Chicago Bears training camp countdown: QB Caleb Williams gears up to silence the doubters
All the information you need on the Bears’ schedule for preseason, as Chicago bids to return to the playoffs in 2025.
Having registering a negative record yet again last season, the Chicago Bears will bid to bounce back this year by securing a return to the NFL playoffs, under the stewardship of a new head coach.
The Bears went 5-12 in a 2024 campaign that has been branded a “disaster” - and have since appointed the former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, who will attempt to lead Chicago back to the postseason for the first time since 2020.
Johnson’s hopes of success in 2025 will, in no small measure, rest on the shoulders of Caleb Williams. The Bears’ franchise quarterback managed a solid rookie campaign last year, despite the team’s overall struggles - but still has plenty to prove.
When do the Chicago Bears start 2025 training camp?
It has been announced that the Bears’ rookies will report for training camp at Chicago’s Halas Hall headquarters on July 19. The franchise’s newcomers will be followed through the door in Lake Forest, Illinois, by the team’s veterans on July 22.
The Bears’ preseason preparations are to include joint practices with the Miami Dolphins on August 8 and the Buffalo Bills on August 15.
For the @NFL 2025 Training Camp and Joint Practice Dates and Locations, click here: https://t.co/IDDLWxm8t8 pic.twitter.com/MXfpUt3aYb
— NFL345 (@NFL345) June 18, 2025
What is the Bears’ 2025 preseason schedule?
- Week 1: Dolphins, August 10 (1:00 p.m. ET)
- Week 2: Bills, August 17 (8:00 p.m. ET)
- Week 3: Chiefs, August 22 (8:20 p.m. ET)
When is the Bears’ first game of the 2025 regular season?
Chicago opens up its 2025 campaign at home against the Minnesota Vikings, on September 8. Kick-off at Soldier Field is scheduled for 8:15 p.m. ET, and viewers in the U.S. can watch the game on ABC/ESPN.
You can stream ABC and ESPN on the online platform fubo, which offers new users a free, introductory trial.
What were Williams’ rookie stats?
Picked at No. 1 in the 2024 Draft, Williams registered respectable figures in his maiden season in the NFL, throwing for 3,541 yards, 20 touchdowns and only six interceptions.
The 23-year-old became the first Bears quarterback to throw for over 3,500 yards in a single season since 2015.
However, Williams was also sacked on no fewer than 68 occasions - a tally that is the joint-third-most in a season since sacks were first tracked in 1963, per ESPN’s Courtney Cronin.
And Pro Football Focus rates Williams as only the 24th-best starting quarterback in the NFL as things stand, complaining that he has been “touted as a generational talent” but did not live up to such lofty billing in 2024.
Per the NFL analysts, he remains a QB “with a wide range of potential outcomes”.
PFF, which grades players’ performances out of 100, gave Williams an overall score of 67.6 for last season, explaining: “The talent is undeniable, but his NFL success will hinge on learning to find open targets and avoiding the habit of running himself into pressure.”
Williams: “I wanted to come here”
“Playing quarterback in the NFL is fun as can be,” Williams said after the Bears ended a 10-game losing streak with a Week 18 win over the Green Bay Packers in January. “The adrenaline, the time, effort and energy you put into it”.
The former USC Trojans signal caller added: “I think there’s a lot of learning lessons [that can be taken from the 2024 season]. I think they were needed for myself but also for this team and [I] can’t wait for what’s next.”
Williams will now attempt to belie a controversial, widely-publicized remark by his father, Carl, as he attempts to become the first Bears quarterback ever to throw for more than 4,000 yards or 30 touchdowns in a season.
In May, Williams faced a media storm after a new book by the NFL writer Seth Wickersham quoted Carl as saying: “Chicago is the place quarterbacks go to die.”
Wickersham’s publication - American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback - details the Williams’ apparent exploration of ways to avoid the quarterback’s eventual selection by the Bears, who had the top pick.
Speaking to reporters in the wake of the controversy, Caleb insisted: “I wanted to come here.”
He went on: ”We’re focused on the present, we’re focused on now. We’re focused on, you know, trying to get this ship moving in the right direction.”
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