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New York Times
3 days ago
- General
- New York Times
Bears OTA takeaways: Why Ben Johnson worked with Caleb Williams on body language
LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Ben Johnson doesn't want the Chicago Bears to be a 'palms-up team.' That's a message he's sent to quarterback Caleb Williams and the rest of the players this spring as he sets his standard. 'Body language is a huge thing,' Johnson said after Wednesday's OTA. 'Demeanor. We don't want to be a 'palms-up team' where we're questioning everything. No, no, no. To me, that's a little bit of a sign of weakness. We don't want to exhibit that from anybody on the team.' Advertisement Sports Illustrated reported that Johnson had shown Williams clips from last season when the quarterback could've responded better to getting hit. 'There's adversity that's gonna hit every team every season,' Johnson said. 'You don't know when it's gonna happen. We might lose a few games. We might have some turnovers.' Williams had two Wednesday — linebacker Tremaine Edmunds picked him off in team drills, and safety Jaquan Brisker had an interception in seven-on-seven. Practice is set up for players to bounce back quickly from those. They get right back in the huddle and go to the next play. It's tougher in games, and Johnson clearly observed ways Williams reacted to a very tumultuous rookie season and wants it to look better. 'Early in the process, we sat down and watched some tape from a year ago, and we talked it through,' Johnson said. 'It's like … is this what we want to look like or not? We come to an agreement, no it's not, OK, we learn from it, we move on to the next thing.' Williams used his media availability to move on from the excerpt from ESPN's Seth Wickersham's upcoming book on quarterbacks, reiterating the most important takeaway — he ultimately decided he wanted to come to the Bears. He knew the challenge, and he embraced it. Now he has a new coach to help him get the franchise on the right track. 'I think y'all have been able to see it when (Johnson) gets up here, you get a little taste of how he is. He's always laser-focused,' Williams said. 'He encourages and he pushes you and challenges you to be at your best, as a team, offense, defense, special teams. Doesn't matter position. 'Sharp. And he's a guy that wants to win. … And to be honest, he's consistent with it every day. … So far it's been awesome, and I think everybody's been enjoying it.' Last week, Kiran Amegadjie was the Bears' starter at left tackle during their open practice inside the Walter Payton Center. This week, it was second-round pick Ozzy Trapilo. Darnell Wright was at right tackle. Advertisement 'We're moving guys around,' Johnson said. 'We want to give everyone an opportunity, so, you know, Darnell, we feel pretty comfortable keeping him (on) the right side right now. So the left side until we get Braxton (Jones) back in the mix, it's going to be a little bit of musical chairs.' Jones, though, is weeks away from returning after his 2024 season ended with ankle surgery. It's also notable that Wright has remained on the right side. 'We're going to let the plan play out, which is keep him there for the time being and let these guys battle it out on the left side,' Johnson said. 'And we can decide to change course whenever we need to.' Linebacker T.J. Edwards and nickel corner Kyler Gordon weren't on the field Wednesday. Johnson said the two veterans are working through soft-tissue injuries. Rookie pass catchers Colston Loveland and Luther Burden, who are also working through injuries, were absent. Jones, cornerback Jaylon Johnson, guard/center Ryan Bates, cornerback Zah Frazier, safety Elijah Hicks, cornerback Terell Smith, running back Ian Wheeler and linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga also were not spotted. Practice is voluntary, and Ben Johnson said he expects full attendance next week at the mandatory veteran minicamp. Defensive end Montez Sweat showed up to voluntary OTAs determined to bounce back from his down season last year. 