CHICAGO — Ben Johnson offered evidence there’s action behind his words regarding details and accountability, and the tight end resurfaced in the Chicago Bears passing game during the first training camp practice Wednesday morning.

And it all happened in a span of four plays in a seven-on-seven drill.

Before the third play of the period, the first-year coach blew his whistle and sent the offense back to the huddle because the pre-snap process was bungled. The reset was helpful: When the ball finally was snapped, quarterback Caleb Williams made a nice throw to tight end Cole Kmet deep over the middle. It was the kind of connection that was way too infrequent in the Bears’ broken offense a year ago.

When the starting unit got back to the huddle after the play — which would have been good for a 20-yard gain or so — there was more confusion. Johnson blew his whistle again and pulled the starters off the field, sending the second team on.

It wasn’t the first time a Bears coach has pulled a unit in practice, but it was the first time in a while and it emphasized that Johnson won’t just talk the talk when it comes to doing things the right way.

“That’s on par for how Ben is,” Kmet said.

Could Kmet repeat what Johnson said as he made a wholesale change in the middle of the period?

“No, I don’t think so,” Kmet replied. “I was a little exhausted, so all I heard was a little bit of yelling and I knew that obviously things weren’t going well there the last few plays.

“If you’re not doing it right, he’s going to get you out and he’s not going to see that stuff continue. It’s a lesson to us. You’ve got to be on the details. All the reps are important. All of it matters.”

Johnson predicted the first couple of weeks would be a little rocky as the team installs new systems across the board. The coaching staff threw a lot at the players in the spring, so there are challenges to recalling the material and it’s a fast-paced environment.

“There’s going to be ups, there’s going to be downs,” Johnson said Tuesday. “It’s easy to have a bad day or two and go ahead and get all panicky. That’s not going to be us. The first couple weeks, it’s going to be big installation, so the guys are going to be thinking and mistakes are going to be made.”

That’s to be expected when a new offense is being taught. What the Bears want to avoid is getting to the end of summer and realizing the defense dominated the vast majority of team drills during the vast majority of practices. That has been the case for the longest time at Halas Hall and, no, it hasn’t always been due to a top-10 defense on the other side of the ball.

Even though it was the first day and a short practice, about 80 minutes, you could tell Kmet was annoyed.

“I would just say it’s stuff we should know,” he said.

At least we know that when players aren’t prepared to break from the huddle and execute efficiently, Johnson won’t put up with it. One complaint the Bears had last year after offensive coordinator Shane Waldron was fired was that too often the coaching staff just kept going during the spring and summer when mistakes were made. Miscues weren’t addressed on the spot. Of course, it’s easy to share that criticism after the coordinator was canned.

What we don’t know yet is how much the tight ends, including first-round pick Colston Loveland, will be involved. The position was a relative nonfactor in the passing game in 2024. The Bears targeted tight ends 13.1% of the time, according to Sharp Football Analysis, which ranked 30th in the league. Kmet went from 90 targets in 2023 and being a big red-zone target — a combined 13 touchdowns in 2022 and 2023 — to barely seeing the ball.

Kmet was targeted 26 times over the final 11 games, getting two or fewer targets in seven of those games. There were ample examples of Kmet wide open all over the field and never getting the ball. You can place some blame squarely on the coaches who are gone, but there’s also an element of accountability for Williams.

A high volume of passes to the tight end must be thrown on time, whether that player is part of a two- or three-man progression to the strong side of the formation or whatever. Even an outlet pass has to be delivered in a timely manner.

Williams lacked rhythm as a passer last season and the Bears lacked pass protection, and those two things led to a lot of running around. In many of those instances, it didn’t matter if Kmet was open — he wasn’t getting the ball.

Loveland, who cleared his physical in his return from shoulder surgery, was on the field Wednesday as expected but was held out of team drills as the Bears will bring him along slowly. The pair provide a tantalizing mix for Johnson, who leaned heavily on tight ends as the Detroit Lions offensive coordinator.

“I know (Loveland) has got a little bit more to go, but excited to see where he goes and where he can fit into the offense and those type of things,” Kmet said. “Obviously a great athlete. Got great size. Really fluid in his routes. Got great speed too. So looking forward to seeing him develop this training camp and how he’s going to help us this season.”

Kmet said he looks at the relationship as a chance for them to help each other and compete. With the coaches talking about competition in all corners of the depth chart, that’s a healthy viewpoint.

“There’s naturally areas where we’re going to compete with one another just because we’re in the same position and we’re both pass catchers,” Kmet said. “I always feel like, despite if you’re a tight end, running back, receiver, we’re all competing with one another for certain roles within the offense. Nowadays they can put you anywhere. So as long as you can show the coaches that you can handle certain things, they’re going to put you all over the field.

“There’s aspects that are competition and then there’s aspects where I think we’re going to be able to complement each other’s game really well. So looking forward to see how that pans out. I think that’s going to make both of us a lot better, but then when it comes to the season, it’ll be fun to see how we complement each other when we’re on the football field.”

For all the excitement about the additions to the offense — Loveland; wide receiver Luther Burden III, who didn’t practice Wednesday because of a hamstring issue; and the second year for wide receiver Rome Odunze — Kmet has been a proven cog in the passing game. When he did get chances last season, he was productive, catching a career-high 85.5% of his targets.

The Bears have to get back to throwing the ball to the tight end — and they have to be more buttoned up with the details. At least for one day, the new coach showed that accountability matters, and Kmet got the ball in a spot we seldom saw him last season.

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