Bears still looking for 'clarity' to protect Caleb Williams - ESPN

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — After 17 training camp practices, the Chicago Bears still are looking for their starting left tackle to protect Caleb Williams' blind side.

The position battle that has headlined the offseason in Chicago began with a three-player race among incumbent starter Braxton Jones, rookie Ozzy Trapilo and 2024 third-rounder Kiran Amegadjie. This week, former undrafted free agent Theo Benedet, who spent the 2024 season on the Bears' practice squad, entered the mix and earned first-team reps there for three straight practices.

With the competition to protect Williams becoming more convoluted, coach Ben Johnson said he's looking for «clarity» as the team evaluates its options.

«We'll go as long as we need to go to find the right guy,» Johnson said. «But we'd like to see someone go ahead and make it clear to us that he is that guy, and we just haven't seen that yet as a staff. There's been too much up and down.»

The Bears hosted a 135-minute practice Friday with the Buffalo Bills ahead of the teams' game Sunday at Soldier Field. Johnson said the joint session and second preseason game would go a long way toward helping the team find its opening day starting left tackle ahead of Week 1 against Minnesota on Sept. 8.

But Johnson left the door open for the team to make a change after regular-season play begins.

«We'd love to go ahead and solidify that spot and move forward from there,» Johnson said. «And it might be one of those things where, when we make that decision, it's not final for the season. It could be we have to reassess after a couple of weeks of the season or by the bye week we might have to reassess. It might be something that goes on. Wouldn't be ideal, but that's the thing with the league.»

For a third