Bears training camp digest, Day 3: Pads come on

DAY 3 OBSERVATIONS

Pads!

Bears coach John Fox was happy with the effort level, if nothing else, in the first padded practice of training camp Saturday.

“It’s always sloppy the first day because they haven’t done it for a whole year,” he said. “But the effort was good, the intent was good, and we’ll get a little bit better on the technique as we go.”

Practice highlights

• Fox couldn’t help but tease quarterback Jay Cutler about overthrowing receiver Alshon Jeffery on a flea-flicker tossed back to him by Matt Forte.

“I told him it looked like I threw it,” Fox said. “And that’s not a compliment.”

• Pads meant the Bears could get an accurate gauge on their offensive and defensive linemen, who were allowed to actually hit each other. The best performance in one-on-one drills was by guard Matt Slauson, who stood up Jeremiah Ratliff enough times to earn an atta-boy from the nose tackle himself.

• Willie Young might not be participating in team drills yet, but he ran halfway across the field during an offense-vs-defense drill to encourage fellow outside linebacker Lamarr Houston.

• Kyle Long drove his big wheel — think a tricycle for adults — onto the field Saturday and was jokingly ticketed by local police.

• Don’t expect Fox to give reviews of the practice music playlist.

“I’m not going to get into Casey Whatever-His-Name-Was back in the day, top 20 or anything,” he said.

• About 5,000 fans attended, by far the largest crowd thus far.