'Coming off a disappointing year, I thought it was important to be here,' said Sweat, who had 5 1/2 sacks in 16 games last season for the Bears after making six in nine games after being acquired from the Washington Commanders during the 2023 season. New defensive coordinator Dennis Allen is also changing the Bears' scheme. So there's plenty for Sweat and others to learn. 'He's a very complex individual,' Sweat said. 'He has a lot of fronts and schemes and things that he can attack the offense with. He's a great guy, smart.' Advertisement The faces have changed in the Bears' defensive line room with the team signing defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo and defensive tackle Grady Jarrett in free agency and drafting defensive tackle Shemar Turner. But Sweat remains their best defender. 'You definitely use (last season) as motivation, knowing that you didn't have as good of a year as you wanted to or could have,' Sweat said. 'So it's in the back of my mind, but I'm sincerely just moving forward, working on what's next.' Quarterback Case Keenum thought about retiring after last season. He spent 2024 on injured reserve, but when the Bears called, he came to town and sat down with Johnson for what was supposed to be a 15-minute conversation. 'It felt like a couple of hours later. I'm like, 'This is a special place,'' he said. 'Watched Caleb from last year and was like, 'Holy cow, this guy is really good and he's got a chance to be a lot better.' And it's been great.' Keenum is on his eighth NFL team, having entered the league as an undrafted free agent in 2012 with the Texans. At 37, he's the oldest player on the team — nearly a decade older than offensive coordinator Declan Doyle. He has also played in 80 games and has a playoff win on his resume. Despite all that experience, he had never shared a sideline with Johnson. 'I haven't been with him in the past, but he came highly recommended from a number of people that I trust,' Johnson said. 'He's got skins on the wall. He's been to playoff games. He's won playoff games. He's done it on a high level. He's been the No. 2 quarterback at a number of different places as well. So his experience level is off the charts. He's seen a little bit of everything that this league has to offer.' Keenum is competing with Tyson Bagent to be Williams' backup, but the Bears will keep three quarterbacks on the roster. Johnson said they'll determine the No. 2 in training camp. Advertisement 'I've competed my whole life,' Keenum said. 'I show up every day and hope my locker is not cleaned out, man. That's how I treat every day.' Included in Keenum's decade-plus in the league working with a bunch of quarterbacks is the 2023 season when he backed up Rookie of the Year C.J. Stroud in Houston. He's comfortable in this spot and knows how to work with Williams. 'He's just a sponge,' Keenum said. 'For being an all-world talent, a guy who, since high school, has been the best player on any field anywhere he has ever stepped on, to be humble enough to ask me questions and watch and learn, has been really refreshing to see. A guy that young and that talented but still takes to what I have to say, it's been really fun.' Before the Bears host the Miami Dolphins (Aug. 10) and Buffalo Bills (Aug. 17) in the preseason, the teams will share the practice fields at Halas Hall. Johnson said the plan is to have one joint practice with each team. 'It's a good opportunity to break up camp a little bit,' Johnson said. 'Controlled setting, yet high, high intensity. I think the competitive nature of just about everybody, once you get in between those white lines against an opponent like that, it goes up another notch. It'll be at that point of training camp where we've had, call it 12, 13, 14 practices in.'
Washington Post
4 days ago
- General
- Washington Post
Bears QB Caleb Williams addresses controversy from book excerpt
LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams sought to quiet the controversy about how he hadn't wanted to come to his current team prior to the 2024 draft. Williams admitted an ESPN story about an upcoming book by Seth Wickersham on quarterbacks was true in that he did like the idea of going to the Minnesota Vikings initially, but this was prior to his first visit to Chicago. Then, Williams said, he wanted to be with the Bears.
