Chicago Bears coordinators and assistant coaches met with reporters Thursday at Halas Hall in Lake Forest as the team continued its preparations for the New Orleans Saints.

The Bears face an important part of their schedule as they get ready to host the Saints (1-5) at Soldier Field on Sunday. Chicago has a chance to win its fourth straight game and improve to 4-2 for a second straight year as it tries to build upon back-to-back wins in the final minute.

Here are three of the most interesting things Bears coordinators and assistant coaches said Thursday.

On Caleb Williams’ development

Quarterback Caleb Williams has shown growth during the first five games with head coach Ben Johnson. The clear signs of progress came in the last two games where Williams led the offense on game-winning drives on their final possessions. But there’s still plenty of room for improvement.

One of the biggest goals Johnson had for Williams heading into the year was for him to hover around a 70% completion rate throughout the season. Williams has a 61.6% season completion rate and the closest he’s gotten to 70% in a game came in Week 3 against the Dallas Cowboys when he hit 67.9%. He hasn’t been about 60% in the past two weeks.

On Thursday, Bears offensive coordinator Declan Doyle emphasized the importance of linking his feet to his eyes as well as finding his checkdowns. The Bears have practiced third-down situations where Williams works on going through his progression to his third, fourth and fifth options if the top two are covered.

“That is really how those numbers go up,” Doyle said. “It’s process related. You can’t just say ‘Hey, you’ve got to complete the ball.’ It’s really ‘OK, how do I do that?’ Well, by continuing to stick with three, four, five in the progression.”

The Bears have also voiced the importance of ball location on throws. There have been moments where the ball placement on Williams’ close throws seems off, whether it’s because of Williams or a receiver’s route.

Doyle said the Bears have worked on Williams’ mechanics in those situations and are making sure he’s comfortable with concepts to give receivers a chance to pick up more yards after a catch.

“Anytime we’re throwing the ball within 15 yards of the line of scrimmage, that ball location is precise and it has to be for our player to be able to transition quickly into a runner,” Doyle said. “And then for our guys to be able to go block for that player. That’s the No. 1 thing that, I mean, he would come up here and if I said ‘ball location’ he would laugh, because he hears it all the time. But that is the biggest thing.”

On difference between turnovers, takeaways

The Bears’ defense has created plenty of opportunities for its offense through five games by creating turnovers. Chicago ranks second in the NFL with 12 turnovers — the Jacksonville Jaguars lead with 14 in six games — and it’s forced multiple turnovers in a game during the last three matchups.

“One of the big determining factors in winning and losing ballgames is the turnover-takeaway ratio,” defensive coordinator Dennis Allen said. “That’s probably been what we’ve done best, and we need to continue to do that.”

While some might view turnovers as an offensive player making a mistake to lose the ball, Allen likes to think of it as the defensive player studying a play in order to create the turnover. That’s why he likes to call them takeaways.

Allen credited the large numbers of takeaways to the preparation the Bears have put into causing takeaways. He said the Bears have studied and know where they’re supposed to be on certain plays in order to be there if a mistake happens.

That’s what happened Monday against the Washington Commanders, especially when cornerback Nahshon Wright was there to recover a fumble late in the fourth quarter that led to the game-winning drive.

“I think the No. 1 thing is there’s a conscious effort, and there’s a prepared knowledge of where your takeaway opportunities are gonna happen,” Allen said. “And then we have to create population around the ball and those opportunities. And then when we get those opportunities, we’ve got to take advantage of them.”

On managing two kickers

The Bears won’t have a kicker competition over the next week as they prepare for the Saints. Johnson squashed that idea earlier in the week when he said Cairo Santos would be the team’s kicker once he’s healthy.

Jake Moody stepped up big time for Santos on Monday when the Bears needed him the most. He made four of five field goals, including the game-winner in the final seconds.

Special teams coordinator Richard Hightower said balancing two kickers hasn’t been an issue because Johnson already announced that Santos is the starter. But Hightower also appreciated Moody making the most of his moment up from the practice squad.

“That’s our commitment to all of our practice squad players is to try to make sure that they know that we want them to develop, we want them to perform well when they get their opportunity,” Hightower said. “It’s kind of like the things that make us smile.”

When Santos will be ready remains to be seen. He was a full participant at practice last week but didn’t play Monday. He did not practice Thursday as he recovers from a right thigh injury.

Despite the uncertainty, Hightower remained confident in both kickers.

“We’ve got faith in both guys, no matter what,” Hightower said. “So we’ll see how it shakes out this week and we’ll see what happens. It’s a delicate balance.”