Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Ben Johnson met with reporters at Halas Hall in Lake Forest as they made their final roster cuts ahead of Tuesday’s deadline.

All NFL teams had to reduce their training camp rosters to 53 players after carrying 90 over the offseason and training camp over the past month. The Bears made some tough cuts Tuesday.

The team will practice Wednesday before taking a break for the weekend. The Bears return to Halas next week in preparation for their season-opener against the Minnesota Vikings at Soldier Field on Sept. 8.

Here are the most interesting things Poles and Johnson said Tuesday.

On Caleb Williams’ development

Quarterback Caleb Williams’ development was one of, if not the most important, storylines heading into training camp. Poles and his staff wanted to see what type of steps the former No. 1 overall draft pick could take with Johnson as his teacher.

There were ups and downs over six weeks, which Poles said he expected in a new system. But he was encouraged by the progress he saw from Williams.

“I know when I put the whole timeline together, starting from when he walked on campus from last year to this year, there’s been a ton of growth there, and I notice when you get into game weeks and dial in, that speed of playing and being efficient should increase as we go,” Poles said. “But I know they loaded him up, and they were really hard on him, which is going to be great for his development, and I know that he’d rather go through that tough time in order to have success later. So I think we’ll build off of this and it will be good.”

Friday’s last-second win at the Kansas City Chiefs was a good example of how training camp went for Williams. The first team offense had a slow start after the Bears had a fumble and a false start on their first two offensive plays. They continued to show issues with pre-snap penalties and procedures in a tough road environment.

But Williams did become more comfortable later on in the game. He ran an effective two-minute drill against the Chiefs’ backups to score a touchdown just before halftime.

Williams and the offense struggled with slow starts for much of last season. Johnson said he didn’t think Williams was the lone Bear to blame for the slow starts. He said everyone, players and coaches, needs to be attentive to the details to start on the right note.

“We like to talk about if we get 70 plays in a game, those are 70 bullets for us to shoot for and we need for each one to count,” Johnson said. “We can’t be missing. We can’t be wasting. And I think that’s the mantra that we’ve been talking about as coaches, and the players are really taking to that. Just that awareness level that there are no breather plays in this league. Each thing is really important. The details are really important, and I think it’s going to add up and we’ll be just fine.”

On the starting left tackle battle

The competition for the starting left tackle spot was the biggest position battle heading into camp. A couple of weeks ago, Johnson said he was still waiting for someone to take the lead for the starting job. On Tuesday, Johnson wasn’t ready to name a starter yet.

“I think we’re going to have a starter Week 1, and we’ll go from there. I said it a few weeks ago — we feel good about the guys we have in that room. Someone’s gonna take the bull by the horns and is going to completely take over. But we’re not afraid to make a change if the performance isn’t where it needs to be. We’ll make that decision going into next week."

Returning starter Braxton Jones, rookie Ozzy Trapilo and second-year lineman Kiran Amegadjie entered camp as the trio battling for the starting spot. The Bears moved Trapilo over to work at right tackle around midway through camp and added second-year lineman Theo Benedet into the mix.

Jones is likely to retain his job and get the start against the Vikings based on how the past couple of weeks went. He started all three preseason games at left tackle and earned all the first-team snaps at the spot at Tuesday’s practice.

Although the competition may not have gone as the Bears planned, Poles felt comfortable with what the team learned it has at both tackle spots.

“We’re going to have a lot of different options at really both left and right and our backup swings and really the versatility in that whole backend five, those guys can play multiple positions, which I think we’ve – I don’t know for sure – but we’re up there in terms of how many different combinations we’ve rolled out there for the last three years,“ Poles said. ”So you want to make sure you have insurance that guys can play and they can play multiple positions when you’re dressing eight guys for a game. So we should be in pretty good shape.”

On Jaylon Johnson’s health

The Bears activated cornerback Jaylon Johnson from the non-football injury list on Tuesday to their initial 53-man roster. But both Poles and Ben Johnson said there’s still uncertainty about when Jaylon Johnson will play in a game.

“We’re taking that really day to day,” Poles said. “When I was going out to practice, he was running and doing agility work, so I feel like he’s getting better. When you’re going from not playing and just training to football, there’s all kinds of different things that kind of change timelines, so we’re hopeful that he continues to get better, but we also have to be smart to make sure he’s good long-term as well. We’ll just take that day by day and really work with our medical staff to make sure we’re doing right by Jaylon.”

Jaylon Johnson has missed all of camp with what Poles described as a soft-tissue injury that he suffered during the summer away from the team. Poles called the injury a “little bit more serious” since its taken this much time for him to get back onto the field.

Despite his absence from the field, Jaylon Johnson has been around the team and even worked out before preseason games. The Bears are hoping that he’ll be ready for the season opener. But they also don’t want to rush their top cornerback after he hasn’t practiced in a long time.

“We’re doing as much as we can to make sure that conditioning is where it needs to be, but at the same time, there really is no substitute for putting on pads and playing the game at full speed,” Ben Johnson said. “Each guy’s different, particularly guys that have had success in this league for a number of years. ... Training camp is a really good indication, not just for the team but for each player as you’re working through low volume, ramping on up over the course … just to make sure you’re ready to take on a 17-game season. Of course, he’s missed that.”

On the running back room

Bears running back D’Andre Swift found himself in a funny position at Tuesday’s practice: He was the only running back taking snaps.

The Bears officially kept three running backs on their initial roster: Swift, Roschon Johnson and rookie Kyle Monangai. On Tuesday, they placed Travis Homer, along with linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga, on the injured/reserve list with the designation to return, which means they’ll miss at least the first four weeks of the season.

Both Roschon Johnson and Monangai have missed the last couple of weeks of practice with their respective injuries. But Poles remained encouraged that they could return to the field soon.

“I feel good about their timelines,” Poles said. “Kyle’s coming along. Like I said, over the next few days, you’ll probably see the practice field look a little different. I’ve got a lot of faith those guys will be ready to go. If they’re not, we’ll still look out and see if there’s guys that can help us. Like I said, with Ben’s creativity, who knows who will be lined up back there.”

Poles told reporters that he and his staff will spend most of Tuesday night looking at players around the league who were cut and deciding whether they can add something to the Bears roster. The running back room will likely be a top priority.

“I know they loaded him up and they were really hard on him, which is going to be great for his development and I know that he’d rather go through that tough time in order to have success later. So I think we’ll build off of this and it will be good.”

—  Ryan Poles, Bears general manager on Caleb Williams

But Ben Johnson remained encouraged by what he had in the room and any potential additions.

“I feel good about it,” Ben Johnson said. “I think we’re in a good spot right now. I think the injury part of it, that is the most troubling and concerning part right now, is just making sure we have enough depth so that we have a full stable of guys going forward, but I have full confidence that Week 1 and really for the whole season we’re going to be just fine there.”

On rookie Zah Frazier

Poles announced Tuesday that rookie cornerback Zah Frazier would be placed on the reserve/non-football injury list and miss the 2025 season.

“He had a situation that presented itself in a category that I would say “personal,” Poles said. “As we dug into it, tried to help him out, it revealed itself as something that happened before he got here. So credit to our staff finding the root cause of what he was going through. So he’ll be down for the year, but he’ll spend the time going to meetings, in the weight room, and with the medical staff to prepare for next season to get ready to play. So, kind of a bummer on the front end, but I think because of everyone’s hard work and care here, we got him on the right path.”

The Bears selected Frazier in the fifth round of this April’s draft out of UTSA. Frazier took part in some spring practices but missed all of training camp.