Associated Press
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Bears QB Caleb Williams addresses controversy from book excerpt
LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams sought to quiet the controversy about how he hadn't wanted to come to his current team prior to the 2024 draft. Williams admitted an ESPN story about an upcoming book by Seth Wickersham on quarterbacks was true in that he did like the idea of going to the Minnesota Vikings initially, but this was prior to his first visit to Chicago. Then, Williams said, he wanted to be with the Bears. 'Yeah, I had a good visit at the other place — Minnesota, with (coach) Kevin O'Connell,' Williams said. 'Good staff and all of that obviously. He just won the coach of the year award and things like that. Obviously, good staff and things like that. 'But something that keeps getting lost, something that keeps getting, I think, not being addressed the way it needs to be is the fact that I went on that visit first, came here and then after I came here, I went back home and talked to my dad.' His comment to his father, Carl Williams, was he wanted to play for the Bears and become the quarterback who leads them out of a history of struggling quarterbacks. 'This whole storm that happened, it wasn't something that we wanted to have happen at this point,' Williams said during a news conference Wednesday during the Bears OTAs. 'We're focused on the present, we're focused on now, we're focused on trying to get this ship moving in the right direction. And I think so far that's what we've been doing. 'But for this to come out it's been a distraction.' The book, 'American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback,' looks at many QBs but Williams' part details how he and his father thought about the possibility of finding a way to circumvent the NFL draft in 2024 to avoid coming to Chicago. Williams labeled any of the early discussion as mere thoughts, not action. 'Those are thoughts that go throughout your head in those situations,' Williams said. 'All of those are thoughts. And then after I came on my visit here, it was a deliberate answer and deliberate and determined answer that I had is that I wanted to come here.' The Bears quarterback saw most of what had been written as ancient history, but did label one aspect of an ESPN story on the book as false or misinterpreted. It was a claim he didn't know how to watch film and the Bears staff under former coach Matt Eberflus failed to help him. 'So that was a funny one that came out, that in context, in how that was trying to be portrayed, didn't get portrayed that way,' Williams said. 'It wasn't that I didn't know how to watch film, it was trying to figure on the best ways and more efficient ways.' Williams expects new coach Ben Johnson will make a difference in his film watching. 'He's been in this offense for six years,' Williams said. 'He's really been on top of it and we're really only trying to catch up, I'm only trying to catch up to him and be on top of the details as much as possible.' Williams said his father's input was valued and always is, but in the case of the book he probably went too far or wasn't entirely clear with some comments made. 'Definitely a grown man, I shut him down quite a lot just because in season and out of season, it's something you have to do,' Williams said. 'He cares so much about me and my future and we have been along this journey so long together, all he wants is the best for me. 'So if anything happens and he's super hot-headed and it's more of like 'All right, go ahead and go away. Go reset.' Things like that. Love him to death and things like that, super fortunate to have him. We have talked about it. Understanding that there's a right place and a right time and there are times that there is not.' The book is scheduled to be released Sept. 9, a day after the Bears open the season against the Vikings in a home Monday night game to be televised by ESPN. ___ AP NFL:
CBS News
5 days ago
- General
- CBS News
Rollover crash closes part of Route 41 in Lake Forest, Illinois
Three people were injured in a single-vehicle rollover crash on Route 41 in the northern suburb of Lake Forest, Illinois, early Tuesday morning. Around 2 a.m., a vehicle lost control and rolled over north of Deerpath Road. Video from the scene shows the vehicle left the roadway. Three people were injured, but information on their conditions was not immediately available. Northbound Route 41 is closed from Route 60 to Route 176 as police investigate. Police recommend seeking alternate routes like Waukegan Road or I-94. The cause of the crash is unknown at this time. Police are investigating. This is a developing story. CBS New Chicago will continue to provide updates.
Powys County Times
5 days ago
- Sport
- Powys County Times
Lake Forest is Royal Ascot-bound after pleasing weekend return
Lake Forest has the Queen Anne in his sights after limbering up for the season with a fourth-placed run at ParisLongchamp on Sunday. The William Haggas-trained four-year-old won the Gimcrack as a juvenile and was second in both the Commonwealth Cup and the Hackwood Stakes last term. He ended the year with a trip to Rosehill for the Golden Eagle, where he enjoyed a huge payday when prevailing by half a length to take home the £2.8million prize. It had been the intention he would start his year in Hong Kong for the Champions Mile at Sha Tin, but a minor setback put paid to that plan and instead his first run of the year was the Prix du Palais-Royal in France at the weekend. Ridden by Cieren Fallon in the seven-furlong Group Three affair, the son of No Nay Never made eyecatching late progress from the rear on what was his first start for 204 days. Royal Ascot now beckons, where the one-mile Queen Anne Stakes on the opening day of the meeting awaits him. 'It was a very good race and I think the winner (Topgear) goes for the (Queen Elizabeth II) Jubilee at Royal Ascot,' said Sean Graham, racing manager to Tony Bloom, who owns the colt together with Ian McAleavy. 'We were always worried going out there that there wouldn't be a strong pace in the race and that proved to be the case. 'It was also his first run back after having a slight setback before he was due to run in Hong Kong. 'He was a bit rusty and he will definitely improve for the run, the plan is to go to the Queen Anne now.'
