LAKE FOREST – Another day of training camp, another day with a number of the Bears' top offensive weapons on the sidelines.
On Wednesday, the Bears had at least 20 players not participating in practice, including Velus Jones Jr., Byron Pringle, N'Keal Harry, Dante Pettis, David Moore, Cole Kmet, Ryan Griffin, and David Montgomery.
As such, quarterback Justin Fields operated the Bears' offense with Darnell Mooney, Equanimeous St. Brown, and a host of the second-team offense, with receiver Isaiah Coulter and running back Trestan Ebner seeing a lot of work with the first team Wednesday.
Coulter made the most of his opportunity to play with the ones.
During the first 11-on-11 period of the day, the offense faced a third-and- 6(is) following a sack by Justin Jones. Coulter had a great release off the line against cornerback Lamar Jackson and Fields hit him for a gain of 27 on an in-breaking route to give the offense the win for the series.
At the end of practice, Coulter made the catch of the day.
Bears coaches put 20 seconds on the clock and asked the offense to get into field-goal range with no timeouts. Coulter lined up in the slot to the right and ran a corner route against nickelback Jaylon Jones. Coulter's route wasn't the smoothest, but Fields dropped the ball in the bucket, and the receiver got both feet down in bounds inside the 10-yard line.
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While Coulter made the play of the day, it wasn't his to make.
"He balled out," Mooney said of Coulter after practice. "Last play, we were lined up in the wrong formation. It was my route. If he didn't catch it, I was going to get on his ass a little bit. But he's balling out.
"He's always been doing his thing, extra after practice, and he comes to the house with me to catch jugs whenever I don't have my doctor come through. He's a ball player for sure."
Coulter's catches highlighted the day for a short-handed offense. Fields was solid working without most of his top weapons. He went through his progressions fast and made quick decisions, often resulting in dump-offs to Ebner and Khalil Herbert.
As has been the case, the offense wasn't without its warts.
In a "move the chains" drill, Fields checked the ball down to Ebner twice for minimal game before Luke Getsy dialed up a trick play. Fields pitched the ball to Ebner, who looked to hit St. Brown coming across the field. But the pass was well off the mark, and the defense escaped with a win.
In the second 11-on-11 section of practice (move the ball), the offense once again sputtered.
After back-to-back runs by Herbert set up third-and-7, Fields bootlegged to the right and hit St. Brown over the middle for a chunk play.
On the ensuing play, Fields faked to Herbert and had Mooney open over the middle of the field for what would have been another first down, but he threw wide of the mark. Ebner followed with a run for a short gain, and Fields' pass to the rookie back in the flat on third down was batted at the line.
The offense also failed to get the job done on another end-of-half/game drill.
Given the ball with 45 seconds left and no timeouts near midfield, Fields checked the ball down to Ebner and Herbert for small gains before hitting tight end Chase Allen for a first down.
With the clock at 11 seconds, the Bears needed to pick up a chunk of yards and stop the clock. Fields hit Mooney for a gain of 20-plus, but the receiver couldn't get out of bounds and time expired.
Down six of his eight expected top targets, Fields did well to adjust the offense and get it moving with limited weapons. With the amount of talent in shorts and bucket hats, there's not much more you could ask of Fields in this setting.
Coulter, meanwhile, made the most of his "next man up" opportunity, at the very least putting himself in the picture for the final wide receiver position.
Here are more notes from Day 12:
-- Kyler Gordon, Kindle Vildor, Tavon Young, Thomas Graham Jr., and Mario Edwards were also among those who didn't practice Wednesday.
-- Undrafted rookie receiver Kevin Shaa made a terrific catch for the second time in three practices. This time, the Liberty product snagged a deep touchdown pass from Trevor Siemian.
-- Jaquan Brisker made the defensive play of the day. During a "move the ball" period, Fields bought time in the pocket, slid right, and threw a bullet to Mooney over the middle of the field. But Brisker hung with the receiver and broke up the pass, sparking a defensive celebration.
-- Lamar Jackson picked off Fields during individual drills.
-- Teven Jenkins was back a third-string right tackle spot Wednesday, one day after getting reps with the second team at Soldier Field. Larry Borom was back at the second-team right tackle spot after getting second-team left tackle reps Tuesday.
-- Braxton Jones stonewalled Robert Quinn in one-on-one drills but was beaten handily by Al-Quadin Muhammad. Meanwhile, Jenkins was smoked by Dominique Robinson but stymied Trevis Gipson. Justin Jones continues to pop, quickly getting past right guard Michael Schofield.
-- Darnell Mooney said he spoke with N'Keal Harry, and the receiver is in good spirits. Mooney wouldn't disclose the timetable for the receiver's return but said he was happy with what he heard from Harry.
-- Mooney broke down his one-handed catch from practice Tuesday. The Bears' star receiver noted that cornerback Jaylon Jones was holding down one of his arms on the play, so he had to make the grab with one hand.
-- Kicker Cairo Santos lamented the poor field conditions at Soldier Field on Tuesday. Santos said he practiced on a turf field during the offseason before realizing he needed to go to a run-down soccer field with longer Bermuda grass to emulate the Soldier Field kicking conditions.