Running back Jamaal Williams last played in the NFL in 2024. On Tuesday, he got a chance to get a spot on a roster, or a practice squad.
Per the league’s daily transaction report, Williams had a workout with the Patriots.
He wasn’t signed; cornerback Al’Zillion Hamilton, who was one of the other players getting a workout on Tuesday, was added to the practice squad.
Williams, 31, was a fourth-round pick of the Packers in 2017. He spent four seasons in Green Bay, two in Detroit, and two in New Orleans.
He has 4,122 career rushing yards, 1,310 receiving yards, and 40 touchdowns. In 2022, Williams led the league with 17 rushing touchdowns.
Packers Clips
The year was 2006. The month was September. It’s the last time the Bears were favored to beat the Packers during a game at Lambeau Field.
Via Ben Fawkes of Yahoo Sports, the Bears entered the Week 1 2006 game as a 3.5-point favorite over the Packers. Green Bay has been favored in every home game against Chicago since then.
The Bears won the 2006 game, 26-0. The scoring was capped by an 89-yard punt return from Hall of Famer Devin Hester. Other Canton-bound players in the game included Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher, Packers quarterback Brett Favre, and Packers cornerback Charles Woodson.
This time around, the 3-1 Bears are favored by three points against the 2-2 Packers.
The Packers lead the all-time series, 109-98-6.
The Bears have won three of the last four. Before that, the Packers had won 10 in a row, and 15 out of 16 against their archrivals.
Why one member of Chicago’s dynamic rushing attack suffered an injury on Sunday, it may not keep him sidelined for long — if at all.
Bears head coach Ben Johnson told reporters in his Monday press conference that running back Kyle Monangai’s thumb injury is not serious.
“We think he’s going to be OK,” Johnson said, via transcript from the team. “We’ll see what it looks like as we go through the week here, but more of a day-to-day type deal.”
While D’Andre Swift is Chicago’s starter, Monangai leads the team with 324 yards rushing, averaging 5.4 yards per carry. Swift has 311 yards, averaging 4.5 yards per carry.
The Bears will play the Packers at Lambeau Field on Sunday.
Bears coach Ben Johnson has no qualms about making his disdain for the Packers known. Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur takes a different approach to the situation.
LaFleur explained his decision not to take Ben Johnson’s bait to reporters on Monday.
“Because this game is about players and so we’ll keep it about the players,” LaFleur said, via Matt Schneidman of The Athletic. “I’m not the one out there they’re playing. . . . Don’t get me wrong. I love the rivalry. It’s awesome. It’s great. It’s intense. You can feel it on gameday. You can feel it throughout the course of the week and also the significance, I mean, they’re the defending [NFC] North champions. So what a great opportunity, great challenge for us in our home stadium to play against the defending champs.”
For Johnson’s part, he sent a clear message to his players about Sunday’s game at Lambeau Field.
“He wants to beat them really bad like everyone else in the room, like every Chicago fan. Beat them real bad, and make them quit,” receiver Luther Burden III said, via Cassie Carlson of Fox32.
Johnson’s anti-Green Bay antics have included declaring in the locker room after a playoff win, “Fuck the Packers! Fuck them!”
“The Bears and the Packers, they should not like each other,” Johnson said in a Scouting Combine-week appearance on PFT Live. “I think it’s as simple as that. And I think that’s gonna make this rivalry, this game, something that people are going to watch here going forward.”
For fans, that’s absolutely true. Players and coaches are interchangeable. Coaches can be nomads, hopping from job to job regardless of where the job may be. And they generally refrain from making things personal because today’s enemy could be tomorrow’s employer.
Johnson, to his credit, isn’t willing to play the game. He earned his stripes with the Packers as a rival (Johnson and the Lions spoiled Aaron Rodgers’s last game in Green Bay), and he’s in position to be the coach of the Bears for a long time. He could become as beloved as Mike Ditka, in time.
He’s off to a good start. In part because he says what most Bears fans believe about the Packers.
As to this weekend’s game, which was moved out of the higher-profile 4:25 p.m. ET window for 1:00 p.m. ET, Johnson surely will say, privately and/or publicly, that the flex didn’t happen because of the Bears but because (as Johnson is more likely to say privately but who knows?), “The Packers suck.”
Packers defensive end Micah Parsons is eligible to come off of the physically unable to perform list this week, but it will not happen.
