Thoughts on Thursday’s Practice (Closed to Public)
- Jason Peters practiced for the first time and Larry Borom returned to practice. Strong chance these are the starting tackles Week One, if Ifedi is unable to return on time.
- Andy Dalton is slated to play a quarter and a half Saturday, per Nagy. That means Justin Fields will see a ton of useless action. Having Fields play with backups, against third stringers, achieves nothing. (I hope my disappointment is resonating in those sentences.)
Looking Ahead to Saturday’s Practice Game
- Dalton is the story. The Bears could name Justin Fields the starter right now and that decision would be entirely warranted. Fields has done everything a rookie quarterback needs to do in the off-season to start on day one. The reason he’s not the starter is the presence of Dalton but that presence has to come with production. If Dalton plays poorly Saturday, the volume of the Play the Kid Chorus will grow louder, and louder, and louder.
- There really aren’t that many positional battles to watch on this roster, but there are a few areas possibly worth looking at:
- With Khalil Herbert receiving Matt Nagy’s praise this week and having a strong camp, his roster spot is safe. Will they end their open call for kick returners and let Herbert settle into the gig this week? Does Artavis Pierce have any path to this roster?
- Is Dazz Newsome ready to start returning punts? If not, this is a battle worth watching.
- Robinson, Mooney, Goodwin, Byrd and Dazz are locks for this roster. Is there space for another wide receiver? Are these the final days in a Bears uniform for Wims and Ridley? Can Adams or Johnson make their way onto the practice squad? (You would think an endorsement from Fields would almost guarantee it.)
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- Is Nick Foles really going to be on this roster?
- With the interior of the offensive line – Mustipher, Daniels, Whitehair – returning, where do the Bears deploy Alex Bars? He’s clearly one of their five best, healthy offensive linemen and those are the five that should be playing.
- The defense feels like it’s ready for Week One. They just need to stay healthy.
Q Brothers & Chicago Children’s Choir
My buddy JQ of the Q Brothers Collective asked me to check out Long Way Home, their collaboration with the Chicago Children’s Choir. After battling technology for the better part of an hour, I found the entire piece on YouTube stayed awake well into Thursday morning listening. It’s brilliant.
You can access the entire piece via the YouTube clip below or by visiting the show’s page here.
