‘We definitely have to bring it’ — Bears know virtue of joint practice in Denver

Dick Jauron

2001 AP Coach of the Year
Donator
Joined:
Nov 14, 2016
Posts:
1,131
Liked Posts:
919
Location:
Peoria, Illinois.
When the Bears announced this spring that they’d travel to practice against the Broncos for two days before facing them in Saturday’s preseason game, Adam Shaheen immediately thought of their two outside linebackers: the all-world Von Miller and No. 5 overall pick Bradley Chubb.

“I think once we saw the schedule, all the tight ends were looking at those guys,” the Bears’ tight end said. “It’ll be a good challenge and a good chance to get better.”

When Roquan Smith boarded the Bears’ team airplane Tuesday, it added even more intrigue to the joint practices, which start Wednesday at the Broncos’ facility in Englewood, Colo. Rather than going up against each other, the Bears will test themselves against another team in navy and orange.

“You get tired of banging against your guys for so long,” said inside linebacker Danny Trevathan, who spent four seasons with the Broncos.

The benefits are more than psychological.

“We are lucky to go against a great defense in practice, but it will be nice to go against someone else — different styles and different coverages,” quarterback Mitch Trubisky said. “It’s going to be competition all week, so we definitely have to bring it. It will be a great week for us to get better and compete and see who wants to win every single snap — not just a game, not just practice periods, but every single snap, every single rep.”

The Bears have participated in joint practices three times, most recently in John Fox’s first two seasons, when they traveled to face the Colts in 2015 and the Patriots in 2016. New coach Matt Nagy, who never participated in one as an NFL assistant, has spoken with Broncos coach Vance Joseph about to expect.

“In my opinion it ‘spicens’ up practice a little bit,” Nagy said. “There’s that monotony when you’re out here every single day going through the same thing over and over again.”

After weeks of pitting the offense and defense against each other, Nagy hopes the practices will bring the Bears together. After an ugly recent brawl at a joint practice between the Redskins and Jets, Nagy wants his players to be smart.

“You just want to stay away from the fights,” he said.

Bears general manager Ryan Pace and his front-office staff will be watching, too. In 2016, the Bears claimed Patriots cornerback Cre’Von LeBlanc weeks after their joint practice. The year before, the Patriots practiced against the Saints, for whom Akiem Hicks played. Later the season, the Patriots traded for him.

“For Bill Belichick, it was to get a good look at your competition … ” Hicks said, to laughter. “It’s an opportunity to have some other type of competition. And then to finish it up and play them at the end of the week, it just works well.”

Thoughts: Going against a defense like Denver's should only help, not hurt, the Bears' growth on offense (assuming they try a few things).
 

TexasBearfan

Well-known member
Joined:
Aug 20, 2012
Posts:
3,677
Liked Posts:
2,527
they'll get a good long look at Shane Ray....maybe a Kevin White for Shane Ray island of misfit toys swap?
 

Dick Jauron

2001 AP Coach of the Year
Donator
Joined:
Nov 14, 2016
Posts:
1,131
Liked Posts:
919
Location:
Peoria, Illinois.
they'll get a good long look at Shane Ray....maybe a Kevin White for Shane Ray island of misfit toys swap?

This is what I was thinking. Not a trade, but maybe a late round pick for Ray. Pace did this with Cre'Von two years ago.
 

Chicago4Life

Well-known member
Joined:
Aug 24, 2012
Posts:
3,417
Liked Posts:
1,915
also gives the bears a chance to get a closer look at guys on the broncos roster bubble and/or guys who will be slated to be free agents after this season
 

xer0h0ur

HS Referee HoF
Donator
Joined:
Aug 20, 2012
Posts:
22,260
Liked Posts:
17,824
Location:
Chicago, IL.
My favorite teams
  1. Chicago White Sox
  1. Chicago Bulls
  1. Chicago Bears
  1. Chicago Blackhawks
Lets see if Miller is still juking Denver's DBs out of their cleats. Would be nice to hear he is out there making their secondary look silly.
 

