training camp practice of 2026 on Wednesday. No, the offense wasn’t rewriting record books or anything like that, but it looked organized. Honestly, it looked much better than those first few weeks of camp a year ago.
Here are the biggest takeaways from Day 1.
Caleb Williams is playing faster
Caleb Williams met with the media after practice and one thing was clear: there’s a lot more on his plate this season.
He said the offense is much more detailed this year, with more kills, alerts, and pre-snap responsibilities. He’s recognizing defenses faster and is excited about the challenge.
When asked about cutting down on sacks, Caleb basically laid out the blueprint.
Get the ball out. Trust the protection. Take the checkdown. Use your hot answers. Make defenders miss when you have to. And throw it away when that’s the right decision.
He also talked about improving his completion percentage. Caleb believes it starts with confidence. Confidence in knowing the offense, trusting where to go with the football, trusting his receivers, and trusting the coaching. His goal is simple: complete 70% of his passes by consistently making the easy throws.
Ben Johnson is still coaching him hard
If you were wondering whether Ben Johnson has eased up on Caleb entering Year 2... he hasn’t.
Caleb said Ben still coaches him hard, and he welcomes it. If Ben gets on him or yells at him, it’s because they both share the same goal.
Bringing a championship back to Chicago.
Year 2 confidence
Caleb said he feels much more confident entering his second season because he now understands what winning and losing actually look like in the NFL.
He wants to continue leading by example and mentioned something interesting. Teammates are starting to sound like coaches because everyone has a much better understanding of the system.
That’s usually a good sign.
Plenty of praise for his weapons
Caleb had a lot to say about the Bears’ young pass catchers.
He believes Colston Loveland has everything it takes to become the best tight end in football. He praised his versatility, route running, and willingness to block. Their chemistry has grown through honest conversations, and Caleb shared a cool story from after the Cincinnati game when Loveland told him, “Just give me a chance.”
He also couldn’t say enough about Luther Burden III, praising his route running and ability to separate while saying he has a ton of confidence in him.
As for Rome Odunze, Caleb said Rome looks completely healthy. They’ve spent plenty of time talking through routes, and Caleb keeps reminding him the football is coming his way.
“They drafted him high for a reason.”
He said when the ball goes to Rome, he expects either a catch or an incompletion... not a mistake.
Building chemistry
There was one miscommunication during practice with Garrett Bradbury, but Caleb said communication has otherwise been excellent as the offense continues building chemistry.
He also made it clear that whatever happened last season doesn’t matter anymore.
The focus now is improving every day, building trust, and spending more time together on and off the field.
Don’t count out rookie C Logan Jones..
A lighter Caleb
Caleb also revealed he lost around 10 to 15 pounds this offseason by changing his diet and meal schedule.
The goal was simple: move better and play more fluidly.
Practice observations
A few things stood out from today’s practice.
Luther Burden III saw a ton of targets both inside and outside while flashing his quick route running.
Rome Odunze looked healthy and explosive during individual drills, although he didn’t record a catch during team periods.
Caleb Williams and the quarterbacks consistently got the ball out on time. Overall, it was a solid first day.
Jaylon Jones spent most of practice working as the starting nickel corner.
Braxton Jones and Garrett Bradbury worked with the first-team offense.
The defense actually had more pre-snap penalties than the offense from what I saw.
The Bears won’t practice in full pads until Monday because of the NFL’s acclimation period.
Dennis Allen set the tone
Dennis Allen was as fired up as I’ve seen him during his morning press conference.
Honestly, it felt like he was talking directly to his defense.
He didn’t pull any punches about the unit needing to improve.
Then, as has become tradition, every defensive player opened training camp by doing 40 up-downs.
Safe to say the message was received.