Coach Matt Nagy stated the obvious after practice Wednesday night — the Bears are ready to hit somebody other than each other.
An altercation interrupted play for the third consecutive practice. This time, guard Kyle Long lost it after tangling with defensive lineman Jalen Dalton. Long angrily ripped Dalton’s helmet off, then hit Dalton with it before throwing the helmet away. Long was excused from the rest of practice but was allowed to watch from the sideline.
“We all saw what we saw, and I saw the same thing,” Nagy said. “I’m going to keep that between us internally, but it was just disappointing.”
Long got into a minor scuffle with Akiem Hicks on Sunday in Bourbonnais, and wide receiver Javon Wims angrily battled cornerback Prince Amukamara in practice Tuesday. Nagy was at a loss to explain it.
“We talk about it as a team . . . and that kind of stuff, we just don’t do,” Nagy said. “And I think at some point, we’ve got to prove that we’re a mature team. We are. I’ve been saying it to you all for the longest time — we have a bunch of high-character people. That starts with us as coaches, making sure we lead these guys the right way and making sure that they understand that that can’t happen.
“It can’t happen. It’s not gonna happen. But we’ll handle that internally. I’ll have man-to-man, one-on-one discussions with everybody and make sure it’s handled the right way.”
The Bears are three weeks into training camp with three weeks of the preseason to go.
“I don’t think [training camp is too long],” Nagy said. “But I do think it’s good for them to probably go against different people. Think about it — every play and every rep, they go against each other all the time in the trenches. But I think that mentally strong teams know how to handle it and not cross that line.”
Whitehair banged up
Before the extracurricular activities, guard Cody Whitehair left practice with a finger injury that Nagy said was not serious. Should Whitehair miss extended time, veteran Ted Larsen is the presumptive next man up.
Kickers perfect
Eddy Pineiro (45, 43, 33) and Elliott Fry (42, 33, 33) were a combined 6-for-6 on field goals/PATs.
