The Chicago Bears are back, two days into their voluntary offseason program. Having a new head coach – Ben Johnson – affords them an additional week of preparation. With that time, Bears players like Darnell Wright and Tremaine Edmunds are looking to build chemistry.
Much of the discourse around the 2024 season revolved around the lack of accountability and even chemistry among a group that entered the season with high expectations.
This time, they are still expecting big things, but are paying close attention to those details.
Bears Building Bonds Before Beginning Offseason Program
Tremaine Edmunds: Bears on ‘Same Page’
Asked how they guard against falling into the same issues they dealt with in 2024, Edmunds said it is on the players, beginning “right now.”
“I think it starts today, right now, being here, you know what I mean? Showing that example. And not just that, but we understand what – we went through a lot of stuff as an organization, as a football team. But none of that stuff is what we focus on right now. Obviously, you take that stuff, you learn from those experiences. But at the end of the day, it’s about what we going to do this year as we come together as leaders,” Edmunds told Clocker Sports on April 8.
“That’s what it is, you know what I mean? The stuff they say, the new coaches and everything, that’s the head of the football team. But the football team goes as far as – obviously, as a collective – but the players also have a big part in that. So as players, we got to come and say, ‘No, this is the work that we going to put in, man. This is what the mindset, this is the mentality.’ And accept nothing less than that. You know what I mean? That’s what it is. And like I said, man, that’s – we all on the same page with that. And we’re all fired up for sure.”
This is a key season for Edmunds.
He is heading into Year 3 of a four-year, $72 million contract, and the Bears can cut him with a post-June 1 designation to save $15 million with $2.4 million in dead money. They may not be looking to do so now, but a lot can change in a season.
Darnell Wright Looking to Grow as a Leader
A lot has changed around Wright this offseason, with the Bears acquiring three new interior linemen next to him and fellow OT Braxton Jones.
Entering Year 3, Wright said he is looking to avoid the issues of 2024 through consistency.
“I’d say the biggest thing is just being consistent. Being consistent and growing each day,” Wright told Clocker Sports on Tuesday. “Just being consistent in who I am, them seeing me, and then trying to develop a little bit more into a more leadership role for some of the young guys, maybe, that are coming in or some of the couple guys under me. Just evolving as a player.”
Bears Coaches Challenging Players
Caleb Williams and Jaylon Johnson offered two of the more telling comments of the day, their second at the team’s facilities.
Williams was asked about Johnson’s assertion that he would challenge him to get out of his comfort zone, noting putting the QB under center more often among the ways that will happen during the lead-up to the season.
Williams revealed his head coach sprung a quiz on his QBs on Day 2.
It is a small but potentially beneficial way to make sure neither side grows complacent in a relationship that Williams said will require them to push each other.
Defensively, Dennis Allen takes over a unit that was the team’s strength as usual for years before springing too many leaks last season. Johnson revealed he expects to travel with No. 1 wide receivers in 2025.
Per Pro Football Focus, Johnson lined up on the left and right sides fairly evenly, with a 512-455, right-left split. That only accounts for his alignment, though.
Expect to see Johnson react to WR1s traveling, perhaps even to motion.
That would be a way for the Bears to disguise their coverages elsewhere in the defense, creating that extra half-second for opposing quarterbacks that could prove critical in late-game situations.