Bears coordinators Shane Waldron (offense), Eric Washington (defense) and Richard Hightower (special teams) spoke to the media Thursday at Halas Hall. Here are five things we learned from those sessions:
(1) Washington lauded the red-zone defense for not allowing the Commanders to score a touchdown on three drives inside-the-20 last Sunday.
The defense kept the Bears in the game by forcing the Commanders to settle for four field goals, including three on possessions that reached the 7, 7 and 9. In the first half, nickel back Josh Blackwell and cornerback Tyrique Stevenson broke up third-down passes, leading to field goals.
Entering Week 9, the Bears defense tops the NFL in red-zone touchdown percentage at 36.8, having permitted seven TDs on 19 possessions inside-the-20.
"It's been consistent," Washington said. "The guys have done a tremendous job in that part of the field of understanding the urgency that you need and understanding that our goals are field goals and takeaways. We want to take the ball away or force field goals. Their urgency went up. We had to do things to defend the run. We had to do things in terms of affecting the quarterback. And everything was exactly what you wanted."
(2) Waldron was impressed with the resiliency that rookie quarterback Caleb Williams showed after a slow start in Washington.
After the offense failed to score on its first seven possessions of the game into the third quarter, Williams engineered two touchdown drives to turn a 12-0 deficit into a 15-12 lead with :25 remaining. On the Bears' final two possessions, Williams completed 6 of 8 passes for 95 yards, including gains of 27 yards to DJ Moore, 22 yards to Keenan Allen and 16 yards to Rome Odunze.
"You see a true competitor that's never going to give in," Waldron said, "that's going to make everyone around him have that belief that no matter what the score is early in the game, at the end of the game we're going to have a chance to win it."
Even when Williams is struggling, he always maintains a next-play mentality.
"The best part about Caleb though is if misses a throw, he has that forward-thinking mindset so he's ready for that next play, ready for that next challenge," Waldron said. "He doesn't let the [previous play] affect his next play. He'll come right back out there ready to fire and ready to go through the process."
(3) Hightower praised punter Tory Taylor for his performance against the Commanders.
The rookie fourth-round pick averaged 48.7 yards on seven punts, placing four inside-the-10 with Washington starting drives at its own 9, 8, 7 and 9.
On the Bears' opening possession, on fourth-and-20 from their own 20, Taylor flipped the field by booming a career-long 68-yard punt to the Commanders' 12.
"I thought Tory punted better in this game than he punted when he won special teams player of the week against the Rams [in Week 4]," Hightower said. "He had an amazing football game. To punt the ball the way he punted it and the situations that he was presented with, and how he punted the football was tremendous growth. We just need to get more of that."
Hightower was pleased with the entire punt coverage team.
"I thought the protection unit did a phenomenal job in that football game," he said, "whether it was backed up or it was in the plus-50 area to pin those guys to give our defense a long field. I felt like the gunners did a great job outside getting in the face of the returners. We challenge them, as well as the punt unit, to make more impactful plays and the gunners did a phenomenal job with that. That's something we wanted to do coming out of the bye."
(4) Washington liked what he saw from defensive end Jacob Martin, who made his Bears debut after missing the first six games with a toe injury.
Martin registered two tackles, one tackle-for-loss and one quarterback hit. He signed with the Bears in March after spending his first six NFL seasons with the Seahawks (2018), Texans (2019-21), Broncos (2022), Jets (2022) and Colts (2023), recording 85 tackles, 16 tackles-for-loss, 18.0 sacks, seven forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries and four pass breakups.
"The energy was obvious," Washington said. "His energy, the speed, the quickness, the toughness. I thought he did some really nice things as an edge rusher. I thought he was in position a couple of times to not only affect the quarterback but to hit him, and I am looking forward to him taking a pretty significant leap this week."
(5) Waldron continues to be impressed by tackle Larry Borom, who returned to practice last week for the first time since hurting his ankle in the preseason finale.
The fourth-year pro could see playing time Sunday against the Cardinals, especially because tackles Braxton Jones (knee) and Kirin Amegadjie (calf) and guard Teven Jenkins (knee) all did not practice Thursday due to injuries.
"I think Larry has done an unbelievable job … of staying connected, staying involved, staying up to date with the scheme," Waldron said. "And he's worked his butt off to get back healthy through that rehab, and then gets a chance to get back out on the practice field. This is a guy that's played in games and played at a high level, so his readiness from a mental standpoint is right there, physical standpoint right there, so we have all the trust in the world of him playing and playing at a high level in the game."
