The Sun-Times’ Jason Lieser breaks down the Bears’ Tuesday practice, the fifth of 2019 training camp:
Doink alert
The Bears’ ongoing kicker competition started out well for Elliott Fry and Eddy Pineiro, but they’ve skidded recently. Fry slipped in the rainy practice Monday, and Pineiro missed two kicks in perfect conditions Tuesday.
“We’ll look forward to him continuing to bounce back from it,” coach Matt Nagy said. “We’ll keep charts on how this goes. They all matter.”
Nagy has been alternating days for the kickers, and Fry is scheduled to have the Thursday morning practice to himself. The Bears are also monitoring other teams’ kicker situations in case proven veteran becomes available before the season.
What is 10-10-10?
The Bears held what Nagy calls a 10-10-10 practice, which is shorter and more specialized than a typical session.
The team runs 10 straight plays for the offense against a predetermined defensive formation. Then Nagy reverses it and has the offense run something specific for 10 plays so the defense can get some targeted work. The final 10 is 10 minutes of special teams.
The Bears run through three 10-10-10 sequences and call it a day, finishing about an hour quicker than usual.
Special guests
While practice was closed to the public at large, the team invited about 700 visitors from local community organizations and families dealing with chronic illness and special needs.
Many players stopped to talk with them as they left the field, and Nagy was grateful to host them.
“My heart reaches out to all those people,” Nagy said. “We can make their day just by going over signing autographs, shaking a hand, taking a picture. That’s what it’s all about.”
Next up: The Bears are off Wednesday and will practice Thursday at 8:15 a.m. at Olivet Nazarene University.
