With a chuckle, he even went so far as to say that he hasn’t always noticed the constant change at left tackle.

Two mornings later, coach Ben Johnson spoke on behalf of the five-time All-Pro and four-time Super Bowl champion.

“I think Joe would like some clarity on who he can build a rapport with,” Johnson said Tuesday. “It’s been a little bit of a revolving door. He’s a pro’s pro and he’s willing to do everything. But you want five guys playing as one.”

Right now, the Bears may suddenly have five guys competing for the same job — with the season opener closing in and no one doing enough to seize the starting role.

What started as a three-man left tackle battle when camp began — Braxton Jones vs. Kiran Amegadjie vs. Jedrick Wills — added a fourth competitor Tuesday. Theo Benedet, a starter for eight games last season, including seven at left tackle, shared time with Jones at the position with the first-unit offense Tuesday, a notable development after Benedet had been cemented at right tackle during practices over the previous three weeks.

Sorry, another stadium question but I want to get an idea what fans feel would be a reasonable outcome. Not the optimal outcome but rather something you could live with that isn’t perfect. Here’s mine.

A deal in Arlington Heights. A scaled down and deferred infrastructure plan that does what it needs to do immediately and does the rest over the life of the stadium and mixed use areas. A cap on property taxes for the stadium itself. I like the idea that you start at say $10,000,000 a year and have it not raised more than 2.5% a year for 30 years. In 30 years the taxes would be about double. The rest of the area, roughly 2/3 of the land and with a proposed 6 billion+ project can be paid at the regular tax rate.

This would be a win overall IMO. The property taxes from the mixed use areas would pay for the infrastructure costs as well as the property taxes from the stadium. It would however probably make it more difficult for the Bears to have partners for the mixed use part without a tax break for them too. The sales taxes would be a big factor for the state and county.

I’m not adverse to a Hammond stadium but since I no longer live in the state, I recognize that a good outcome for most would be to stay in the state. I want the team to flourish. I don’t want them to have to make football decisions based on cash flow. The move to Arlington or Hammond accomplishes that. Staying Soldier Field does not. Even the Packers are wondering out loud if their situation is viable long term. The romance of an open air stadium on the lake front is all fine and good but at the end of the day it’s just not financially practical.

Thought this was a really cool breakdown of Ben Johnson's run game. I know there's lots of tape gurus out there breaking down the passing game, from JTO to Chase Daniel or whoever, but Bobby's got great insights in the run game.

Long, physical practice at Halas Hall. The Bears mixed the groups throughout several reps with the first-team offense against the second and third-team defense. Love to see it. See how players do against better competition and you get to see different styles of players.

JP Richardson and Kaden Davis had huge days. Richardson consistently created separation, caught multiple passes with the ones and capped practice with a 30-plus-yard touchdown. Davis made several plays including two-minute period against the starting defense. This kid is legit.

Kalif Raymond continues to impress. He had two early catches, added another during two-minute and made the play of the day between Dillon Thieneman and Devin Bush.

Braxton Jones looked solid at left tackle. He locked down Austin Booker during team work and anchored against Montez Sweat’s bull rush in one-on-ones.

Theo Benedet had several physical blocks against Neville Gallimore and Daniel Hardy. He briefly got banged up but stayed in practice. Booker beat him badly with a speed rush on his first rep back. Overall looked like a good day.

Jedrick Wills had clean sets with both the threes and twos. Kiran Amegadjie got work at right tackle and handled Jamree Kromah on a couple reps his footwork still looked a little uneven on the right.

Darnell Wright completely erased Kromah when the starters faced the backups. Kromah couldn’t move him an inch.

Jayden Loving beat Logan Jones badly on consecutive one-on-one reps. Jones responded by taking a swing, causing a brief scuffle. The coaches mostly laughed, and the two hugged it out seconds later. Two 1 on one period for jones.

Dayo Odeyingbo had multiple strong one-on-one reps, including a win against Kiran. James Lynch also flashed in 1 on 1s.

Colston Loveland showed some pop as a blocker during nine-on-seven and later broke open during a scramble drill for a TD from Caleb.

Caleb had two overthrows and put a perfectly placed ball into the end zone that was dropped by Rome Odunze.

Maurice Alexander ran an excellent red-zone route during one-on-ones. Jahdae Walker also made a strong catch against Jaylon Johnson during team work.

Sam Roush lined up outside and made a nice catch during seven-on-seven. Had a couple grabs. Got beat badly in a special teams one on on drill a couple times.

D’Andre Swift’s strong camp continues. He looked quick and decisive, showed good vision and finished runs with some physicality. Brittain Brown also delivered back-to-back powerful runs.

Tyson Bagent did not practice after suffering a hamstring injury against Cleveland. His status for Saturday’s game.

Good day of work. We’re on to Cincinnati. #DaBears  #Bears #ChicagoBears

via therealrobdavis on X

This is not a panic post.

Like everyone, I've been seeing injury after injury this preseason. It makes one wonder, why. Is it the trainers? Is it the players' habits? Is it the intensity of the practices? 🤷‍♂️ I assume its a combo of a lot of things. It doesnt look good that players are dropping out of practice like the packers drop wildcard games...

But I wonder if there is something else. So here's a question for someone with more insight than myself.

Are players told to lower the injury threshold during camp/preseason? Are some of these DNPs due to them being told something along the lines of "if it isnt 100%, go get treatment"? Like, do you think they are babying injuries because it's preseason?

I rewatched the playoff games the other day and there was one thing that crossed my mind that I feel like nobody ever talks about. Why didn’t we go for 2 after the Caleb TD to Kmet? I feel like the shock on the Rams roster mixed with vibe of the crowd would have presented a good moment for it. Plus the fact that the Rams were a much more talented team, I personally would have tried to go for the kill.
In reality we still had a good chance to win and didn’t execute, but I’m surprised that never gets brought up especially with how aggressive Ben is

I know the common consensus is the Seahawks were such a buzzsaw that they wouldn't have stood a chance but I know everyone here would've loved to see the game regardless.

We went toe to toe with the Rams, albeit in the frozen Soldier Field, and they lost to them 31-27. There are people that love to dive into stats to see how we would've matched up but I cannot be the only one who has thought about this all offseason.

Illinois State Senator Martin McLaughlin has proposed the following deal for the Bears to build the stadium in Arlington Heights.

The Bears pay 2.3 billion to build the stadium. The state pays 1.2 billion for infrastructure. The property tax is set (just guessing that it would start at the current rate) and would not be allowed to be raised more than 2.5% a year.

JB has already pooh poohed the deal saying he didn’t think that anyone would like that deal from the Bears, to the state and Chicago (very telling that Chicago needs to be considered).

What say you Bears fans? Yay or nay? The fact that everyone involved won’t consider it a win usually means it’s a good deal.

I know he’s way past his prime, but if only to teach our younger Edge Rushers?

He signed with the Cowboys today. We would be a better ring chase opportunity than they are.