9 observations from the Chicago Bears’ joint practice with the Miami Dolphins, including the defense’s big day

The Chicago Bears welcomed the Miami Dolphins to Halas Hall on Friday morning for a joint practice, a session that lasted approximately two hours and finished with some spirited red-zone action for both teams.

The Bears and Dolphins will play a preseason game Sunday at Soldier Field. But there was a lot for both teams to accomplish Friday.

Here’s a rundown of the most notable happenings.

1. Tua Tagovailoa led the NFL in completion percentage last season at 72.9%, the third-best figure in NFL history, but the Bears had a bevy of defensive backs making plays on the ball.

That was a positive sign for a secondary working without top cornerback Jaylon Johnson and coming off a season in which the Bears ranked 31st in opponents’ yards per pass attempt.

Strong safety Jaquan Brisker got things started during a 7-on-7 period when he read Tagovailoa’s eyes and got a huge jump on a seam route for tight end Chris Myarick, easily stepping in front for an interception. It should be noted Dolphins top wide receiver Tyreek Hill did not practice.

In full-team drills, cornerback Tyrique Stevenson diagnosed a screen pass for Jaylen Waddle. Tagovailoa started looking left and before his head was back around to the right side, Stevenson was driving downhill at Waddle and blew the play up. Waddle remained down for a little bit, one of a handful of physical plays for members of the secondary.

“I feel like we just came out with the right intensity,” free safety Kevin Byard said. “We kind of just talked about it (Thursday) night on our meetings being able to go out there and set the tone. I always believe that defense obviously, everything is set from the front. So, obviously boys like Grady (Jarrett), Dex (Gervon Dexter), Tez (Montez Sweat), Dayo (Odeyingbo), they’re going to set the tone.

“But on the back end we want to be able to hold our own, too, and Brisk came out there, got a couple big hits. He got a pick, kind of turned us all up. I think if we play like we practiced today, we’re going to be pretty good.”

2. Byard came away with an interception in 11-on-11 drills after Nahshon Wright cut across the middle and deflected the pass in traffic.

At the end of practice, linebacker Tremaine Edmunds tipped a ball to himself about five times before finally hauling it in during a red-zone session that concluded practice.

“He tried to make it as dramatic as possible,” Byard said with a laugh. “That was something good for the fans. He caught the ball like seven times. But it was just a good ending to the day we had. … For us, that’s the standard. It’s not something that surprises us. It’s how we play.”

Photos: Chicago Bears’ joint practice with Miami Dolphins at Halas Hall

Edmunds’ pick was the third interception in 7-on-7 and full-team drills of Tagovailoa, who reportedly had only one pick in camp entering the day.

Mix in a handful of plays by the first and second team in which passes were broken up or it was a catch and a quickly forced fumble, and it was a good day for a defense that was swarming, perhaps building on some of the momentum it has created going against the Bears offense in training camp.

3. It wasn’t a perfect day for the defense, though.

In fact, things were entirely too easy for the Dolphins in an end-of-half period. The Dolphins were backed up on their 32-yard line with 1:06 remaining. On the first snap, Tagovailoa hit wide receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine for about a 30-yard gain across the middle in a big hole between Edmunds and Byard. Westbrook-Ikhine was running loose on a slant on the next play and, just like that, in two plays the Dolphins had moved to the Bears 15-yard line.

That’s going to be a priority for defensive coordinator Dennis Allen. One reason the Bears ranked so poorly in yards per attempt last season was they yielded too many explosive plays, and in a practice in which the defense did pretty well, those big shots stood out, especially as open as Westbrook-Ikhine was.

4. A few Dolphins runs to the left side of the offense had success leaking outside and getting around the corner.

But for the most part the run defense looked stout. The Bears were able to rest easy when defensive tackle Andrew Billings went down on one play and limped off with what appeared to be an ankle injury before returning quickly.

The Dolphins were inconsistent running the ball last season, and their offensive line looks like a work in progress with former Bears James Daniels and Larry Borom in the mix. But the Bears really struggled to stop the run last season. The team was really good at it in 2023 but got off to a rough start in 2024 and never recovered.

