LONDON – We’ve taken our Bair Mail service across the pond to London, where the Bears and Jaguars face off on Sunday morning (CT) against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

We promise no extra fees for message sent my way – thanks, information super highway!! – and just a smattering of British references. If all goes well through this writing, which is happening on a bus heading to the Bears Wednesday practice, you won’t hear anything about a red phone booth.

RELATED CONTENT:

• Counting on Caleb: A deep dive into Caleb Williams best game as a Bear
• Bears hopeful DJ Moore, Caleb Williams breakout game can help unlock offense
• Why Bears are spending a full week in London
• Caleb Williams shows ability to learn, adapt in big Bears win

No promises, though, but I did try some shrimp cocktail English crisps live on the Bears on the Marquee podcast, and it was surprisingly decent. We also talk English hangover foods to try should you want a theme breakfast before the game.

We also talk tons of Bears football on the pod, which we’ll do thoroughly again in this mailbag.

Gervon Dexter has been awesome lately, can he be a 10 sack guy? (Jimmy Praplasky from Highland Park, via Twitter DM to @ScottBairNFL)

The Bears interior defensive lineman has shown significant improvements in his second season out of Florida, with four sacks in five games to this point. He also has 10 quarterback hits and ranks fifth among regular defensive tackles in PFF’s pass-rush productivity metric, which combines sacks, hits and hurries relative to the number of times an individual rusher.

If he’s in that top group, in company with Dexter Lawrence and Chris Jones and Zach Allen, that means Dexter is creating havoc in the backfield. That has been a huge benefit to the Bears pass rush, with Dexter and Andrew Billings performing well on the inside.

Can Dexter be a 10-sack guy? Sure, because he has one in four different games already. Those defensive linemen always say sacks come in bunches, so it’s also possible he doesn’t reach the milestone. The sack total matters less than the overall impact, which Dexter has made to this point.

If also comes after Bears coaches challenged him to report in shape. He’s in solid physical condition, and a good camp and has become a major player on an excellent defense.

“He just owned the position,” head coach Matt Eberflus said on Monday. “I really think he has taken off that way, and he’s got the athletic ability and determination to get that done. So, again this is week to week. He’s building on some good performances and we’ll see him hopefully go forward with it.”

Is Caleb gonna keep showing these huge improvements? (from Brian Guinane on Instagram)

Bears quarterback Caleb Williams best attribute, beyond his physical gifts, is his ability to learn, adapt and apply. We’ve seen that each week thus far, identifying issues and addressing them in the next week.

Just ponder how far Williams has come over the first five weeks. Leaps and freaking bounds.

That said, there will be setbacks and speed bumps along the way. Steady improvements are tough to expect, especially as the competition rachets up as the season moves along. There will be coordinators who have the Bears numbers. There will be bad matchups that don’t go his way. There will be setbacks.

If his mindset doesn’t change and his confidence doesn’t waver, he’s going to be just fine even if he doesn’t have a CJ Stroud-like rookie campaign that ends with a surprise playoff berth and some individual honors. The Bears have a good one on their hands, because he knows how to navigate the ups and downs involved with pursuing greatness.

Why doesn’t Roschon Johnson get more carries? Seems like he deserves them. (from Weston T from Chicago, via Twtter DM to @ScottBairNFL)

That was a fair question in the first two weeks, but I think coordinator Shane Waldron has used Roschon Johnson at an appropriate rate since then. He’s clearly the short-yardage/goal-line back and has been effective in those scenarios.

His emergence has also been paired with D’Andre Swift cranking things up, finally being used in the right runs and as an outlet receiver or on screens. They made a good combo, and I would give anything assigned to Swift to anyone else. There will be times where Johnson gets more work, but the split working now.

Swift is the featured guy — he has been awesome lately — generally doubles Johnson’s carry count. Both guys have been impactful in their lane and form a combination where the Bears are comfortable using disparate skill sets to help execute a more complete rushing attack.

Are the Bears doing the right thing by going to London so early? (from Anthony F in Prospect Heights, via email)

That’s a tough call, Anthony, because there’s science that suggests it’s better to get in early and adapt to the time change and associated jet lag. There’s also evidence that coming in late can be effective.

As Bears head coach Matt Eberflus mentioned earlier this week, there’s no surefire way to navigate the week leading into an international game. This is the seventh international game I’ve covered and have seen teams tackle the week in different ways, including when the Raiders flew to London from Oakland on a Friday. They looked exhausted off the plane, and it was no shock they got waxed by Seattle. A good general rule seems to be that, the farther you are away, the longer you stay.

Be part of the Bair Mail experience by emailing your questions to mailbag@marqueesportsnetwork.com.