Bears
Bears QB Caleb Williams had just seven pass attempts in his preseason debut but the ratio of highlight plays in that small sampling was high. Williams’ teammates raved about his performance while the quarterback took a slightly more measured tone.
“There’s an understanding that it is preseason, that everybody’s not going to show their looks and what they would do versus us and vice versa,” Williams said via ESPN’s Courtney Cronin. “But it definitely feels good to get out there. The last time I was out there on the field other than practice was Nov. 18. You go that long without something, it’s tough.
“But it’s been great. The guys have made it fun, they made it easy on me — talking about our other players — they’ve been great from the beginning to now. My progress, I would tie my progress and support, I would count it to them. They’ve been great. To get out there and have the confidence that we had out there, it’s only going to get better and we can’t wait.”
Lions
The Lions traded for WR Donovan Peoples-Jones last season and ended up re-signing him this offseason after losing WR Josh Reynolds in free agency. Detroit HC Dan Campbell wants to see more out of Peoples-Jones as someone expected to step into a bigger role.
“It was to come in here and compete for that third, fourth receiver, that’s what it was,” Campbell said, via Jeff Risdon of the Lions Wire. “We’re looking for – so much of it is, ‘Alright, who’s going to fill in for (Broncos WR) Josh Reynolds? Who’s going to take that? Is it by committee or is there a guy that can – is going to step up and kind of become that for us?'”
Vikings
Vikings first-round QB J.J. McCarthy rebounded from throwing an interception on his first preseason possession to toss two long touchdowns in his debut. McCarthy finished 11-17 for 188 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, but HC Kevin O’Connell pushed back against McCarthy accelerating the timeline he has in mind for his development, calling his first preseason game “just another glorified, singular step in the process.”
“I think we want to be smart about that development and make sure that his training camp is absolutely going to plan,” O’Connell said via ESPN’s Kevin Seifert.
McCarthy added it was important to put that first interception in the rearview mirror.
“In this league,” he said, “things are going to go bad, and it’s your ability to respond and navigate those waters when it does happen. So just being able to have that ‘goldfish memory,’ go back out there and have that ‘sling it’ mentality, which is what I needed.”
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