Bears coordinators Shane Waldron (offense), Eric Washington (defense) and Richard Hightower (special teams) spoke to the media Thursday at Halas Hall. Here are six things we learned from those sessions:

(1) Having worked with rookie Caleb Williams the past four months, Waldron believes that the No. 1 overall pick in the draft possesses the traits and intangibles to thrive as the Bears' starting quarterback.

"Caleb's done a nice job of being comfortable in who he is," Waldron said. "And I think leadership starts with the ability to go out there and perform at this level and also the ability to go out there and not force any sort of leadership on his teammates, especially being a young player in the league.

"If you're a great person and you work hard, you're naturally going to fit into a leadership role, especially at the quarterback position. [I'm] glad everyone around him has embraced him, and I think he's done a good job of naturally falling into that role and not forcing anything."

(2) Even with a rookie quarterback operating a new offense, Waldron anticipates a crisp performance by the unit in Sunday's season opener versus the Titans.

"We expect to execute at a high level in terms of the operation, avoiding any pre-snap penalties, staying ahead of the chains, playing efficient football, being an efficient running football team, being able to operate at a high level," Waldron said.

"Our expectation as an offense in terms of play style and all that, that starts with hustle, effort, all the intangible things that we know we can control, give that as a starting point for us as an offense and then let the skills take over for the players."

(3) Washington, who has spent 12 of his 15 NFL seasons as a defensive line coach, has been impressed with the Bears' front four.

"They've done a tremendous job," Washington said. "They've worked their tails off. It's one of the hardest working groups that I've ever been associated with, and the coaches have done a phenomenal job of identifying areas that we needed to grow in individually and collectively and just making sure that we can be the consistent force that we believe exists within that particular group."

One way to accomplish that is with a rotation system that keeps players fresh. It's why the Bears have 10 defensive linemen on their 53-man roster.

"The reason we dress the number of defensive linemen that we do is to make sure that we can present an explosive group, especially in critical situations," Washington said. "We want to be second-and-10; we don't want to be second-and-1. [Line coach] Travis [Smith] will do a great job of managing that process and just making sure that we understand the first line of rushers, what we need to do on first and second down with respect to that, and just make sure that guys are fresh and explosive when we absolutely need them."

(4) Facing a head coach making his NFL debut in Tennessee's Brian Callahan presents a challenge for the Bears defense.

Callahan was an NFL offensive assistant the past 14 years, most recently serving as Bengals offensive coordinator from 2019-23.

"We have to be ready for tempo changes," Washington said. "We have to be ready for various personnel groupings and just different things that could happen outside of what you normally would see on first and second down."

Preparing to face a new coach and scheme requires research.

"You do your due diligence against the play-caller's background," Washington said. "You also have to look at all of the members of the staff and what they would likely contribute and what their backgrounds and fingerprints have been in terms of what they've majored in at the places that they have coached.

"We'll look as much as we need to, [but] some of this is projection. There is no guarantee this coach will Xerox what they did in Cincinnati and present that to us. He'll have his own ID and spin on what he's done, and our focus will continue to be on us. We have rules, we have a process that we feel like will line up and present itself to whoever we're playing against."

(5) Hightower explained why he's such a strong advocate for Velus Jones Jr., who is expected to contribute on offense and special teams this season.

Hightower was shown on HBO Max's "Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Chicago Bears," explaining why he thought Jones deserved a roster spot.

"I always thought that the kid was super, uber talented," Hightower said. "Really that big and that fast and then now he's gained a tremendous amount of confidence because he is making a lot more plays now and he has done a great job on offense. He's always done a great job in the kicking game, so just looking for him to keep growing and excited about his development phase."

(6) Hightower feels that punter Tory Taylor, who was selected by the Bears in the fourth round of this year's draft, has lived up to his hype.

Taylor arrived with plenty of fanfare after winning the Ray Guy Award as the nation's best punter last year at Iowa and becoming the NFL's highest drafted punter since 2019.

"I've seen growth for sure, but the one thing that you can't coach or teach—it really comes from his parents—is a relentless mindset," Hightower said. "He's relentless. He's competitive, and he really wants to be great. You can push that as a coach, and we all push that. We all talk about competitive greatness. But it's something about this kid that's within, and when you get a chance to work with guys like that, it makes it fun."