Bears Get Wide Receiver Back to Health for First Time

Dante Pettis is ready to participate this training camp for the first time.

The Bears took their veteran receiver and punt returner off the non-football injury list after Wednesday's practice.

Pettis had an injury the Bears chose not to disclose, but on Wednesday he was able to run sprints on the sideline with trainers during practice and apparently is good to go.

This will increase the competition for roster spots and jobs. In the case of wide receiver Tyler Scott and second-year receiver Velus Jones Jr., it could mean quite a bit fewer play reps.

Scott has been impressive throughout camp while Jones has improved his offensive knowledge over last season, according to coaches.

"I think Velus has been a guy who has always worked really hard at it, always has," offensive coordinator Luke Getsy said. "And then I think for him, you can see it when he breaks the huddle, where last year it was like, 'Am I even going left or right the correct way?'

"And he's breaking the huddle (now), he's lining up. He's getting in his spot and he's doing his assignments at a much higher rate. So all that stuff, you can see it in his game."

Scott, Jones, Pettis and Equanimeous St. Brown are vying for play reps for the Nos. 4-7 spots.

Moore Success

Justin Fields and DJ Moore hooked up twice for long gains along the sidelines as the connection continued to build. Those were just two of several completions Fields had to Moore on the day in various sections of practice. One of the deeper passes came in 7-on-7 and the other in full-squad. Moore got between cornerback Tyrique Stevenson and safety Adrian Colbert. Fields had thrown the ball under pressure off his back foot lobbed high almost 25 yards downfield and Moore had to go up and grab it and get both feet in-bounds.

Moore's success has been virtually routine daily but another receiver's efforts might have been more welcome by the Bears. Darnell Mooney made several plays and had his most involvement in the offense, capped off by a long catch for a TD against Colbert that led to hollering a hooting from the offense's side of the field.

On a day when the passing game clicked probably as well as it has all camp, the sharpest play might have been a simple bootleg pass Fields threw to backup Stephen Carlson. The defense completely bit on the fake, Fields got outside on the bootleg and quickly saw the field and Carlson for a play that netted 21 yards. It's a staple of this offense but last year Fields sometimes held the ball too long on the bootleg and negated the effect of the fake on the play. This one was perfectly done.

Ground Revival

Roschon Johnson got the chance to get very physical on some runs but mainly on short passes or screen passes during later portions of scrimmage, but it was a player he is competing with at running back who had the big play of the day. Trestan Ebner broke straight up the middle with one cut and raced untouched to a TD of over 50 yards.

"Every now and then you forget how fast he is until you see him open up," running back Khalil Herbert said. "He did his job and made somebody miss. Once he sees daylight, good luck catching him."

Ebner had already caught coach Matt Eberflus' eye before that run.

"He had a couple of nice runs in the red zone the other day at family fest," Eberflus said. "I thought he made a couple of nice cuts. I think his visidson is improving because he knows the scheme. He knows where he's supposed to be running the ball and where he's supposed to be looking."

Defense's Revenge

It wasn't all offense. The defense thwarted a fourth-and-long hook-and-ladder play of sorts thrown to Herbert during a failed two-minute drill.

The best defensive play was an interception of P.J. Walker by linebacker Michah Baskerville. It was no ordinary interception. Baskerville was already up in the air defending on the throw that was deflected, but he still caught it in the air before coming down to the ground.

Roll Call

Returning to practice after being out with injuries were Johnson and cornerback Kyler Gordon. Still out are Lucas Patrick, Jaquan Brisker, DeMarcus Walker, Tremaine Edmunds, Dylan Cole, and Nate Davis, although Davis had come back for some individual work on Tuesday before missing Wednesday's practice.

Elijah Hicks played for Brisker at safety with starters while Noah Sewell joined T.J. Edwards at linebacker with starters with Edmunds out.