\n Bears safety Jaquan Brisker (9), right and cornerback Nick McCloud (24) work out during practice last week at the team\u2019s NFL training camp in Lake Forest.
\n AP\n <\/p>\n
Bears safety Jaquan Brisker settled into his assignment during the first 11-on-11 pass play of Monday\u2019s training camp practice as quarterback Caleb Williams took the snap. What happened next surprised Brisker.<\/p>\n
Williams decided to test Brisker by sneaking in a pass toward his direction. Once Brisker saw what Williams was about to do, he quickly reacted and dove at the ball before batting it down.<\/p>\n
It was an electric play for the defense to set the tone for the morning. But Brisker had other thoughts about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI should\u2019ve picked that,\u201d Brisker said Monday at Halas Hall in Lake Forest. \u201cI should\u2019ve made a play on that. I didn\u2019t think he was going to try me, but he did. I should\u2019ve come away with that, but it just ended up being a (pass breakup).\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bears will need more of those moments and energy if they want to rebound from a 5-12 season. Brisker\u2019s health and ability to play in games will play a major role in whether they can do that.<\/p>\n
Over three seasons, Brisker has started all 35 games he\u2019s appeared in. But injuries have kept him away from the field at various moments in his career. Brisker has been diagnosed with three concussions since he joined the Bears in 2022, including one that kept him out of the final 12 games last season. He also missed parts of all three training camps he\u2019s been a part of because of various injuries.<\/p>\n
Brisker hasn\u2019t worn a guardian cap during the spring and training camp and told reporters he never thought about wearing one. He did change his helmet as he\u2019s focused on playing as much as he can this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally just play all 21 games,\u201d Brisker said. \u201cWhen I say 21 it\u2019s plus playoffs and Super Bowl. Just really that I can play all 21 games. I\u2019m a playmaker. I can make plays. I\u2019m going to hit. I\u2019m going to tackle, cover, make plays on the ball and things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s also going to bring the noise.<\/p>\n
While the Bears missed Brisker\u2019s play on the field, they also missed his energy. Brisker has always been a loud player on and off the field since he first came into the NFL. He\u2019s brought that energy back with him in the spring and the start of camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s going to bring the juice,\u201d safety Kevin Byard said. \u201cLike I said, be who you gonna be every single day. And that\u2019s what I love about him. Every single day, he\u2019s the same person. And he\u2019s a heck of a football player. I mean, let\u2019s not get it twisted. I know he had the concussion last year. But the first five games he was on a tear. So I\u2019m expecting the same things from him this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
If Brisker can stay on the field, he should meet those expectations in defensive coordinator Dennis Allen\u2019s scheme. Allen has already shown he\u2019ll play various coverages during camp to confuse offenses. Brisker has played into that, learning different positions in order to play back in coverage, on the line of scrimmage, in the slot or outside.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an effort to play up to Brisker\u2019s talents and make teams worry about where he is at all times. If he can stay healthy, they\u2019ll likely be looking for his jersey.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s fun,\u201d Brisker said. \u201cWe\u2019re flying around and making plays. We\u2019re actually playing faster than what I think they thought and to what I thought. We\u2019re in a good position.\u201d<\/p>\n
Practice notes<\/p>\n
The Bears finally got a chance to hit each other Monday as they put the pads on and practiced in humid conditions in the morning.<\/p>\n
Rookie tight end Colston Loveland had his best practice of camp as he made a few impressive catches and was active with different quarterbacks. His best catch came during 7-on-7 drills when he jumped up high to grab a pass from Williams. He caught another pass down the middle from Williams a couple throws later.<\/p>\n
Loveland, the Bears\u2019 first-round draft pick in April, has been working his way back onto the field over the past week. He didn\u2019t participate during offseason workouts before the start of camp as he recovered from shoulder surgery he had in January. Loveland first took part in team drills Saturday before Sunday\u2019s off day.<\/p>\n
The offense showed mixed results as it focused more on the run game. Williams and center Drew Dalman struggled with some exchanges during 11-on-11s and the offense was called for a false start.<\/p>\n
The duo continues to develop their bond after the Bears signed Dalman during the offseason. Williams is also still learning how to play more under center after not doing it much in college or his rookie season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had plenty of learning moments where we\u2019re getting a feel for each other,\u201d Dalman said. \u201cEvery quarterback and center exchange is a little different. But yeah, it\u2019s great and he\u2019s done a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n
The first team had its best showing during 7-on-7s when Williams completed four of his six passes during the session. DJ Moore made an impressive catch on a deep ball and also showed off his running back skills.<\/p>\n
Braxton Jones, Ozzy Trapilo and Kiran Amegadjie all took snaps at left tackle with the first team Monday.<\/p>\n
Injury update<\/p>\n
Rookie wide receiver Luther Burden III returned to the practice field Monday for the first time since rookie minicamp at the beginning of May. Burden, whom the Bears selected in the second round of April\u2019s draft, had been out with a soft-tissue issue. He didn\u2019t do much work Monday as he worked his way back into football activities.<\/p>\n
Rookie cornerback Zah Frazier (personal) missed his fifth practice of camp while rookie defensive tackle Shemar Turner (ankle) sat out his fourth straight. Amegadjie returned to the field after leaving practice Saturday while center Doug Kramer was out with a leg injury he suffered Saturday. He\u2019s considered day-to-day.<\/p>\n
Defensive end Tanoh Kpassagnon, whom the Bears signed Tuesday, left practice on a cart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bears safety Jaquan Brisker (9), right and cornerback Nick McCloud (24) work out during practice last week at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243898,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2070],"tags":[374,692,391,2493,769,7,6,767,768,9,770],"class_list":{"0":"post-243897","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-bears","8":"tag-bears","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-bears","11":"tag-chicagobears","12":"tag-content-providers","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-pro-sports","16":"tag-shaw-local","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-sports-leagues"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114933431362608956","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}