CHICAGO – Caleb Williams took the snap and then rolled to his right for a pitch to Kyle Monangai.

One issue with that: The seventh-round draft pick ran left.

That was a rare mental miscue from the Bears rookie running back, who already is drawing praise for his attention to detail and physical rushing style.

The Rutgers product saw plenty of action during Sunday’s practice at Soldier Field for the team’s annual Family Fest. He ran the ball hard between the tackles and received tons of work during live tackling periods.

“I’ve been very pleased with where he’s at,” head coach Ben Johnson said. “I think he’s a guy that we’re going to be able to trust this fall.”

Johnson doesn’t just toss out praise, either. Trusting a rookie to be part of the running back rotation is important, even if he’s working behind D’Andre Swift and Roschon Johnson.

Monangai will have carries if he runs as hard as he did over three carries from the 10-yard line that eventually resulted in a touchdown.

Johnson routinely has stuck up for his running backs despite outside talk that the group could use an upgrade. Sunday was no different after a physical practice with lots of hitting and some strong runs.

“I thought all the runners — (Monangai), I thought Roschon, Swifty, Ian (Wheeler), I thought all those guys were putting their shoulders down and were running through contact if they saw a little crease,” Johnson said. “… I thought those guys were playing a physical brand of football all around.”

Ben Johnson effect being felt

Johnson is respected throughout the NFL for his play-calling and play designs. He’s also known as a play-action wizard, and rightfully so.

Evidence of that was clear Sunday, when two play fakes were brilliantly executed to fool the defense and resulted in touchdowns.

The best play of the day came from Williams, who executed a fake handoff and really sold it, before tossing a screen pass to Cole Kmet going in the other direction, who sauntered in for an easy TD.

Tyson Bagent also executed a play fake that sucked the defense toward the running back, which left Durham Smythe open on the other side for another TD.

The point in stating all that is to say this: Johnson’s designs, when executed right, can produce dynamic plays. His players are starting to experience that firsthand.

“You can see it when he’s presenting and installing these plays,” Kmet said in a post-practice press conference. “Maybe not all of them we get a ton of reps of, and you guys don’t maybe see all of them this time of year. But the design and the detail of them and what he wants to get done with each of these plays, it’s really cool to see, and I know everyone’s excited to go out there and execute these plays (in a regular-season game).”

Solider Field dress rehearsal

The Bears stayed at a downtown Chicago hotel Saturday night, the eve of the practice at Solider Field. They came to the field as they would on a game day and followed with a full pre-game warmup.

All that was done by design, as a dress rehearsal for the upcoming home slate.

“Definitely exciting coming in here, and not just the rookies,” Kmet said. “I think everyone had a little bit of nervous energy coming in today just because of the stadium deal. Like I said, it’s a good thing and good things to work through before we get going with the preseason games.”

Injury update

The Bears announced three injuries that kept players out of action: Tight end Jordan Murray has a groin issue, receiver Myles Boykin is dealing with an ankle injury and running back Deion Hankins is dealing with a concussion.

Offensive tackle Kiran Amegadjie (leg) and guard Bill Murray (undisclosed) remained out, with long snapper Scott Daly (back) returned to practice.

Defensive lineman Shemar Turner (ankle) and defensive back Zah Frazier (personal) remain out for an extended stretch.

Practice notes

Large portions of the Family Fest practice had scrimmage-like feel, with a fair amount of live tackling. Johnson considered it a sloppier practice from the offense after two solid sessions, and he was right.

That was especially true early. The first-team offense’s opening series featured 11 snaps, two delay-of-game penalties, two hurries due to pressures, one sack and three other incompletions, including a Williams pass that WR Rome Odunze broke up to prevent an interception.

The first-team offense allowed a safety on a move-the-ball drill that started on the 1-yard line. A shotgun handoff to Swift was blown up by DT Gervon Dexter Sr. in the end zone. The second-team defense almost had one, but RB Roschon Johnson managed to ram his way beyond the goal line.

All told, the Bears had three delay-of-game penalties and were forced to call a timeout following a play that went out of bounds. Ben Johnson wasn’t thrilled with that at all.

“It’s something we’re going to have to address, for sure,” he said. “It showed up more today than it has in practice. This was more like a real game, and if it continues like that, we’re not going to win many games.” 

The offense had some nice moments, like the play-action touchdowns mentioned earlier in this camp report. Williams finished an end-of-half situation with a touchdown pass to rookie TE Colston Loveland to end the first-team’s day on a high note. WR DJ Moore had a 10-yard touchdown run when lined up in the backfield.

WR JP Richardson had yet another big catch, which you can see below:

DE Montez Sweat was a monster yet again, with what would have been two or three sacks in a real game, though not all of them were called in the practice. DE Dayo Odeyingbo had another one, as the defensive line continues to make its presence felt.

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