The Bears held a joint practice with the Bengals Thursday at Halas Hall that was closed to the public due to inclement weather. Here's what transpired:

The Bears defense showed its ball-hawking ability against Cincinnati's potent offense as linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, safety Kevin Byard III and cornerback Greg Stroman Jr. registered interceptions.

The two teams, who will meet in a preseason game Saturday at Soldier Field, practiced in steady rain that at times was heavy.

"A lot of rain out there today," Byard said. "Kind of favors the defense a little bit, but it was exciting. I've played against [Bengals quarterback] Joe Burrow a lot over the years. I know how good of a quarterback he is. Anytime you get a chance to go up against him and kind of test out some of the things we're doing coverage-wise that kind of confuse him a little bit, it's always fun.

"I felt like the defense brought a lot of energy. Got some takeaways. Got three turnovers, so that's always the goal of the day to get three turnovers, so pretty happy with what we've done and what we did today."

Byard, who is tied for fifth among active NFL players with 28 career interceptions, picked off Burrow Thursday.

"Just kind of trying to disguise the coverage a little bit and kind of really just read the quarterback's eyes kind of took me towards the ball," Byard said. "One of those things where you don't really think. You just kind of react and was able to stretch out and go get the ball, get up, go pick-six. I'd say it was fun. The defense, we had a lot of fun today. I want to be the guy that gets a lot of turnovers for this defense. That's what they brought me here for, so want to keep that going."

Bouncing back

Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams was intercepted by linebacker Germaine Pratt on a pass over the middle on the first play of 7-on-7 drills. But the No. 1 overall pick in the draft rebounded, throwing impressive touchdown passes to receivers DJ Moore on a skinny post and Keenan Allen on a fade pattern.

"First 7-on-7 today he throws an interception, then he comes back," said coach Matt Eberflus. "It was great to be out there in the weather today, really for everybody, just because of the ball. You have to handle the ball differently in the wet, and it was wet out there. There was pretty good rain at times. Not only that, it's the footwork. The footwork matters. You've got to keep your feet under your frame. You've got to make sure that you're doing a good job with your footwork in terms of planting, driving, moving in that wet condition. So, I thought that was a good experience, too, for really everybody."

Backup quarterback Tyson Bagent connected on touchdown passes to receivers Dante Pettis and Freddie Swain.

True professionals

Unlike many joint practices around the NFL, there were no fights or even any pushing and shoving between the Bears and Bengals.

"I want to compliment, first of all, our guys and Cincinnati for being professionals," Eberflus said. "You always worry about guys going off and fighting and all those things. They were great; stayed on their feet, stayed away from the quarterback on both sides and did a really good job of being professional.

"And they were physical. We got some really good work done. A lot of good situations in that practice. That's the first time I've done that—one-day joint practice—I thought it was really good … A lot of good work overall."