Bears QB Caleb Williams plays opening drive vs. Bengals and leads offense to a field goal

Sean Hammond, Chicago Tribune on Aug 22, 2026

Published in Football

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CINCINNATI — Caleb Williams got a preseason tuneup Saturday night at Paycor Stadium.

Williams completed 2 of 5 passes for 28 yards against the Cincinnati Bengals. He had the Chicago Bears offense moving into the red zone against Bengals backups before a penalty set the drive backward. The Bears wound up settling for a 45-yard field goal from Cairo Santos to go up 3-0 on the opening drive.

After one possession, Williams and the starters were done for the night.

Williams completed an 18-yard pass to receiver Rome Odunze and a 10-yard pass to tight end Colston Loveland. But on first-and-10 from the 17-yard line, a holding penalty against left tackle Braxton Jones sent the offense back 10 yards.

Williams threw three consecutive incompletions, and the Bears were forced to send out Santos for the field goal. On one of those incompletions, it looked as if Williams had Loveland open up the seam, but the two couldn’t connect. Williams’ throw came in too high.

Williams played nine snaps, including the one that was negated by the penalty. Heading into the night there was some uncertainty whether Williams would play at all in the preseason. Coach Ben Johnson had not announced his plan ahead of Saturday’s game, and earlier in training camp he suggested Williams might not play in the preseason.

“Do I need to see Caleb Williams in the preseason? No, I don’t,” Johnson said Aug. 13. “I see him every single day in practice and I know what we’re going to get come the season. And yet, at the same time, there is a workload and there is a number of reps that we want to hit as a team. And so make sure we even that out whether that’s game reps or not.”

The Bears participated in a joint practice with the Bengals on Thursday in Cincinnati, with many of their starters seeing a significant number of reps against the Bengals in practice.

Williams and most of the offensive starters sat out last week’s preseason opener against the Cleveland Browns. But it appeared Johnson wanted to see Williams and the starters this week, even though Bengals coach Zac Taylor sat quarterback Joe Burrow and their starters.

Several projected Bears starters did not play for the offense: guard Joe Thuney, receiver Luther Burden III (who has a groin injury) and running back D’Andre Swift. Still, Williams had most of the starting offense with him.

Guard Jordan McFadden started in place of Thuney. But Williams had most of his top pass catchers, including Odunze and Loveland, at his disposal.

After Johnson pulled Williams, the Bears turned to third-string quarterback Case Keenum. Backup Tyson Bagent is out with a hamstring injury and did not travel with the team to Cincinnati.