Bears Marvel at Kyler Gordon's Slot Coverage

It can only get better, Williams reasoned, because they're planning to keep Gordon in the slot more. There will be fewer reps on the outside.

At Friday's very slow, light practice, they looked extensively at rookies Terell Smith and Tyrique Stevenson on the outside while keeping Gordon in the slot. Even Kindle Vildor got a few reps with the first team near the end of 11-on-11, which hadn't been happening.

"I do believe that just with everything, less is more," Williams said about fewer perimeter plays for Gordon. "So when a player, when you reduce the amount of things that he has to do in terms of technique assignments, they can't help but get better.

"He works at it, unbelievably. He is smart. He is instinctive. I don't know if you remember last year, but he didn't get into that (slot) spot until this time last year. We didn't rep him there in OTAs. So he's got all those reps banked from the season underneath his belt on top of a little bit less on his plate in terms of being outside, so I would say yes, it has helped him on top of one more year in the system."

Rush and Cover

The rush-and-cover concept behind the Bears scheme says each depends on the other. On Friday they put it on display when linebacker T.J. Edwards picked off Justin Fields. He had help, as the edge rush of former Rams pass rusher Terrell Lewis forced Fields to throw.

There is a real opportunity for Lewis if he steps up to take it. The Bears have reportedly looked into some available edge rushers. Lewis has done it before, and was especially effective for Alabama before a knee injury.

So is Williams curious to see what Lewis is capable of doing?

"Let me answer it this way, what I'm curious to see about all the guys, because it's really the same thing: How fast, how hard, and how, again, with violence that can these guys play? And then can they execute their assignment with excellence, and then the overall, can they finish? That’s a big deal. Can they finish?

"Because we don't want to see good, good, bad. Good, good, bad is alignment is good, assignment is good, they can’t finish and make the play. So I want to see at the end whether it's good, good, bad or bad, bad, good–they start bad and then they have the ability to finish the play–it's can they finish the play when it’s their play to make? So that's what I'm looking for in a nutshell."

Catches and Drops

Rookie wide receiver Tyler Scott had an obvious mistake. He dropped a pass deep middle when he'd come open. It was his most blatant mistake in three days, although offensive coordinator Luke Getsy said there is plenty more to learn for a rookie receiver, like exact positioning within the formation.

Justin Fields continued to find DJ Moore, early in play sets. Fields found Moore on one longer play with cornerback Jaylon Johnson in blanket coverage. The passing connection appears to be settling in. ... Wide receiver Chase Claypool displayed no problems after he had gone to the turf on Thursday following an intermediate catch over the middle and got up slowly before stretching out his leg on the sideline.

The best deep ball catch in one-on-one passing might have been tight end Cole Kmet hauling one in with Jaquan Brisker draped on his back. It was bobbled but he kept it.

Once again, running back Travis Homer put on display his abilities as a receiver out of the backfield with a short catch and then an explosive turn upfield.

Missing

Backup linebacker Dylan Cole missed the full practice a day after he had left the field with a trainer. No injury report on Cole has been given. Teams are not required to do this in the preseason and the Bears try to avoid it. Fortunately for the Bears, recovering linebacker Jack Sanborn seems to be getting the approval to practice more as he had his most reps yet. ... Wide receiver Dante Pettis remains on the non-football injury list.