Chicago Bears gamers reported to coaching camp Tuesday at Halas Hall, readying for a six-and-a-half week lead-up to Week 1.
The staff will maintain its first camp observe Wednesday morning. On Tuesday, common supervisor Ryan Poles, coach Matt Eberflus and a handful of gamers spoke with reporters. Here are three issues we discovered.
1. The Bears are turning over each stone to stabilize a questionable offensive line.
On Monday, Poles signed veteran guard Michael Schofield to a one-year deal. On Tuesday, the first-year GM introduced the signing of 33-year-old offensive deal with Riley Reiff.
Reiff, a first-round decide of the Detroit Lions in 2012 who has additionally frolicked with the Minnesota Vikings and Cincinnati Bengals, instantly figures into the Bears’ competitors at deal with and has the flexibility to play on both facet.
Both signings are a sign Poles isn’t resting in efforts to improve the road in entrance of quarterback Justin Fields, who expressed his happiness with the strikes.
“It’s definitely going to help our team,” Fields stated. “Especially the younger guys — just teaching them the ropes on how to be an NFL lineman and how to stay in the league for a long time. I’m definitely excited for them.”
The Bears appear to have solely two clear-cut starters on the offensive line at this level, with Lucas Patrick locked in because the first-unit heart and Cody Whitehair about to enter his seventh season as a starter on the inside. The Bears will now take an extended have a look at Schofield at proper guard in addition to Sam Mustipher and rookies Zach Thomas, Doug Kramer and Ja’Tyre Carter.
At the deal with spots, Braxton Jones, Larry Borom and Teven Jenkins all took first-team reps throughout the spring however might now should fend of Reiff to solidify a number one position.
“If everyone is competing, we’re going to get the best out of that unit,” Poles stated. “I said it from the beginning. Our front office is not going to stop just chipping away and bringing good football players onto this team to compete and make the whole team better.”
Schofield and Reiff will problem the Bears teaching workers within the early levels, pushing them to get the veterans into form, educating them the offense and assessing the place they might finest match. Eberflus, although, continued to emphasise he’s not working on a agency timetable to select a gaggle of 5 starters.
“There’s not a deadline,” Eberflus stated. “But like I said in the spring, the sooner the better. We just added a couple of pieces. So that’s going to be two more pieces to the puzzle.”
2. Poles stated Fields must ‘continue on the path he’s on’ because the QB appears to command the Bears’ new offense.
After watching Fields throughout the offseason program, Poles stated the Bears’ second-year quarterback is “doing everything he’s supposed to do.”
“We’re going to continue to add things to the offense, and he’s going to have to continue to grow based on what he sees and (what) the defense throws at him,” Poles stated. “I think one of the most important pieces is that command. Continue to bring that command and that leadership, and you saw that as we were finishing up the offseason.”
Fields stated he took every week and a half off for a household trip to Los Cabos in Mexico earlier than returning to coaching, together with figuring out in Austin, Tex., with different NFL gamers. When he returned to city, he contacted his Bears teammates to proceed their work.
Fields stated he has a unique feeling heading into camp now than he did as a rookie.
“Our team as a whole, we just feel closer I think this year, just in my opinion,” he stated. “Everybody on the team’s excited. We’re trying to all accomplish one goal and we’re just ready to get to work.”
3. Poles defined his resolution to dismiss director of participant engagement Lamar ‘Soup’ Campbell earlier this month.
Campbell was a revered useful resource inside Halas Hall, had a robust bond with many gamers and even served on the group’s five-person search committee throughout final winter’s hunt for a brand new GM and coach. But Poles fired him in July and changed him 12 days later with Mike Wiley Jr.
Poles emphasised Tuesday his transfer to go in a brand new course was based mostly closely on his need so as to add a psychological abilities and psychological well being element to the Bears’ director of participant improvement position. To that finish, Wiley Jr.’s psychology diploma and in depth expertise proved engaging. He had been with Courtex Performance since 2019 and, in accordance with the Bears, has consulted extensively with school and highschool gamers, in addition to with gamers in FIBA. Wiley Jr. additionally has labored with Indiana State and Lincoln Memorial males’s basketball applications, the Lipscomb girls’s basketball program and the Loyola observe and discipline staff.
Said Poles: “With the pressures this game puts on you, there’s a mental piece to this that’s absolutely critical. And I wanted someone who could come in and be educated — through their education, through school — on how to work with players to get their mind set the right way. How do you clear your mind? How do you go to the next step and push away a bad game, a bad practice or things that are wearing on you mentally? How can you overcome that? So I just wanted to go a different direction on the support we’re giving our players.”
Poles famous he speaks with a sports activities psychologist month-to-month to assist take care of the extreme pressures of his job.
“It’s absolutely critical that you can lean on someone who can give you advice on how to handle different situations so you can perform at your highest possible level,” Poles stated.
The hope is Wiley Jr. will support Bears gamers in that regard.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com