LAKE FOREST, Ill. – The Bears have conducted some, shall we say, spirited practices in the early portions of camp. No fights, no pushing and shoving. Just lots and lots of trash talk during exchanges between offense and defense.

Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen’s crew has regularly won the day, with many offensive players saying the defense is throwing a ton at them. It isn’t supposed to be easy.

“Another coach told me (Sunday), they said, ‘Dennis has a little ego too now.’ He didn’t come into camp looking to get steamrolled at all,” head coach Ben Johnson said, with a laugh. “He’s looking to make a name for the defense. He’s bringing it, he’s bringing it left and right. It’s a compliment when all those defenders talk about how complex it is because yeah, we see it on offense too. It’s hard.”

Johnson is a competitive sort, even within a coaching staff. He and Aaron Glenn used to compete like heck in practice when they were opposing coordinators in Detroit.

Allen doesn’t necessarily share the same mindset in these practices. His defenses don’t give an inch in these practices, but it’s more over getting right over beating the other side.

“I don’t know that I necessarily quite looking at it like that, like we’re competing against each other,” Allen said in a Wednesday press conference. “Here’s what my job is. My job is to put the best fricking defense on the field. I’m not really focused a lot on what we’re seeing offensively or how they’re doing things offensively. Obviously, the National Football League is a highly, highly competitive league. Every day that we go out there, we’re always competing. I look at it as, I’m trying to coach these guys to be the best versions of themselves that they can be, so we can therefore put the best product out on the field.”

Bears droppin’ dime (packages)

Allen’s base defense can be described as a 4-3, but he spends the vast majority of the time in a 4-2-5. That means slot cornerback Kyle Gordon will rarely leave the field.

The Bears have been tinkering with a varied (and maybe a slightly unconventional) use of the dime package, with four down linemen, one linebacker and six defensive backs. We’ve seen a good deal of that during camp.

“I just think it gives us a little more versatility,” Allen said. “And yet look we’re not married to any particular package. We’re going to explore a lot of different things, a lot of different packages. And we’re going to throw a lot of stuff against the wall. We’re going to see what sticks and ultimately that’s what we’re going to do — put our guys in the best position to be successful.

“I think I said this the other day, our job as coaches is to find the best 11 to give us the best opportunity to play successful defense, whatever that package is. Is it three linebackers, is it two linebackers, is it five DBs, six DBs, and that could vary from week to week.”

Allen has versatile defensive backs to make a dime package work in lots of different situations. That’s because Kyler Gordon and Jaquan Brisker can defend the run well near the line of scrimmage. They can blitz or perform well dropping back into coverage.

They give Allen flexibility to do a lot with one personnel package, though it means linebacker T.J. Edwards would come off the field in those instances. Is that the best use of Bears defenders? It depends upon the matchup, as Allen said, but his history shows a willingness to get creative with his defensive backs.

Injury updates

The Bears were down several offensive linemen on Wednesday, including some prominent players. Starting right guard Jonah Jackson didn’t participate and is considered day-to-day with a leg injury. Left tackle Braxton Jones was given a scheduled rest day. Reserve guard Bill Murray and backup center Ricky Stromberg were also unavailable. Left guard Joe Thuney was dressed and participated but was not involved in team drills.

Rookies Shemar Turner (ankle) and Zah Frazier (personal) continue to miss time.

Practice notes

The Bears practiced without pads Wednesday, following two days with them on. The open session was focused almost exclusively on red-zone work (and special teams) in a shortened session that lasted less than two hours. It should also be noted that these weren’t true red zone drives. They were scripted sessions typically setting up reps with pre-determined downs and distances, with some exceptions.

QB Caleb Williams completed a series of shorter passes to WRs DJ Moore, Olamide Zaccheaus and Luther Burden, the last of which was declared dead after 8-ish yards and not the touchdown the crowd thought it was.

In a 7-on-7 drill, Williams threw a ball toward WR Rome Odunze near the back pylon that CB Nick McCloud broke up. He also had a ball tipped away from TE Colston Loveland and two more incompletions. He also threw a touchdown pass to a wide open RB Kyle Monangai in the flat.

In a final 11-on-11 session, DE Montez Sweat had a clear sack and Williams threw two incompletions, but ran one into the end zone clean for a score.