LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- At long last, Bears training camp began Saturday with a short practice that featured just one 7-on-7 period and two 11-on-11 stanzas.
As has been the case through most of the offseason program, the Bears' first-team defense held the upper hand on quarterback Caleb Williams and an offense that is still in the installation phase.
The Bears opened the first "move the ball" 11-on-11 period on their own 25-yard line, needing a first down to win the drill.
Williams hit running back D'Andre Swift out of the backfield for a gain of 4. The offense had difficulty breaking the huddle ahead of second down, which caused head coach Matt Eberflus to call for a timeout. This was the offense's only operational issue of the day.
On second-and-6 from the 21, Williams hit tight end Cole Kmet for a gain of 2, and that's where the progress stopped. On third-and-4, Williams connected with running back Roschon Johnson on a swing pass to the left that went for no gain.
Williams went for it all on fourth down, trying to connect with DJ Moore for a touchdown on a post route, but the pass was knocked away by safety Elijah Hicks.
The first-team offense ran an extra play after losing the drill, but Williams' screen pass to Swift was sniffed out quickly by defensive end Jacob Martin.
The Bears ended the first day of camp with a two-minute drill that saw the offense down four with 1:10 left and the ball on the opposing 40-yard line.
Williams opened the drill with a slick side-arm pass to Keenan Allen for a gain of 5.
The next play was the most notable of a light opening training camp day at Halas Hall.
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On second down, Williams dropped back to throw, looked right, and fired a pass that defensive tackle Gervon Dexter batted up in the air. Williams reacted quickly, catching the ball and scampering for a short gain.
"That's pretty cool, right?" Eberflus said after practice wrapped. "He’s got good quickness. You saw that right there. He’s got good quickness, obviously a good athlete."
With the clock under a minute, the Bears' offense needed to get into gear on third down. However, Williams' pass to Tyler Scott on the right sideline was incomplete due to a miscommunication that saw Scott turn upfield when Williams thought he would sit down on the sideline.
Williams' fourth-down pass to tight end Stephen Carlson also fell incomplete along the right sideline to end the drill.
Despite the defense winning the day, the Bears liked how things looked on Day 1 of a 50-day march to Week 1.
"I thought it was solid," wide receiver Keenan Allen said. "I thought that was a great start for us, really the whole day I thought was a great start for us. We looked real solid. Like I said, no repeats and everybody was on the same page."
CHICAGO BEARS
Here are more notes from Day 1 of camp:
-- Williams went 3-for-4 in his lone 7-on-7 drill, including short, decisive completions to Moore and Velus Jones Jr.
-- Safety Jaquan Brisker made the play of the day during 7-on-7 when he broke up a pass from Williams to Scott. Williams tried to find Scott on a corner route, but Brisker read the play, broke on the ball, and batted it away.
-- Left tackle Braxton Jones and linebacker T.J. Edwards both are limited to start camp.
-- Larry Borom took the first-team left tackle reps with Jones out. Ryan Bates got most of the first-team reps at center, while Doug Kramer got a few first-team reps. Kramer only took a few snaps with the ones during a time when backup center Coleman Shelton was working with the second-team offensive line on a different field.
-- Rookie wide receiver Rome Odunze missed Saturday for a personal reason. He is expected back Sunday.
-- Tight end Gerald Everett and rookie offensive tackle Kiran Amegadjie did not participate after opening camp on the non-football injury list.
The Bears were aware of Everett's issue, which they do not believe is serious.
"It was something that we knew from training," Eberflus said when asked about Everett after practice. "It was from training, and we'll see where it goes. It's day to day, and we'll see where it goes. It was nothing major. And so that's where it is."
-- The Bears will not host Family Fest at Soldier Field this season due to a scheduling conflict with a concert.
