Camp Report: How the Chicago Bears took a step in the right direction Wednesday
LAKE FOREST, Ill. - Last Saturday, the Chicago Bears showed how far they'd come against the Buffalo Bills.
The offense engineered scoring drives, the defense held the Bills out of the end zone and the starting quarterback showed off plenty of growth.
On Wednesday, the team took another big step.
They're getting close to being a complete team.
Wednesday's biggest development: them shrinking injury report
The Bears were healthier on Wednesday by a large margin.
Since August 4, they have been without Tyrique Stevenson, Kyler Gordon, Montez Sweat and Nate Davis.
All of those players participated in practice on Wednesday ahead of Thursday's joint practice with the Bengals. It was a welcome sight, and it was clear how much difference they make being on the field as opposed to being sidelined.
This falls in line with the Bears coaching staff's attitude. So far, they've had no concern whatsoever about the injuries that have befallen the Bears in training camp.
That lack of concern materialized on Wednesday as the majority of the Bears' starting defense took the practice field.
Sweat was back. He had a pass rush rep where he chased Caleb Williams out of bounds instead of allowing the quarterback to scramble for a handful of yards.
Kyler Gordon was back. During the 11 on 11 period, Williams got a free play when his hard count got the defensive line to jump. His pass over the middle to Gerald Everett fell incomplete after Gordon ripped it away from Everett.
Stevenson was back. He batted a Williams' pass away from DJ Moore that Williams tried to float over the top of Stevenson's head.
Davis was back. After recovering from a strain he suffered that he also re-aggravated in practice in late July, David helped anchor a line that was without guard/center Ryan Bates. Williams looked poised and accurate in the 11 on 11 and two-minute drills; Davis' return helped with the protection.
This led to a two-minute drill which came down to the final play.
The offense, down 21-17 with a minute left, drove to the red zone and had third and 10 from inside the defense's 15-yard line with eight seconds left.
The offense had methodically moved the ball down the field, as Williams utilized the middle of the field with tight end Cole Kmet and checked down to D'Andre Swift when he needed to.
Williams also had a fake spike play where he feigned a spike to stop the clock, and tried to hit Rome Odunze for a score. The pass sailed, but the defense was caught off guard and it stopped the clock.
That set up the final play, where Williams rolled to his right to evade the collapsing pocket, and threw to Dante Pettis in the end zone. It was a good throw – only Pettis had a chance to make a play on the ball – but Pettis couldn't haul it in to make the difficult play.
The defense won the day, but it was an example of how both sides of the ball are benefiting from getting healthy as the days inch closer to the season opener against the Titans.
The rest of the injury report
The entirety of the Bears were not back, though. Safety Jaquan Brisker did not participate on Wednesday.
Bates, Collin Johnson, Theo Benedet, De'Andre Carter, Adrian Colbert, Paul Maola and Jacob Martin. Benedet, as revealed on Hard Knocks, will be out for three to four more weeks.
But, there's time for those players to return. The Bears have shown they're willing to be patient.