During a training camp practice last week, Caleb Williams and Colston Loveland connected on an eye-pleasing explosive completion, a shot over the middle during which the second-year Chicago Bears tight end showed off his catch radius with a leaping, arms-extended grab in traffic.It was a beautiful play, the type of big gain that will soon create roars on game days. And while positive moments like that will never be admonished inside the Bears’ meeting rooms, they will still be coached.With Ben Johnson’s unrelenting emphasis on ball location for his quarterbacks — and for Williams in particular — there have been instances throughout the past three weeks in which good enough hasn’t really been good enough and where the push for precision continues to be hammered home.That is one byproduct of the bar Johnson has raised at Halas Hall, with a championship standard established and all evaluations being performed accordingly. No one is exempt. No detail is too small.Bears continue to seek clarity at left tackleDan WiedererJohnson continues to help everyone in the organization understand how last year’s success — an NFC North title and a wild-card round playoff win — can be sustained. Williams, meanwhile, may be the engine of the whole thing, being coached with heavy demands.In June, a month before training camp opened, we turned our lens toward the Bears’ starting quarterback and four other players who had to undergo an eye test on the runway to the regular season. Now with camp more than three weeks old and the Bears in Cincinnati for an important joint practice Thursday with the Bengals, we’re offering the updated progress report on that quintet.Caleb WilliamsEye test: Ball placementProgress report: Incomplete — arrow pointing up.Since the spring, quarterbacks coach J.T. Barrett has noticed gradual improvement with Williams’ ball location, an encouraging sign as the Bears equip their franchise quarterback to boost his completion percentage and the overall production of the passing attack.As much as anything, Barrett has loved Williams’ buy-in to exactly what the coaching staff wants and his understanding of why it’s important.Last year, the drive for greater passing precision was sometimes met with slight pushback, with Williams either breezing past specific criticisms or pointing out when his pass catchers failed to bring in a ball they should have grabbed.“I’d be like, ‘No doubt,’” Barrett said. “Like, ‘No doubt about it. I hear you.’”Still, Barrett reiterated, the goal on every pass isn’t just to hit the target but to nail the bull’s-eye.“Now Caleb’s like, ‘No, you’re right. I can put it in a better spot,’” Barrett said.Barrett reflects fondly on his time as a player, with two seasons spent in New Orleans watching recently inducted Hall of Famer Drew Brees master the craft.“I was fascinated,” Barrett said, “with how if the ball was slightly over a receiver’s head, Drew would be like, ‘Hey, I’ll get you a better ball.’ (The receiver) still caught it. But he would say, ‘I’ll get you a better ball.’ For me, as a young quarterback, it was like, ‘Man …’”Again, the goal isn’t just completions. It’s completions that produce the maximum possible gain, which is why Bears coaches talk so much to all their quarterbacks about consistently delivering a “runner’s ball” that allows the recipient to go to work after the catch.The Bears are confident they are unlocking a new level of production for Williams with the quarterback himself continuing to take ownership with ball location. During camp, it has been evident.A year ago, Barrett would have his corrections ready for Williams.I need you to get that ball up a bit.Remember, that one needs to be outside.“Now,” Barrett said, “he’s saying it before I say it.”Kyler GordonEye test: PresenceProgress report: Failed.Here’s what we wrote in June, more than a month ahead of the team’s report date, as we looked ahead to Gordon attempting to put his injury-plagued 2025 season and interrupted spring behind him.“We’re not just interested in seeing Gordon back at practice. We’re interested in seeing him on the field. Every day. With no physical setbacks. Flying around and making the impact he’s capable of.”Welp …Here we are less than three weeks from the season opener and the Bears’ nickelback isn’t back at practice, isn’t on the field, isn’t past his latest physical setback and certainly isn’t flying around to elevate the defense.The Bears have said a calf issue has kept Gordon on the physically unable to perform list since camp began. And when asked after Saturday’s preseason opener about a timetable for Gordon’s return, Johnson offered just one word: unknown.Johnson was a little more expansive Tuesday, but barely. “There’s a plan,” Johnson said. “And he’s working toward the plan.”Patience among the coaches seems to be dwindling. Johnson is big on trust and players earning that from both coaches and teammates through demonstrated on-field competence. In short, Gordon hasn’t built any trust in this camp and the “unknown” timetable for when he might factor into the Bears’ plans has grown increasingly concerning.Braxton JonesEye test: ConfidenceProgress report: Incomplete.Until Aug. 6, Jones had been practicing with elevated confidence and it was showing. The strength and/or trust he lacked in his left leg a year ago — both during