3 things we learned from the first full day of Bears training camp

At the risk of getting sued by Hank Williams Jr., I have an important question to ask. Are you ready for some football? You'd better be, because America's favorite sport is here in all its glory. Training camp is underway, and the season's first preseason game will be here before the end of the month.

Some teams, such as the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills, know what they need to do to succeed. They've been there and done that, and so there are only small tweaks that need to be made to fine-tune their winning formulas.

For teams like the Chicago Bears, years of mediocrity can only be erased by wholesale changes. That's what we're seeing in the Windy City, as the Bears have a new, exciting head coach in Ben Johnson and a new lease on life. The past is the past, but the future is filled with promise. As long-suffering fans, it doesn't get much better than that.

Being a team that looks much different from a year ago means the Bears will be under major scrutiny. Every Caleb Williams pass, every Ben Johnson fourth-quarter decision and every Dennis Allen blitz will be discussed and dissected, all in the interest of finding out if the Bears are finally for real, or if we're in line for more of a slow rebuild.

Even though training camp just started, Bears fans have already had some knowledge dropped on them. Some of it is good, a little bit of it is bad, and all of it is rather interesting. Let's look now at three things we learned from the first day of camp. More than anything, it feels good to be able to talk about some new football developments.

There are high goals set for Caleb Williams in Year 2

There's an obvious rapport already between Caleb and his new coach, but don't mistake the twinkle in Ben Johnson's eye when he talks about his quarterback for softness. "He wants to get coached hard, and we're gonna push him as hard as we can," Johnson said. He also said, and it's something that Caleb mentioned too, that the goal is for him to complete 70 percent of his passes, a feat that only four quarterbacks who played all 17 games achieved last year.

Caleb expanded on those goals, saying that he wants to become the first 4,000-yard passer in Bears history, but most importantly, he wants to win. He went down the list of every reason he's excited to be part of this offense, and he called out each of the newly-drafted rookies by name.

Caleb came into Chicago with an undeserved reputation of not being a team guy, but throughout his time as a pro, he's been nothing but a great teammate. He proved that again today by also saying how confident he is in the defense.

He's also humble and understands that success doesn't come just because you want it to. Everyone in the organization is excited for this new era, but as Caleb said, "Excitement does nothing. You gotta go out there and put in the work."

Much has been made about how inept the Bears have been at quarterback throughout almost the entirety of their long history. If Caleb stays healthy, he should rewrite the franchise record books with ease, but it'll take more than that to achieve all his personal and team goals. We'll see what he's able to do on the field, but for now, he and his coach are saying all the right things.

The left tackle spot is a wide-open battle

Ben Johnson delivered some good news when he said that both Braxton Jones and Colston Loveland will need ramp up periods after rehabbing injuries this offseason, but they'd both be good to go in camp. That's a relief, since there was speculation that Jones might end up on the PUP list.

Just because Jones, the incumbent starter at left tackle, should be at full speed before long, doesn't mean that he's going to instantly reclaim his job. Johnson said that there would be a clean slate and an open competition at left tackle between Jones, rookie Ozzy Trapilo and 2024 third-round pick Kiran Amegadjie.

Matt Eberflus was criticized for not holding guys accountable, but that clearly won't be an issue with Johnson. Nothing will be given and everything will be earned, which means the best players will be on the field regardless if they're a rookie or a seasoned vet.

As for who is going to win that battle, it's going to be a fascinating race to watch. Jones is at the very least an average left tackle, which is still a valuable commodity in this league. With an improved line around him, he could be even better than that. On the other hand, Trapilo drew rave reviews during rookie OTAs, so don't count him out. Amegadjie is the dark horse after his rough rookie year, but unlike last year, he's had a healthy offseason to get in shape and get up to speed.

Jaylon Johnson is going to miss some time

Not all the news was positive coming out of Day 1, but even the bad news isn't as bad as it could have been.

When Jaylon Johnson was put on the non-football injury list on Saturday, it sent Bears fans into a panic. Was this the first step in a holdout? Other cornerbacks have broken the bank this offseason, making the four-year, $76 million extension Johnson signed last March seem like peanuts by comparison.

Thankfully, that doesn't seem to be the case. General manager Ryan Poles said that Johnson suffered a leg injury while training on his own and would miss a few weeks, but that the team "wasn't overly concerned" beyond that. Not the best news, but it's much better to deal with an injury now than in-season. With all the rookies finally signed, the last thing the Bears need is a holdout from their best player.

If there's an extra silver lining to be found, it's that without one of the league's top corners on the field, maybe the offense can build up some confidence until Johnson gets back. Regardless, the Bears don't open the regular season until their September 8th Monday Night Football matchup against the Vikings. That gives Johnson about six weeks to come back, which sounds like it'll be more than enough.