Bears Camp Takeaways: Pass protection issues & Monangai’s emergence

Ariana Pensy · Correspondent · 5 hours ago

CHICAGO - Quarterback Caleb Williams was sacked a league-leading 68 times last season, in large part because of the offensive line struggles.

That is why it is a little troubling to hear the offensive line is certainly struggling in training camp.

“We’re having a difficult time in protection right now,” Johnson said. “I think that’s probably what stands out to me from the first five practices is we need to do a better job giving our quarterbacks a clean pocket. We’re having to work the scramble drill a little bit more than we would like and so, it’s really a credit to (defensive coordinator Dennis Allen).”

When Allen was previously a defensive coordinator, his defenses were notorious for how difficult they were to play against both in the pass and the run game. Chicago’s pass defense was not bad last season, although their run defense was one of the worst in the league.

Johnson has already noticed improvements in the pass defense from the spring to now.

“I think (what’s) been most glaring to me from the springtime to those first four days of practice has been how much tighter our coverage has been,” Johnson said. “The corners, the safeties, the linebackers, it takes time to get this down and what they’re looking to do and yet, they are significantly smaller windows than what they were in the springtime. So, we’re trending in the right direction there.”

Having to play against such tight coverage should be beneficial for Williams to improve his accuracy, especially with a goal of completing 70 percent of his passes.

As training camp continues, he should get more comfortable operating this offense and be ready for the first game of the season on Mon. Sept. 8 (7:15 p.m. / ABC).

“He is so much more comfortable right now (just) in terms of moving around. We go from gun to under to the tight ends are moving, the receivers are moving,” Johnson said. “We’re adding a few more every single day and (his) process (is) really clean right now. I’m talking about how he’s preparing. I’m really pleased with it. He’s doing the work behind the scenes that no one else is seeing and we’re starting to see the dividends being paid from it.”

It would also help Williams to have a more reliable run game. Chicago did not draft a running back until the seventh round. However, they may have gotten a steal in running back Kyle Monangai out of Rutgers. He played in the Big 10 for five seasons and finished his career with 3,222 rushing yards. Over 2,500 of those yards came in his final two seasons. Further, Monangai led the Big 10 in rushing yards in 2023 and was second in rushing yards in the conference last season.

Between minicamp, OTAs, and training camp, Monangai has made an impression thus far.

“He’s a sponge. He just wants to do everything exactly like you coach it and there’s a lot of merit to that because he’s going to be one of those glue guys that you can count on to do it the right way,” Johnson said. “When the pads come on with that particular position, the drill I love the most is the one-on-one pass rush where it’s him versus a linebacker and just to see how stout they are because you have (to) be wired a little bit differently to come up and smack a linebacker in the teeth there day one with pads and I think he’s got that mentality.”