There was nothing mini from this week’s Bears camp. In the words of Ben Johnson, “everything matters.” And when he says everything, he means EVERYTHING.

Just last week, a reporter’s phone that was on the podium for recording purposes wasn’t in silent mode. It rang not once, but twice, and Johnson wasn’t playing around. He was clearly perturbed. Some national media members thought Johnson needed to lighten up, but attention to detail is required from EVERYONE at Halas Hall. If you veer from that, Johnson will hold you accountable, and it’s one of the main reasons the Bears have turned around their program so quickly. If only Johnson could help on the stadium front, shovels would already be in the ground.

Yet, this isn’t about building off the field; it’s about doing it on the field.

While it’s only June, Johnson is sending messages to his players. The Bears have been quietly frustrated with the commitment level of some veterans during “voluntary” workouts over the last two years. When I asked someone in the Bears organization about reevaluating the sports science department after the high number of games missed due to injuries, this person responded by saying the bulk of those games missed came from Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon, who never trained inside the building during the 2025 offseason.

As a result, there was little they could do to control that. One year later, Gordon got hurt again and has been unavailable for the entire offseason program at Halas Hall.

At the end of last season, the Bears’ head coach referenced how he doesn’t know either player well because the team has had little time to work with them, and that affects trust. It should be noted that Jaylon is the second-highest-paid Bear, while Gordon is sixth.

That’s why it was good news to see Johnson healthy and productive during the first day of minicamp. He was battling Luther Burden in one-on-ones and upping the level of competition.

Johnson’s time with the Bears has been a roller coaster. He was a promising player after being drafted by Ryan Pace, fell into Matt Eberflus’ doghouse during training camp in 2022, regrouped and became a Pro Bowler, was nearly traded in 2023, and soon after was rewarded with a top contract. Then he barely played in 2025. The question now is whether Johnson reestablishes himself as a vital part of the Bears’ core or becomes expendable next offseason.

As a reminder, Johnson and Gordon are not “Ben guys,” meaning they were acquired before Ben arrived, much like DJ Moore. You have to breathe, eat and live football to stay.

It’s a pretty simple formula: a team’s stars have to play like stars. We’re seeing that now with the Cubs. Every one of their high-paid players has underperformed, and it’s no wonder they’re in free fall. Like the Bears last year, there was playoff success in 2025 for the Cubs, but repeating that task is far more pressure-packed.

Another player worth watching as we get closer to the regular season is Rome Odunze. Last week, Odunze surprised many when he explained that his foot is healed, but he’s dealing with a new normal:

“It’s not from a standpoint that I’m always in pain, but the way my foot broke, there’s calluses in there that create a different type of foot structure with those bones, different things that kind of shift things around. So my new normal is kind of what I am going into.”

When Odunze was drafted ninth overall in 2024, the Bears passed over defensive players like Jared Verse, and the expectation was that he would become a true No. 1 star receiver. That hasn’t happened yet due to injuries and uncharacteristic drops.

I still have high hopes that Odunze will live up to the billing, even with Burden and Colston Loveland getting plenty of love from their coach this offseason. Guess which ones are the Ben guys?

The truth of the matter is that Johnson, Gordon and Odunze can still land in the good graces of their head coach. The talent is there, but they have to re-earn his trust. For Ben Johnson, it’s simple: go into silent mode and get to work.

• Marc Silverman shares his opinions on the Bears weekly for Shaw Local. Tune in and listen to the “Waddle & Silvy” show weekdays from 2 to 6 p.m. on ESPN 1000.