Head coach Matt LaFleur said at a Monday press conference that Parsons will not return to practice this week. Parsons said this summer that he thought Week 6 was the “most optimistic” date for him to return from last year’s torn ACL, but a recent report said that his first game action may not come until November.
LaFleur declined to discuss when he thinks Parsons will be ready to go.
“The guy is working his butt off to be out there,” LaFleur said. “We’ve made some ground in the last week. But when and when he’ll be available, time will tell. I’m certainly looking forward to that day.”
Parsons has not had any known setbacks in his recovery, but he was injured in Week 15 last season and the timeline for ACL recoveries is a long one under the best of circumstances. Whenever it comes, the hope in Green Bay will be that Parsons is back to his old form once the green light is on for his return.
Bears coach Ben Johnson said earlier in the day that Tyson Bagent will start Sunday’s game against the Packers.
It means Caleb Williams will miss a third week as he recovers from his Grade 2 hamstring strain.
During his media availability Monday afternoon, Johnson was asked about Williams’ rehab. Johnson said the quarterback will not practice this week but is still considered week to week.
“He’s doing a great job with his rehab,” Johnson said, via Nicholas Moreano of The Nicholas Moreano Show. “He’s not going to be there this week for us, but we think it’s still a week-to-week deal for us.”
The Bears beat the Eagles with Case Keenum in Week 3, and then started Bagent and Keenum in Week 4’s win over the Jets. Keenum played only the opening snap Sunday.
So, the Bears can afford to let Williams fully heal before returning him to the lineup.
Packers linebacker Edgerrin Cooper’s season is over.
Head coach Matt LaFleur said after Sunday’s win over the Buccaneers that the team believed Cooper tore his Achilles during the game and multiple reports on Monday say that further tests confirmed that is the case.
Cooper was having a big day before the injury knocked him out. He had nine tackles, an interception and a sack to help the Packers to a 17-14 victory that evened their record at 2-2. He had 21 tackles and two sacks in the first three weeks of the season.
The Packers will have to adjust to Cooper’s absence while their defense continues to wait for defensive end Micah Parsons to make his 2026 debut.
Ben Johnson isn’t going to play the, “Who’s going to start?” game this week.
In a radio interview with ESPN 1000 Chicago on Monday, Johnson said Tyson Bagent will start at quarterback in the team’s Week 5 matchup with the Packers.
“Tyson will be the guy,” Johnson said, via Kevin Fishbain of TheAthletic.com. “We’ll go from there. We’re in good shape.”
Bagent technically was not the starter on Sunday, as Case Keenum took the first snap in a cheeky move from Johnson. But it was Bagent’s show the rest of the way, as he completed 25-of-34 passes for 268 yards with an interception.
Caleb Williams is dealing with a hamstring injury suffered during the Week 2 loss to the Vikings. He has been considered week-to-week.
In 14 career games with five starts, Bagent has completed 67.2 percent of his passes for 1,239 yards with three touchdowns and seven interceptions.
Bears running back Kyle Monangai had a big day in Sunday’s 23-12 win over the Jets, but he suffered an injury that the team will be monitoring as they head into Week 5.
Head coach Ben Johnson told reporters at his postgame press conference that Monangai has a thumb injury that is currently being evaluated.
Monangai took over as the lead back after D’Andre Swift lost a fumble in the third quarter. He ran 30 times for 146 yards and two touchdowns before Roschon Johnson closed out the game at running back.
The Bears will be in Green Bay next Sunday as they try to improve to 4-1 on the season.
The Packers expect to play the rest of the season without star linebacker Edgerrin Cooper.
Cooper injured his Achilles on a non-contact injury, and it was as bad as it appeared when he required a cart to get off the field.
“Not good,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur told reporters after the team’s 17-14 win. “I would suspect [he tore his Achilles], yes.”
Achilles injuries are easily diagnosed, but Cooper will undergo an MRI to confirm.
Cooper totaled a team-leading nine tackles, a sack, a quarterback hit, an interception and a pass defensed before leaving with 8:43 remaining in the third quarter on Xavier McKinney’s sack of Jalon Daniels.
LaFleur was emotional about Cooper’s injury when he talked to Larry McCarren of the Packers Radio Network.
“It doesn’t look good on him,” LaFleur said. “That’s a huge blow for our football team. I hurt for him. I hurt for our team.”
Cooper will finish his season with 30 tackles, three sacks and an interception.