camp and through the first month of the regular season — had returned and there was a noticeable spike in his power and poise.Said offensive line coach Dan Roushar: “He’s a better football player than what we started with last year. That’s for sure.”But during one-on-one drills in the team’s eighth camp practice, Jones experienced discomfort in his knee, exited practice and wound up missing the next three practices plus all 11-on-11 work in a fourth.This week, he is back and has a golden opportunity to seize the starting left tackle job for Week 1. But demonstrating confidence, consistency, power and precision will be paramount. The Bears hope to heavily test Jones during Thursday’s joint practice in Cincinnati.Johnson has made it clear one of his top wishes for the starting left tackle is the ability to be regularly sturdy in one-on-one pass protection. In the run game, Roushar has identified the need for Jones to play with better pad level and use his lower half to help attack defenders in space.“I have to get him to run off the football better and see the target line,” Roushar said. “Then he has to be able to accelerate and stay in control of the block. We’re just not as consistent as we need to be.”The next two weeks offer a great time for Jones to meet his coaches’ demands and continue playing with self-belief.Bears wide receiver Rome Odunze has put fears about his 2025 foot injuries to rest in training camp. (Kamil Krzaczynski / Imagn Images)Rome OdunzeEye test: ExplosionProgress report: PassedArguably the best play of Odunze’s camp to date was a 10-yard touchdown reception made during an end-of-half period on Aug. 8, a third-down catch on an extended play with Odunze going up in the back of the end zone to snatch a fastball from Williams, then twisting his body to get both feet down.“It was a last-second play,” Odunze said. “We needed it. The play broke down and it was a last-ditch effort. Thankfully, Caleb put the ball up to give me an opportunity. And I was able to come down with it.”Added offensive coordinator Press Taylor: “There have been a number of those I can think of off the top of my head (with Rome). … That goes back to his college tape; that was a strength of his. So we’re just trying to kind of lean in and see how that fits our offense.”After 15 camp practices, Odunze has 15 made positive deposits into his 2026 development bank. And if there were any concerns that the foot injuries that limited him last season and eventually caused him to miss the final five regular-season games would linger, they have disintegrated.“I don’t think about it honestly,” Odunze said Tuesday.Added receivers coach Antwaan Randle El: “I don’t see anything (adverse). And I’m always looking.”Instead, Odunze has been working to become a more well-rounded receiver. Since the spring, he has shown flashes of his speed and, perhaps more importantly, sharper detail in his routes to match the coaching demands.Best of all, his contested-catch ability remains a plus — in Johnson’s words, “his superpower.” And that’s something the Bears want to showcase.“I’m really pleased with what it looks like between Caleb and him — where the ball is being placed and him being able to torque and go up for the football when needed,” Johnson said. “He brings a different element to the offense than maybe what I’ve been around in the past. I look forward to sinking into that.”Dillon ThienemanEye test: SpeedProgress report: Incomplete — arrow pointing up.Just about every day, Thieneman has offered a flash of the high-end talent that convinced the Bears to draft him in the first round with the belief that he can be an impact starter well into the 2030s. There’s a combination of vision, instincts and athleticism that frequently pops. In pass defense. In run support. At all levels of the field.Yet, as with any rookie taking in a large volume of information during camp installations, there have been instances in which Thieneman’s play speed has been a touch slower than desired, with the young safety perhaps thinking too much.“He’s really progressing,” defensive backs coach Al Harris said last week. “The thing is he has a defensive system to learn. And also he’s going against a new offensive system.”That offensive system belongs to Johnson, whose entire goal is to put defenders in conflict to make them play slower.Thieneman’s cerebral nature, meanwhile, sometimes marries up with perfectionist tendencies. Consequently, in his effort to do things exactly as the coaching staff wants, he sometimes finds himself straining to master the details of his positioning, his footwork, his leverage.Thieneman played 14 snaps in the preseason opener against Cleveland on Saturday and contributed one tackle — a routine stop on running back Quinshon Judkins after a gain of 6.His goal, he said, is to keep improving his pre-snap diagnoses.“What are the formations, the splits, the situation?” Thieneman said. “What are those telling me? It’s taking in what the offense is showing and being able to think more pre-snap. If you anticipate what they’re going to do, you can react a little faster.”Ideally, coaches believe the arrival of the regular season will fully shift Thieneman into game mode, further unlocking his high-level feel for the game. After 15 camp practices, there’s little to suggest that can’t happen.