Burque

Huevos Rancheros
Joined:
Mar 11, 2015
Posts:
15,961
Liked Posts:
10,858
Lets see if Miller is still juking Denver's DBs out of their cleats. Would be nice to hear he is out there making their secondary look silly.

DO they even have anyone noteworthy in their secondary anymore?

I thought Talib was the last beast they had and he is gone now.
 

AussieBear

Guest
DO they even have anyone noteworthy in their secondary anymore?

I thought Talib was the last beast they had and he is gone now.

while talib be gone, they still got chris harris.... trumaine brock is meh.. had that one good yr.. but hes a pro vet.. so he should know sum mentals...
 

Chicago4Life

Well-known member
Joined:
Aug 24, 2012
Posts:
3,417
Liked Posts:
1,915
DO they even have anyone noteworthy in their secondary anymore?

I thought Talib was the last beast they had and he is gone now.

from what i remember chris harris jr is one of the better cb's in the league and roby while he was the 3rd cb behind talib and harris showed he was very good when called upon.
 

JayQ

New member
Joined:
Nov 6, 2012
Posts:
100
Liked Posts:
19
Good time for them to watch backup Chad Kelly. I would offer up Mitch and a 3rd.
 

Burque

Huevos Rancheros
Joined:
Mar 11, 2015
Posts:
15,961
Liked Posts:
10,858
while talib be gone, they still got chris harris.... trumaine brock is meh.. had that one good yr.. but hes a pro vet.. so he should know sum mentals...

from what i remember chris harris jr is one of the better cb's in the league and roby while he was the 3rd cb behind talib and harris showed he was very good when called upon.

I forgot about Harris. He is a good CB.

Be interesting to see how the rookie does against different scheme.
 

AussieBear

Guest
I forgot about Harris. He is a good CB.

Be interesting to see how the rookie does against different scheme.

i already have more faith in his route running n creating speration dan i do mitch delivering him duh ball.. thats worrysum.. but im sure harris will match mostly with AR12

so has ocho cinco showed up to camp yet,.
 

Kazu2324

Well-known member
Joined:
Feb 10, 2013
Posts:
2,141
Liked Posts:
1,187
Location:
Canada
DO they even have anyone noteworthy in their secondary anymore?

I thought Talib was the last beast they had and he is gone now.

Both Chris Harris Jr. and Bradley Roby are pretty good. Maybe not quite as good, but I'd say Chris Harris is pretty damn good of a CB or at least he was (didn't really follow anything going on with Denver last season). They don't have much for safeties anymore though or that's what it seems like.
 

Burque

Huevos Rancheros
Joined:
Mar 11, 2015
Posts:
15,961
Liked Posts:
10,858
Both Chris Harris Jr. and Bradley Roby are pretty good. Maybe not quite as good, but I'd say Chris Harris is pretty damn good of a CB or at least he was (didn't really follow anything going on with Denver last season). They don't have much for safeties anymore though or that's what it seems like.
I think they are going to rely on their pass rush to make their CB's look better than they are by constantly having someone in the QBs business.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
 

JoJoBoxer

Well-known member
Joined:
Aug 14, 2010
Posts:
11,564
Liked Posts:
8,001
Both Chris Harris Jr. and Bradley Roby are pretty good. Maybe not quite as good, but I'd say Chris Harris is pretty damn good of a CB or at least he was (didn't really follow anything going on with Denver last season). They don't have much for safeties anymore though or that's what it seems like.

With those OLBers, good CBs can end up looking great.
 

Tostada

Active member
Joined:
Mar 26, 2018
Posts:
957
Liked Posts:
419
Lets see if Miller is still juking Denver's DBs out of their cleats. Would be nice to hear he is out there making their secondary look silly.

I would say our secondary is better in 2018. Their secondary got gutted. Harris is ok and that's it.
 

Mdbearz

Well-known member
Joined:
Jan 9, 2014
Posts:
4,512
Liked Posts:
3,218
Location:
Harford County, MD
Both teams usually like the idea of hitting someone else, I hope that we get the same Twitter feeds like we do at home.
 

Top