Bears Camp — Aug 23: Williams Can't Shake Cincinnati's Rush

Caleb Williams's week in Cincinnati ended the way it kept threatening to all Thursday: two sacks and an interception on the closing two-minute drill of the joint practice with the Bengals, per Jason Lieser at the Chicago Sun-Times — backup tackle Theo Benedet beaten on consecutive plays, then a high, late throw toward tight end Colston Loveland that deflected to Bengals cornerback Jalen Davis. Defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence leaned on the pocket most of the day and added a takeaway of his own, intercepting a screen pass he described this way: "I saw the running back in the corner of my eye and drifted over and did a little volleyball tip and came down with it." It was not all grim — Williams threw three consecutive touchdown passes in red-zone work, hitting Loveland, Kalif Raymond and Kaden Davis, per Michal Dwojak at Shaw Local — but the day opened with a botched snap between center Garrett Bradbury and Williams and closed with the quarterback saying, "I've got to bring the ball down." Ben Johnson, speaking before that practice, had praised Williams's ball placement — "He's taken a lot of pride in where he's putting the ball... It's trending upward" — a sentence the two-minute drill declined to cooperate with.

Chicago's defense had the better Thursday. It held up against Joe Burrow and Cincinnati's starting offense, and rookie safety Dillon Thieneman intercepted a deflected Burrow pass, per Dwojak — with linebacker T.J. Edwards offering the endorsement: "He's a guy that has came in and just worked. He's got all the tools." Saturday flipped that script. The Bengals sat Burrow and most of their starters, and Chicago's first units still lost the film in a 27-to-9 defeat: the opening Cincinnati drive went 67 yards against a Bears defense playing most of its starters — Montez Sweat, Dayo Odeyingbo, Gervon Dexter and Kentavius Street among them — with 40-year-old third-stringer Josh Johnson at the wheel, per Lieser. Williams played one series and went 2-of-5 for 28 yards, completions to Rome Odunze and Loveland followed by three straight misfires, per Larry Mayer at the team's website. Case Keenum relieved him at 9-of-17 for 119 yards and Miller Moss finished. The team totals were the story: 11 penalties for 81 yards and 2-of-14 on third down, per Patrick Finley at the Sun-Times. Cairo Santos supplied all nine points on three field goals and safety Skylar Thomas had the lone takeaway, per Mayer. Johnson afterward, per Finley: "It doesn't matter whether it's the preseason or not, it's a bad feeling in that locker room after the game when you lose, especially like that." The honest label is that starters played roughly two series on each side — but it was the only starter film the week produced, and it pointed the same direction as Thursday.

The left tackle battle, a genuine two-man audition a week ago, resolved itself the old-fashioned way: the incumbent got healthy. Braxton Jones, recovered from the knee injury that opened the job, per Finley, took the first-team left tackle snaps Thursday and started there Saturday — where his holding penalty stalled the opening drive, per Mayer. Jedrick Wills Jr. and Kiran Amegadjie spent the week at right tackle with the second unit, per Dwojak, and Amegadjie left Tuesday's practice with a trainer, per Finley. Benedet's audition came with Johnson's blunt read, per Dwojak: "It was the pass pro that was just a little bit behind... He's still punching with his hands."

The week's real status changes ran in both directions. Running back Kyle Monangai hurt his knee Sunday when he got tangled with defensive tackle Grady Jarrett in a non-padded drill; Johnson called him week-to-week, with Roschon Johnson and Salvon Ahmed absorbing the work, per Finley. Backup quarterback Tyson Bagent's hamstring sat him all week, per Finley, and linebacker Nephi Sewell — concussed a week ago — left Saturday's game on a cart with a knee injury, also per Finley. On the return side, Sweat took his first full practice since August 6 and played Saturday, Ozzy Trapilo returned to practice, and cornerback Tyrique Stevenson got a first, limited practice in a week on Thursday, per Finley and Lieser. The standing absences stayed standing, and can be said quickly: Luther Burden has still not practiced with his groin injury but remains on his Week 1 track — "I know his recovery is going well, so excited to get him back out there," Odunze said, per Mike Moraitis at Sports Illustrated — and Kyler Gordon remains on the physically-unable-to-perform list, with Johnson saying only that there is "a plan, and he's working toward that plan," while Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune writes that Gordon's chances of making the Week 1 roster are "fading by the day."

Back in July we previewed the Bears as a team priced like a fluke that isn't one — the core of last season's surge real, with the regression tax likelier to be paid out of depth than out of contention — and we've been checking that read against camp every week. This was the first week the evidence pointed at the core instead: the starter film in Cincinnati was the worst of the summer on both sides of the ball, even as the depth actually got healthier with Jones, Sweat and Trapilo back. One August week doesn't overturn a preview, but it moves the file from clean to complicated.

What to watch: cutdown to 53 is Sunday, August 30, and the Gordon decision — roster, physically-unable-to-perform, or neither — will say more than any August quote has; and the first practices of game-week prep will show whether the protection problems Cincinnati exposed traveled home. We'll check after cut day.

_Data via nflverse._