Chicago Bears training camp: Staff stresses urgency - not panic - as offensive struggles happen early
Biggest storylines as Bears veterans report to training camp
FOX 32's Cassie Carlson breaks down what we're watching for as the Chicago Bears report to their first training camp under head coach Ben Johnson.
At times, the Chicago Bears' early struggles on offense are a film most have seen before.
There are breakdowns in pass protection or dropped passes. This doesn't include issues lining up properly or a pre-snap penalty which derails any action before it happens.
This goes back to the springtime, when these struggles were to be expected.
Bears head coach Ben Johnson talked about all the struggles before Thursday's practice, explaining, clearly, he expects the first-team to execute at a higher level.
"Our guys, we have to end up executing, getting in and out of the huddle a certain way and it wasn't that way," Johnson said. "So, we will be better today."
Thursday was not any better. But, there's no panic.
What we know:
Day 2 of Bears' camp featured more struggles from the first-team offense.
There were three separate 11-on-11 drills that included the first team. The second 11-on-11 run featured the most struggles. The first-team offense had:
- A pre-snap flag
- A fumble on a bad snap
- A sack where Caleb Williams avoided the pressure, but just fell down
- And drops from multiple guys from passes right on their hands.
This happened after Johnson said this staff has extremely high expectations, especially after the work the team put in during the different minicamps and OTAs.
"There are some things from the springtime expected to carry over, and that was probably one we just don't have any tolerance for anymore," Johnson said. "We have too far to go."
It's not just one player, though. Johnson said it's everyone on the offense struggling to execute at a high level
There isn't panic, though. Even though the Bears' coaching staff has instilled a very high level of urgency at this point, the players aren't feeling the need to panic.
"It's Day 2, it's hard to get a feel," Swift said. "As soon as we get the pads on, everybody's going to be excited."
Swift knows this feeling. The running back was with Johnson in Johnson's early years in Detroit when he was drafted out of Georgia.
There's no change in his demeanor.
"He's been the same way," Swift said. "That's kind of what we need."
What's next:
The Bears' offense need to find ways to stack days. The offense had one great day during the team's mandatory minicamp in June, but there has to be more than that.
Johnson has said plenty of times the offense's progress will not be linear. There will be days when the offense struggles. Sometimes, the defense will just have the better of the offense.
The Bears' offense needs to respond to that, and Johnson will keep being critical of the offense because this is the time when he needs to see consistent improvement.
The veterans on the Bears' offense, who can recall how the lack of accountability led to last year's disaster of a season, don't mind it one bit.
"You want that from the head man," Swift said. "You can't let nothing slide by the wayside and let things go on without addressing them."
Even the defense can feel the intensity so far, and welcome it.
"He breathes competition," Bears safety Kevin Byard said. "You can just tell, the intensity. He just wants the best for everybody. And I think that type of energy raises the level of everybody on the team."
Johnson said the players know it's not enough. They know what they have to do in order to get better.
There's no panic in his voice when he says that. Just the expectation they need to fix it.
"They know it’s not good enough," Johnson said. "Just keeping the train moving."