Chicago Bears need to make sure to avoid making the same big mistake they made last summer
The Chicago Bears start their first phase of OTAs this week. Chicago is looking to build on their 3-14 season in 2022 which included eight losses that came by single digits. The Bears went through a rebuilding season last year, but they were still a tough team to play on a weekly basis. Bears head […]
The Chicago Bears start their first phase of OTAs this week.
Chicago is looking to build on their 3-14 season in 2022 which included eight losses that came by single digits.
The Bears went through a rebuilding season last year, but they were still a tough team to play on a weekly basis.
Bears head coach Matt Eberflus will start molding his 2023 Chicago squad into the team he envisions starting this week. OTAs are essentially when the page is officially flipped from the previous season.
There's one big mistake from last year's OTAs, however, that Eberflus and the Bears need to make sure they avoid this summer.
A year ago, the Bears lost a day of OTAs because they broke the "no contact rule" during a practice in May.
From The Chicago Tribune: According to the league source, the Bears were warned for having practices featuring too much contact last month with requests made that they alter their practice activity to adjust. Eventually, when proper adjustments weren’t made, the NFL Players Association was asked to get involved and the NFL stepped in, deciding that the team was in violation of league rules.
Eberflus didn't seem too concerned last year that Chicago lost a practice.
“That’s what we have to do — we have to do that to win games,” said Eberflus after Chicago lost a practice. “That’s what I was excited about. Adversity’s going to come. It’s how you deal with it that matters.”
At the time, Eberflus was focusing on installing a new culture in Chicago. And if it took losing a practice to make it happen, then Eberflus was alright with that.
Moving forward, I'd expect Eberflus to be more careful when it comes to contact in practices. He can say all he wants that losing an OTA practice wasn't a big deal, but all NFL coaches want as much practice time as they can get.
While we can't rule it out, I'd be surprised if the Bears are penalized again this offseason for violating the NFL's OTAs rules.
