The shift of culture for the Chicago Bears continues with an interesting way they went about preparing for their Week 2 preseason matchup against the Buffalo Bills.
Chicago is coming off a 24-24 tie to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. Instead of resting on Monday, those who did not play in the game practiced. Everyone else got to rest for the day.
Bears offensive coordinator Declan Doyle spoke about the strategy before the Monday practice to share the thinking process of head coach Ben Johnson.
"It's kind of what I've been exposed to around Sean Payton the last six years," Doyle said via Bears Wire. "We always practiced the day after a game. And I think it actually goes back to Bill Parcells. There's this misnomer that you're playing in the game and there's a really physical wear-and-tear for all of them. A lot of them (took) limited reps. So guys that were under -- call it -- 15-20 reps, really they can still go practice today and still go have a good day. Really, it's geared more towards those starters that didn't play in the game yesterday, trying to give them this game-like feel."
How did the Monday practice go for the Bears?
247Sports BearReport's Zack Pearson reported that 34 players in total practiced with the Bears, who were out on the field for approximately 70 minutes. It appeared not to be a good practice for the offense with drop passes and quarterback Caleb Williams not in sync with his receivers.
While it was a ‘lighter’ day out there. The offense never got into sync. Saw some drops, some missed throws, bad execution.
— Zack Pearson (@Zack_Pearson) August 11, 2025
Ended with a rough situational drill where the O was down 3 with 54 seconds left in the game at their own 49. Struggled to move the ball in that period.…
This has become a common theme for the Bears at training camp, as it started with the first week being all doom and gloom for the offense. Since then, it has been inconsistent at best.
Most of the Bears' starters, including Williams, did not play on Sunday as the team went through a heavily simulated practice beforehand with the starters. There were some criticisms of Williams and the offense not playing well during the training camp struggles.
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All of this is too much to read into since it's not even the regular season, but Bears fans hope to see something better out of the first team units when they face the Bills on Sunday.