Caleb Williams sharp in practice as Bears prepare for joint practice and preseason game vs. Bills
It was a fairly light, unpadded practice for the Bears on Thursday ahead of the Bills coming to town on Friday.
Quarterback Caleb Williams was sharp in limited reps, looking good in both the red zone and the end of practice two-minute drill where he hit Rome Odunze multiple times to set up a game-winning field goal. That connection has been especially good over the last two days.
Right guard Jonah Jackson, who's played with a couple solid quarterbacks in Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff, has been impressed with Williams so far.
"I think he's been on his stuff since day one," Jackson said. "I've been around veteran quarterbacks my entire career, and he has the same way about himself like these guys, and he carries himself. He's a good leader, guys respect him, and … having a new offense is definitely something to adjust to, but I feel like he's doing great."
Defensive tackle Gervon Dexter says he's still nowhere close to the type of player he wants to be as he works to improve in year three, while learning the new defense under coordinator Dennis Allen. One big focus for Dexter is helping the Bears be better against the run after they faded down the stretch last year.
"That's a bigger motivator for me, myself, because I played in the interior defensive line, and that's where it starts at," he said. "If you can't stop the run, I look at it as that's my job, that's our job, but exactly mine. So we've got to be better. I feel like we're going to be a lot better for sure."
The team's latest left tackle rotation continued for the second straight day. Theo Benedet and Braxton Jones continued to split reps with the first team, while Ozzy Trapilo continued to work as the second team right tackle.
Head coach Ben Johnson gave the Bears another fun end to practice, with offensive lineman playing receiver going one on one with defensive linemen. Darnell Wright caught a fade over Montez Sweat and Joe Thuney beat Grady Jarrett for a catch. Jonah Jackson was unable to haul his in against Andrew Billings, but did think he ran a good route, calling it a 50/50 ball from Williams.