The Chicago Bears and Tennessee Titans finished a physical joint practice on Thursday. Here are the top plays and everything you need to know from the Bears' latest practice.
NASHVILLE -- During the final team period between in the Chicago Bears' joint practice with the Tennessee Titans, veteran safety Xavier Woods lined up as the safety opposite of Dillon Thieneman.
Titans receiver Wan'Dale Robinson ran a route towards the middle of the field. Woods, entering Year 10 in the NFL, saw quarterback Cam Ward throw the ball in the middle of the field, breaking on the play. As the ball was approaching Robinson, Woods lowered his shoulder and delivered a huge blow on the receiver.
Robinson laid on the ground with his hands stiff, not moving after the violent collision. Titans center Austin Schlottmann immediately got in Woods' face, clearly upset with the type of hit.
Bears and Titans ran to the middle near where the play happened before everyone dispersed. Woods came off the field.
After the practice, Titans head coach Robert Saleh said Robinson was being evaluated for a concussion and called the hit "cheap."
Veteran defensive tackle Grady Jarrett saw something else with the hit.
"We practice a certain way," Jarrett said. "The way we want to play ball, and nothing is done with malice, but we got to play our style of defense the way we want to at all times, and, you know, sometimes things happen, and, I mean, just one of those things that happen, but, you know, it kind of is what it is, you know?"
The Bears were doing their part to set the tone on defense. Despite being 30-to-40 yards away, I could clearly hear defensive end Montez Sweat jawing back and fourth with members of the Titans' offense. Same went for veteran cornerback Jaylon Johnson and even defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo did some chirping.
It was a hot and physical practice.
Here are my notes from the Bears and Titans joint practice on Thursday at the Vanderbilt Health Football Center.
Offensive Notes
I attempted to simultaneously watch the Bears' starting offense and defense, which is not easy when both units are practicing at the same time and there are plenty of obstacles, like players, and not-so-ideal vantage points.
But still came away with plenty of observations.
- In one of the team sessions that I observed, quarterback Caleb Williams completed all four of his pass attempts. It started with a throw to Rome Odunze, who had safety Amani Hooker in coverage. Williams had solid protection and threw an accurate pass to his receiver.
- Williams then completed a pass to receiver Maurice Alexander. I noted the protection again on this rep.
- Running back D'Andre Swift had a run to the right and there was a defender in the vicinity, but I'm curious if the Bears' running back would have made the Titans' defense miss in a live period.
- Williams completed a pass to tight end Colston Loveland on the right side, and the second-year player used a nice spin move to break away from the defender to get some yards after the catch.
- The final play was a screen to wide receiver J.P. Richardson on the right side. The Bears had some good perimeter blocking on the play.
After Tyson Bagent threw a touchdown to Alexander and celebrated by shooting a bow and arrow, the Bears' first-team unit came back up for some more reps.
This period wasn't as clean. Defensive tackle Jordan Elliott broke free up the middle and stopped a D'Andre Swift run. Elliott pounded his chest after the rep. Williams and Loveland couldn't connect on a pass down the right sideline. After some pressure, Williams found Cole Kmet on a shovel pass in the middle of the field. Then, as usual, Williams connected with Loveland in the middle of the field for a good gain.
(Side note: Williams and Loveland have been a deadly combo all camp. It showed again in Thursday's joint practice.)
This 11-on-11 period ended with Williams completing a pass to Odunze. The Bears' wide receiver ran towards the left portion of the field and ended the play with a strong stiff arm. The Titans' defender didn't like that and attempted to get in Odunze's face, but Bears running back Roschon Johnson was there to backup his teammate. Nothing ended up happening.
The final team session for the first team offense ended on a dud. Williams started with a completion to Kalif Raymond on an out route towards the left sideline. Then the next play was blown dead after a sack. Williams thought he "escaped the pressure" but the play ended. There was an incompletion to Raymond on the next play, but Williams went right back to the veteran receiver for a big gain in the middle of the field. Oduzne caught a pass in the middle of the field for an explosive play on the next snap. But everything came to an end after safety Tony Adams intercepted Williams.
“Good day, a lot of learning," Williams said. "At the end gotta trust coach right there. I kinda was pushing for a play and we were in a weird yardage. Just trusting coach and allow him to be the magician of a play caller he is.”
- Braxton Jones got all of the first-team reps at left tackle in the joint practice. I would be shocked if he isn't the Week 1 starter. Ozzy Trapilo didn't participate in team drills, but did get some pass pro work in with a teammate after practice ended.
- Jahdae Walker had an impressive day. Tyson Bagent rolled out to his left and connected with Walker in the back left portion of the end zone. He didn't have much space to work with but was able to get his two feet in bounds for the score. Case Keenum also connected with Walker on a crossing route in the low red-zone period.
- Sam Roush had his most impactful day as a pass catcher on Thursday. He made a contested catch on a 50/50 ball down the right sideline. A few plays later, the rookie tight end made a back-shoulder catch for a touchdown from Keenum. The Bears' sideline erupted with excitement.
Also, check out this trick play the Bears fan in today's practice.
Defensive Notes
Veteran cornerback Jaylon Johnson took himself out of a play during the low red-zone period. He was favoring his right arm and was evaluated on the sideline from trainer Andre Tucker. The Bears took Johnson's helmet away immediately, but he did stay on the sideline for the remainder of practice. He was even seen smiling while talking to defensive backs coach and defensive pass game coordinator Al Harris.
Cornerback Tyrique Stevenson also was in and out of practice for a majority of the day. Stevenson didn't finish the practice against the Titans.
On Tuesday, veteran defensive back Cam Lewis talked highlighted that he wasn't pleased with his training camp because he hasn't made enough plays on the ball. Well, Titans quarterback Cam Ward airmailed a pass over the middle of the field and Lewis intercepted the second-year QB.
Cornerback Terell Smith made a nice diving pass breakup during one of the team periods.
Rookie Malik Muhammad played some outside cornerback and mixed in at nickel throughout the practice. There were times when Lewis played as the nickel defender with Skyler Thomas as the safety opposite of Dillon Thieneman.
The Bears' first-round rookie got picked on a couple times in this practice. Running back Tony Pollard caught an explosive pass down the left sideline with Thieneman in coverage. Titans tight end Gunnar Helm also caught an incredible one-handed catch on Thieneman.
Muhammad also gave up a touchdown from the slot in the front left corner of the end zone, but later in the practice the rookie broke up a pass intended for wide receiver Carnell Tate.
Josh Blackwell gave up a touchdown to wide receiver Chimere Dike in the left portion of the end zone.
