Bears News: Eberflus on Hard Knocks, Williams’ improvements during second week of OTAs |
CHICAGO - The end of the second week of organized team activities (OTAs) before mandatory minicamp starts coincided with the announcement that the Chicago Bears will be featured on a training camp edition of Hard Knocks this coming August.
Bears head coach Matt Eberflus was with the Indianapolis Colts back when the Colts were featured on the show and is familiar with the kind of media presence they entail, something he is excited to have come to Chicago. “I believe that NFL Films and HBO does a great job of getting their message out of the team and we’re going to be proud of that message because I’m proud of these guys and I’m proud of this organization,” Eberflus said. “We have a bunch of really good people here in the building, not only the football players because we have guys that love football, but also the support staff from team ed to our performance staff to our strength staff and those are all good things because we have guys that love football, that love each other and respect the game and play it the right way. So, we’re excited about getting that going. Again, we’re going to maintain our focus on our business and that’s to get ready for the season.” Finishing up this week of OTAs was also important to see the progress of Chicago’s rookie quarterback, Caleb Williams. This is especially true given his struggles in the first week of OTAs. However, participating in seven-on-seven drills, Eberflus saw improvements in his performance. Nonetheless, it is important to note that tackling is not allowed during OTAs, so minicamp and training camp should provide more insight into Williams’ progress thus far. “I thought seven-on-seven for Caleb was really good. I thought he did a really nice job throwing the ball on time. His footwork has improved this whole week,” Eberflus said. “His progress is there and then when you get the rush involved, a lot of times during this time of year, it’s very hard to evaluate the protection because there’s no pads on … We still want to get the full-speed reps and get what we can there.” One important change from OTAs to minicamp is that everyone will be present, although attendance was high for OTAs which are voluntary. Williams has not had the chance to go against all of Chicago’s starters on defense, including edge rusher Montez Sweat. He also will get an opportunity to play with the full offense. Given all of the Bears’ new additions on offense, that is essential. One of those new additions is running back D’Andre Swift. The free agency market was strong this offseason and despite other running backs being available, such as Saquon Barkley and Josh Jacobs, Chicago opted for Swift. “We really needed that guy that could really operate on third down and even on first and second down and be a weapon in the deep part of the field, in the short part of the field and be able to take it the distance and he’s got a lot of gas,” Eberflus said. “D’Andre’s looked really good during this offseason. He’s very quick. He’s a weapon out of the backfield, which is outstanding for our passing game and it’s going to create some mis-matches for us and he can do a lot of things from the backfield. We can split him out wide and run the full route tree. So, he’s exciting to watch.” Mandatory minicamp will take place from Tues. June 4 to Thurs. June 6 before training camp starts in July. The first episode of Hard Knocks will premiere on Aug. 6 (8 p.m.) on Max.
