The Chicago Bears are finally here to play football in August to kick off the 2026 season with some preseason action against the Cleveland Browns.
The Bears have many intriguing storylines heading into the games as they try to figure out who will make the 53-man roster. Many of those storylines involve some of the most intense position battles in camp, including left tackle, safety, and cornerback.
Another major storyline is how much the starters will play in this game, especially Bears quarterback Caleb Williams. Bears fans are curious to see whether he will take the field in the second year of head coach Ben Johnson's tenure in Chicago.
Will Caleb Williams play for the Bears against the Browns?
Johnson announced toward the end of the week that he wouldn't play many of the starters in the Browns game. He was specifically asked about Williams and said he wouldn't put him on the field.
"I don't know that I need to see game snaps," Johnson said on Thursday via chicagobears.com. "What we're trying to assess is the volume throughout the week and making sure we're hitting our benchmarks to make sure our team is ready to go for a 17-plus game season. That's what we're looking to do.
"Next week we can address when it gets there. But we have a plan in place of the reps, the workload we want to get as a team between the joint practice with Cincinnati and the game reps as well … But do I need to see Caleb Williams in the preseason? No, I don't. I see him every single day in practice and I know what we're going to get come the season, and yet there is a workload and there is a number of reps that we want to hit as a team, so [we will] make sure we even that out whether that's game reps or not."
Last year, Williams played in all of the preseason games, as did most of the starters. This was different: Johnson was implementing a new offense and needed his guys on the field. After the training camp struggles, the preseason games helped clean up some practice mistakes, which paid off with an 11-6 record in 2025.
This time around, the Bears are much more familiar with Johnson's scheme and are doing a lot better in training camp. Williams has firm control of the offense, so throwing him out there doesn't seem like a thing they should do.
Also, with all the injury concerns the Bears have had in training camp over the last three weeks, protecting the starters matters more than getting live game reps. They have already lost Coby Bryant, Luther Burden III, Zavion Thomas, Braxton Jones, and Montez Sweat to practice injuries.
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It's disappointing not to see Williams play, but most Bears fans would agree it is the right call. Now the stress of whether the starters will get hurt won't be on their minds, and they can watch football without any concerns to think about.
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