Coach Ben Johnson told reporters that the Bears treated Sunday’s Family Fest practice at Soldier Field like a “preseason zero game,” staying at a hotel in downtown Chicago Saturday night.
“Special thank you to George [H. McCaskey] and Kevin [Warren] and Ryan [Poles] getting that done for us,” Johnson said. “The guys certainly, they felt it. We go into next week, our first preseason game, particularly the young guys, they get amped up a little bit. So hopefully a little familiarity with the process will calm the nerves a little bit and then they can go out and play.
“It was great to be out there. The weather is incredible. The fans are amazing. I know our guys felt it.”
The Bears will open their preseason slate by hosting the Dolphins at noon next Sunday.
The defense excelled in 11-on-11 drills most of the day, with a litany of individuals generating impact plays.
End Austin Booker and blitzing nickel back Kyler Gordon recorded what would have been sacks, cornerback Nahshon Wright broke up a pass and lineman Tanoh Kpassagnon deflected a screen pass.
Later in the workout, cornerback Tyrique Stevenson dove to break up a pass intended for receiver Olamide Zaccheaus near the goal line, safety Tysheem Johnson intercepted a deflected throw, end Montez Sweat recorded what would have been a sack and stuffed a jet sweep, and linebacker T.J. Edwards broke up a pass intended for rookie tight end Colston Loveland.
“It was sloppy, sloppier than we were hoping we would be at this point,” Johnson said of the offense’s performance. “We had a couple really good practices over the last two and then took us a little while to get going and hear the pads clicking. I thought toward the end we picked it up and it got pretty competitive there.”