CHICAGO — Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams is nearing a return from what he described as a “bad” hamstring tear in his right leg, but he has some medical hurdles to pass ahead of Sunday’s matchup with the Atlanta Falcons before the training staff can clear him.

“We’ll go through the stress test this week and at the end of the week we’ll make a decision if I’m good to go or not,” Williams said Thursday at Halas Hall. “That’s for the betterment of myself and my health and then also for the betterment of the team.”

Williams returned to practice Friday, two days before the Bears’ 31-7 loss to the Green Bay Packers. He has been a full participant in practice this week.

Coach Ben Johnson has not announced a starting quarterback for Sunday’s game in Atlanta. Williams missed the last three games after suffering the injury in Week 2. The third-year quarterback met with members of the media for the first time since then Thursday and described what he called “a pretty serious” hamstring tear.

“A hamstring of any person doesn’t fully heal after three weeks, four weeks — five months,” said Williams, who also dealt with a hamstring injury in his other leg in college at USC. “It takes a while, but there are certain parameters that allow you to go out there and play. There are certain parameters that clear you to go and lower the risk of reinjuring, and obviously just being smart with it throughout the week.”

Williams injured his right hamstring in the fourth quarter of a 9-3 loss to the Minnesota Vikings at a rainy Soldier Field. On a first-and-goal play from the 6-yard line, Williams ran to his left and was looking for the end zone when he crumpled down on the field in pain.

“I felt a pop,” Williams said. “That’s why I looked back. I looked back just like everybody else does when you feel a pop. (You) think somebody grabbed you and nobody grabbed me.”

The training staff helped him off the field and he later took a cart from the sideline to the locker room. Williams was emotional in that moment, a towel over his head, tears in his eyes and a fist raised in the air.

The moment became a talking point online, on sports-talk radio and on nearly every talking-head show on TV, especially after Johnson confirmed the following morning that the injury was not season-ending.

It was far from the first time Williams drew criticism for showing his emotions. During his final season at USC in 2023, cameras caught him crying with his mother in the front row after a loss to Washington. That moment became a talking point during the predraft process in the spring of 2024.

After this latest injury, Williams said the jokes don’t bother him. He didn’t fully know the severity of the injury until an MRI the following day, and in the moment all he knew was that he was hurt and he couldn’t be on the field with his teammates.

“I’m always going to show emotion, especially when I can’t be out there with the guys when something like that happens,” Williams said Thursday. “This is what I love to do. This puts a smile on my face. It’s everything to me. So not being able to be out there was frustrating. That was more (the reason for) the tears.”

Since then, Williams has been rehabbing five or six hours a day, both at the team facility and at home with specialists. He participated in a lengthy workout about three hours before the Packers game Sunday at Lambeau Field. In that workout, Williams tested various motions he goes through as a mobile quarterback, scrambling from the pocket and throwing downfield on the run.

Now, Williams must pass a final stress test ahead of Sunday’s game if he’s going to play.

“(It’s) loading (the hamstring) in many different positions just because you’ve got a D-line rushing you, so you’re putting your body in positions that you can’t really replicate because it’s more of a reaction in practice and (in) game,” Williams said.

Johnson didn’t meet with reporters Thursday, but he hasn’t named a starting quarterback this week and he said the situation was “still fluid” when he talked Wednesday.

That was the case regarding Williams as well as his backups. Johnson has not said if Tyson Bagent or Case Keenum would be the backup this week.

“A lot of things have gone through our minds,” Johnson said Wednesday. “First and foremost, health is the No. 1 priority for all three guys. I don’t know that any of them are exactly 100 percent at this point in the season. That’s something that we certainly look at.

“We want whoever is out there to have a good rapport with the offensive line, with the operation, with our pass catchers. So we want to make sure that we can get in a rhythm, which we weren’t able to do last week as an offense.”

Keenum started in Week 3 when Bagent missed most of the practice week in concussion protocol. Bagent started the next two games but struggled last week in Green Bay. Johnson pulled Bagent in favor of Keenum for the fourth quarter, and each quarterback turned the ball over twice in that game.

The Bears have a tight turnaround next week with a Thursday game against the New England Patriots looming. Would it be wise to have Williams play two games in five days after missing three weeks of action? That’s another wrinkle the Bears have to consider.

“If I’m good to go, I’m good to go,” Williams said. “If I’m not and we’re just not ready, then we’ve got to wait.”

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