Adaptation Is Key for Bears Amid Uncommon Times
Nick Foles will throw some passes at home in preparation for the coming NFL season to brother-in-law Evan Moore, a former Philadelphia Eagles tight end.
Foles will do something special with the footballs, and it won't be letting air out of them.
"He’ll spot catch from a safe social distance," Foles said. "We'll disinfect the balls and be good in that situation, but that's how I'm approaching it right now.
"You've got to adapt."
This is how the entire NFL is approaching the COVID-19 pandemic now, with caution and adaptation.
There are plenty of new Bears and excitement within the organization to see what they can do, but until the virus is under control and it's safe to begin practices there will be no work at the facilities and possibly even a delay to training camp.
There is always video to watch and meetings via the internet.
"Thank goodness we have technology for that," Foles said.
Bears coach Matt Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace have been conducting interviews with possible draft picks via internet. They're all working at home and not Halas Hall.
"I think it's been good in that you are forced to quickly adapt to the changing landscape," Pace said. "So we talk about our IT and video departments, they've been outstanding. The silver lining is that I think it's pushed us further from a technology standpoint. The virtual meetings, whether that's Skype or Zoom, it's actually been highly efficient and in some ways better.
"I checked this morning. I think it's been two weeks since we moved out of Halas and been working from home. It's really been seamless with the ability to watch video, the ability to have meetings and communicate and interview players. That part has been really good and I think it's a credit to our staff."
More of a people person than a tech guy, even Nagy has gotten into the flow.
"I don't even go to hit the green button any more, I just go to FaceTime," Nagy said. "That's how crazy this has been."
The question unanswered is whether they can start practice on time in late July. Right now even the organized team activities for the week of May 25 appear uncertain.
From that end, the Bears feel fortunate to have brought in Foles to compete with Mitchell Trubisky at quarterback. He knows the offense and the coaches from working with a similar system, as well as with Nagy, quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo and offensive coordinator Bill Lazor.
Will it make catching Foles up on the exact offensive terminology any faster when practices actually begin? Nagy can't answer that one. Nor does he know how any delay will affect his upcoming quarterback derby.
"So that's up in the air," Nagy said. "Once we do know that, we'll have a plan in place. We're not even there yet. I know that with the guys we have on our staff, it's something we'll figure out quality-wise, how that goes."
It's going to be a matter of thorough planning well in advance for all options.
"We'll have a plan for all of those and then we'll put it into action," Nagy said. "But we'll see where it goes with preseason games. That'll be something important to know.
"Last year we didn't play a lot of our guys (in preseason) and that'll be obviously different this year."
If normalcy is restored in phases, and assembling players in groups is limited, Nagy said they're ready to use video for installing the offense and defense with players.
"We have to figure out solutions; we can’t complain," Nagy said. "We have to make sure whatever we do from the top–whether it’s teaching purposes, it’s going to be different.
"You are not going to be standing there in front of 30 to 60 players and speaking your team message for the day. You’re going to have to rely on them possibly looking at it on-line, on-line installation."
New players might have less preparation time than normal, but Bears free agent acquisition Robert Quinn thought back to his rookie year and a similar delay. He doesn't anticipate problems.
"Well, because my rookie year I didn't start until training camp anyway, because that was the year of the lockout," Quinn said of 2011.
Rolling with the punches goes beyond football.
Foles has an added personal complication from the pandemic as he and his wife are expecting a child in June and have to move up from Florida.
"But it's all going to be possible, just one day at a time," Foles said. "Our big focus is on living in the moment right now and doing what we can to help society, and whenever we're able to go do the football thing, we'll do that.
"And we'll thank the good Lord for that opportunity. But that's a little bit of what's on my heart when it comes to what's going to happen."
Until then, they'll sterilize footballs and throw passes at home from at least 2 yards apart.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
