Chicago Bears QB Caleb Williams and starters will play Saturday vs. Cincinnati Bengals

LAKE FOREST – Chicago Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams and the rest of the Bears starters will play during Saturday’s preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Bears head coach Matt Eberflus announced the decision Thursday following joint practices with the Bengals at Halas Hall. Eberflus said that the total number of reps for the starters will depend on “the ebb and flow of the game.”

“We’ll figure that out when we’re at the game,” Eberflus said. “We’ve got a good range that we feel good about, like we did last time, and we’ll see where that is during the game.”

Cincinnati head coach Zac Taylor previously announced that Joe Burrow and the Bengals starters will not play in the game.

Williams made his preseason debut last week with an impressive performance against the Buffalo Bills. Williams went 4-for-7 passing for 95 yards. He led the offense on two field-goal scoring drives. The Bears won 33-6.

This week, the Bears take on the Bengals at noon Saturday at Soldier Field in Chicago. The Bengals will give the Bears a different look. The Bills run a similar 4-3 scheme as what the Bears offense sees every day in practice against the Bears defense. The Bengals and defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, on the other hand, present a different challenge.

“Cincinnati offers a different structure, a different set of circumstances or looks, so to speak, that you get from different teams across the league,” Eberflus said. “And you’re going to face that week-in and week-out.”

Both teams utilized Thursday’s joint practices to get reps for the first-team units against another opponent. NFL teams like the joint practices because they can go up against another team without the risks that come from a preseason game with live action.

Still, Eberflus said he felt it was important for his starters to get some more reps in the preseason game. This will be the Bears’ only preseason game at Soldier Field. It will be Williams first time playing in front of the home fans.