Chicago Bears Are Seeking A Big Change To Preseason Schedule
The Chicago Bears remain focused on the upcoming NFL draft next month. GM Ryan Poles and Matt Eberflus have to finalize the roster. This draft is easily the most important of their tenure. A strong showing could accelerate their rebuild timeline. That said, there is no problem having one eye on the future. They’re already looking ahead to the summer both in regards to training camp and the preseason. Eberflus already said he plans to tweak the practice schedule to include more 7-on-7s and two-minute work to help Justin Fields and the passing game.
It appears their plans don’t stop there. According to Dan Wiederer and Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune, the team brass is making a concerted push to have joint practices with another team this August. It’s something they weren’t able to do last year.
The Bears were unable to make crossover practices work last summer. But behind the scenes, Poles and Eberflus are pushing to make that part of the preseason itinerary this year, preferably on the road. But with only one preseason road game in 2023, the Bears will have to wait for their schedule to be finalized.
There are obvious advantages to joint practices.
It allows the Bears to test their players against another team’s roster in controlled conditions, measuring their progress and seeing how they handle the increased competition. However, it doesn’t end there. Analytics show there is another major benefit to such an approach.
“Fewer starters year over year are participating in preseason games,” said Jeff Miller, the NFL’s executive vice president of communications, public affairs and policy. “And we’ve seen that there is a benefit at the beginning of the regular season from an injury perspective for players who reach game intensities at some point in the preseason. And joint practices have proven to be a really useful tool for that.
“The data also seems to show that the further back you move the joint practices toward the (regular season), the lower the injury rate during those joint practices and the more beneficial impact they have.”
The Chicago Bears have good reasoning for this approach.
Injuries were a big problem for them last year. No fewer than 13 players ended the season on Injured Reserve. Several others missed significant time with various ailments. If the team brass feels joint practices can be beneficial to toughening guys up for the long season ahead, it makes perfect sense to do so. The obvious unknown is who they could do it against. The preseason schedule won’t be released until after the draft in May. Once their opponent list becomes clear, it will come down to communication.
Both sides must agree on scheduling joint practices since they will come in the days leading up to the game itself. With only one road game, that creates a challenge. Either the Chicago Bears will need beneficial scheduling from the NFL, or they will have to compromise and do it at one of their home games.
One added benefit to all of this is that Poles and Eberflus will get to see players from another team up close. They’ll see how they work in practice and how they interact with teammates. That could lead to an opportunity to scoop them up via the waiver wire if the other team cuts them. It will be fascinating to see how this develops.