Caleb Williams says he's 'on track to be ready,' but should the Chicago Bears play him Thursday?

1st & North: Bears training camp analysis

FOX 32's Lou Canellis offers his analysis on Bears training camp so far.

CHICAGO - Through eight practices, Chicago Bears starting quarterback and rookie Caleb Williams has seen the highs and lows.

Williams has been picked off plenty of times – including three times last Saturday – and has shown off why he was the No. 1 overall pick – like when he hit Tyler Scott with a pinpoint throw on the move in a two-minute drill.

Through the trails and tribulations, Williams was confident in where he was on Monday.

"I think I’m on track to be ready," he said Friday. "Exactly where they want and need me to be."

That's music to the ears of Bears fans all over, especially ones that expect Williams to be the quarterback the franchise has been searching for to erase its moribund quarterback history.

But, what we'll find out tomorrow is if Williams will see his first NFL action in the NFL Hall of Fame Game on Thursday against the Houston Texans.

Williams certainly wants to.

"I would love to get out there and play," Williams said. "It’s pretty awesome to be at Canton but it’s coach’s decision."

Bears head coach Matt Eberflus indicated the decision will be made, and revealed, by Tuesday. Should Williams play in that game, though?

If the coaching staff deems it important for him to play, Williams will. They're right to exercise caution, though.

On one hand, the Bears probably don't want to risk injury to their No. 1 overall pick weeks before the season is set to begin. Bears fans remember this after starting quarterback Rex Grossman broke his ankle during a preseason game before the 2005 regular season.

But, it's football. Injuries are part of the game.

Williams already knows what he wants to work on before Week 1, and they're the kind of things that can only be solved with real-time experience.

"I would say working on my blitz and coverage looks and feeling the umbrella of the defense," Williams said. "Feeling that out to adjust protection; to adjust whether it's a run, flip the run into it, flip the protection, get to a quick gain, get to a cover-zero check, however the structure of it works out. Just progressing, and a lot of that comes with seeing it and reps, and that's why also preseason, those things are so important."

If getting those kinds of reps down is what the Bears want to accomplish, playing him, even for just one series, on Thursday wouldn't be a bad idea.

Even if Williams believes he's on track to be ready by Week 1, there are still a certain amount of reps Williams needs to be ready for Week 1.

Getting a number of those out of the way on Thursday wouldn't be a bad idea, especially if it plays into the end goal of having Williams as ready and prepared as he possibly can for the Tennessee Titans.

"The reps are always paramount for anybody like myself, a young rookie, a second-year guy, a third-year guy," Williams said Monday. "It's paramount"

Bears camp injury report

Nate Davis, Kyler Gordon, Travis Homer, Ian Wheeler, Jacob Martin, Nsimba Webster did not practice on Monday.

This meant Ryan Bates, firmly in the mix to be the Bears' starting center, played with the first-team offense at right guard while Coleman Shelton was the first-team center.

Bears offensive coordinator Shane Waldron said that Davis will be the Bears' starting right guard when he's healthy. Eberflus, on Saturday, indicated that Davis was dealing with a type of strain and was day-to-day.

Davis, signed prior to the 2023 season, started and played in 11 games for the Bears last season. The team has placed its trust that he'll be ready when called upon.

Eberflus, however, did say this on Saturday when it came to player availability and practice:

"Availability is everything in this league," Eberflus said. "You’ve got to be available to practice, you’ve got to be able to go through hard in terms of doing hard better in training camp. It’s all part of preparing for the first part of the season. Being able to do that, to callus yourself. That’s your individual responsibility to the football team, and when you’re not out there, guess what? That doesn’t happen. Availability is important at every position. Sometimes guys get injured, that’s the way it goes, there’s some things you can do. But they have to be able to get back as fast as possible. To me there is a lot of competition on this roster."