So it was good to see the defensive line and front seven flowing hard to the ball, eliminating cutback lanes and really giving the Dolphins a difficult time. When it gets going for real, it will be fair to wonder how a defense with mostly the same personnel — tackle Jarrett and end Odeyingbo are the only new starters right now — can rebound.

“All I can speak on is my time here,” Jarrett said. “We’ve been working every day with the scheme we run, with what the coaches want to see from us, and they’ve been really pressing on the expectations. Whatever it was last year (28th in the NFL) is almost irrelevant to this point because it’s a new year, new people in the building and it’s not even something that we spoke about at all. We believe highly in what we’ve been doing and I think the results will show for themselves.”

5. Caleb Williams’ first snap of the first team period was an errant pass to tight end Cole Kmet that Dolphins linebacker Jordyn Brooks easily intercepted.

Kmet was moving across the field toward the left hash as the ball was thrown. But the entire sequence seemed out of sync and the wild pitch found Brooks, who eagerly capitalized on the gift. That was Williams’ lone interception of the day but was the latest indicator of a young quarterback and a first-unit offense that has not been clicking consistently through most of training camp.

That was also true during an end-of-half two-minute drill when the offense went three-and-out and was set back most by a 7-yard sack from blitzing defensive back Elijah Campbell, who came through as a free runner to blow up the play.

One-on-one with Chicago Bears QB Caleb Williams: ‘The process right now is the most important thing’

6. It may not seem like much, but one of Williams’ more encouraging sequences came during a move-the-ball team period when he had back-to-back completions to Colston Loveland and DJ Moore.

Neither pass would register as highlight worthy for social media acclaim. The completion to Loveland came off play action with Williams showing patience in letting the play develop, then drilling his rookie tight end over the middle for positive yardage. The next snap offered a quick hitter to the left to Moore, who used good blocking and his run-after-the-catch explosion to pick up another good chunk.

In time, Williams will need to create explosive plays more consistently than he has throughout the first three weeks of camp. But in the short term, Ben Johnson and the offensive coaching staff are encouraging Williams to make the simple things look simple and to seek efficiency with his guidance of the offense. Again, those two passes Friday weren’t attention-grabbing but were productive nonetheless and positive reps as Williams continues understanding the requests for him to distribute as a point guard on offense.

Williams’ biggest completion Friday, meanwhile, was a long touchdown pass to Olamide Zaccheaus, a play-action concept during which the Bears quarterback climbed the pocket well and put beautiful touch on a ball down the middle. Zaccheaus made the catch in space and did the rest with his speed, another example of the big-play pop the Bears offense can have when the ball goes where it needs to go with proper timing and accuracy.

7. Loveland had one of the most crowd-pleasing moments when he created separation and made a big catch down the field from Tyson Bagent.

Catching the ball in stride, the rookie tight end quickly found open space and went all the way to the end zone, stopping at the end of his sprint to rev up Bears fans in the nearby bleachers.

After missing the offseason program during his recovery from January shoulder surgery, Loveland has enjoyed a productive camp with frequent flashes of his playmaking ability as a pass catcher. The Bears hope that growth can continue into the regular season as they look to add firepower to the offense.

8. The best catch of practice may have come early during one-on-one drills.

It happened when Devin Duvernay broke open deep against cornerback Jack Jones, then made an impressive one-handed snatch on a well-thrown deep ball from Case Keenum. Olamide Zaccheaus may have been the honorable mention in that category, snaring a pass from Williams with one hand along the right sideline during team drills.

9. On the injury front, defensive back Kyler Gordon wasn’t available after leaving Thursday’s practice with a hamstring injury.

Gordon’s status will be worth monitoring, especially with the defense still missing top cornerback Jaylon Johnson, who remains on the non-football injury list with a leg injury.

Others who were sidelined Friday included Amegadjie (leg), Roschon Johnson (foot), Doug Kramer (foot), Ameer Speed (undisclosed), Miles Boykin (ankle) and Bill Murray (ankle).