Packers already have an advantage over one of their NFC North rivals
GREEN BAY – Matt Eberflus, the new head coach of the Chicago Bears, recently gave a discouraging response when asked whether or not the Bears will partake in joint practices during training camp. “I don’t think we are,” Eberflus told reporters. “I’m in a conversation with one of them right now and that might come […]
GREEN BAY – Matt Eberflus, the new head coach of the Chicago Bears, recently gave a discouraging response when asked whether or not the Bears will partake in joint practices during training camp.
“I don’t think we are,” Eberflus told reporters. “I’m in a conversation with one of them right now and that might come up. I’m not going to say their name, but we could potentially do one. But, I don’t foresee it happening, right now.”
There's a couple of semi-valid reasons why the Bears are unlikely to participate in joint practices over the summer. However, they aren't valid enough to skip out on a very important process.
Regardless, don't plan on the Packers following suit.
"We will," LaFleur said Tuesday when asked if the team will hold joint practices during training camp. "We're going to practice against the Saints. They'll be our Week 2 opponent. I talked to Dennis Allen yesterday and we're kinda just working out the details of what days we're going to practice and how we're going to practice."
It's a great decision by LaFleur and something Eberflus needs to try and work out before it's too late. LaFleur did a great job of elaborating on a couple of reasons why the practices are so important.
"I think it just affords you the opportunity for your guys to go out there and compete against something different," LaFleur explained. "There's a lot of unknown in terms of whether you're scripting the practices [correctly] or not. You don't get accustomed to going against the same looks each and every day. It just brings a different level of competition, I would say.
"What it really does for us is it affords us the ability to feel like we got good work with our veterans and then not have to play them in the game. That's part of the reason [why] I like them so much."
LaFleur's decision to go through with joint practices already gives the Packers a leg up on the Bears. That leg gets even longer if the Bears end up with no joint practice participation during training camp.
It's already an uphill battle for Chicago when it comes to competing with the Packers in the NFC North and it's not going to change if the Bears continue to fall behind in regard to the structuring/effectiveness of their offseason plan.
You can check out LaFleur's entire press conference, below:
Featured image via Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin Cent
