Bears' Ben Johnson says QB Caleb Williams (hamstring) won't practice, but doesn't rule him out vs. Eagles

Even with all the Bears’ urgency and their confidence they’re ready to push for a trip to the Super Bowl, they would be wise to proceed cautiously with quarterback Caleb Williams’ hamstring injury.

Their plan wasn’t exactly clear Monday, but it would be hard to imagine general manager Ryan Poles and coach Ben Johnson taking any chances by rushing him.

Johnson avoided boxing himself in with any sort of timetable, saying only that he didn’t think Williams would practice this week leading up to the Bears’ home game Monday against the Eagles. He did not, however, rule out Williams for the game, despite saying earlier in his weekly radio appearance that he would ‘‘likely miss some time.’’

Backup Tyson Bagent will work with the starters when the Bears resume practice Wednesday, almost certainly setting him up for his first start since 2023.

Johnson gave minimal information about Williams, perhaps out of gamesmanship or maybe out of annoyance with being peppered with questions in the first 24 hours -after -Williams was carted to the locker room at the end of the Bears’ 9-3 loss to the Vikings.

When pressed for next steps and whether Williams or the team would decide when he was healthy enough to contribute, Johnson didn’t answer directly.

‘‘He’s working through every avenue that he’s got available to get back on track here,’’ he said. ‘‘This guy’s a little bit different than the average human being. He gets back — he has in the past — a lot faster than what -people can anticipate.

‘‘He’s going to attack this with everything that he knows. He’s got a great team around him, both in this building and outside this building, and we’ll see where it goes from there.’’

The Bears surely will prioritize the long term when it comes to Williams, whom they hope will be their quarterback for the next decade-plus. On that topic, all Johnson said was the team would make sure he’s ‘‘ready to go’’ before he plays.

If the Bears decide to put Williams on injured reserve, they will have to do so by 3 p.m. Monday for the game against the Eagles to count toward the four he would miss in that scenario. That seems unlikely, however, after Johnson characterized him as ‘‘week-to-week.’’

Bagent would start in his place, and the Bears have 15-year veteran Case Keenum behind him and undrafted rookie Miller Moss on the practice squad.

‘‘There’s no other guy that I’d rather have get them ready than Ben Johnson,’’ right guard Jonah Jackson said. ‘‘We’ll be all right.’’

Bagent took over for five games (four starts) when Justin Fields got hurt in 2023, but he had thrown only six passes since then before replacing Williams against the Vikings and going 5-for-9 for 54 yards. The Bears, including Johnson, thought highly enough of Bagent to give him a two-year, $10 million extension in August 2025.

Keenum, 38, hasn’t played since 2023 with the Texans, and his main role has been to mentor Williams and Bagent. Moss, 24, was Williams’ backup at USC, then transferred to Louisville and has been mostly with the Bears since April.

That it’s on the table for Williams to return relatively soon points toward a Grade 1 hamstring strain, the mildest. Still, it would be typical to miss several games with that injury. After the Bears host the Eagles, they’re home against the Jets, then visit the Packers and Falcons.

However many of those games Bagent gets, it’s an incredible opportunity for him to campaign for an eventual starting job elsewhere. For the Bears, however, the goal is to stay afloat.

The Eagles are daunting and going into Lambeau Field against the Packers is tough, but the Jets and Falcons are rebuilding and beatable. If Bagent can navigate this stretch well enough to keep the Bears at .500 or better by the time Williams comes back, he’ll have done his job.