Losing Preseason Games Can Take Bite Out of Bears' Quarterback Plans
The pandemic has apparently taken its first bite out of the NFL preseason schedule and as a result the Bears will not play a preseason game until Aug. 22.
The major impact point for the Bears is Nick Foles has more time to fit into the offense and find a way to become the starting quarterback.
According to Pro Football Talk the NFL has decided to eliminate Weeks 1 and 4 of the preseason due to the coronavirus pandemic. This means the Bears lose their noon Soldier Field game against the Cleveland Browns on Saturday, Aug. 15 and also the Sept. 3 game at Nashville against the Titans.
They will only play their Aug. 22 game at Denver and then the Saturday, Aug. 29 game at noon at Soldier Field against the San Francisco 49ers before they start the regular season Sept. 13 at Detroit.
The obvious impact is Foles getting more practice time to try to learn the offense, although he'll obviously have only one chance playing as the starting quarterback in preseason. Mitchell Trubisky will get the other chance.
This could actually affect how coaches determine the starter.
When asked how they would arrive at the starter, coach Matt Nagy indicated preseason games will be important.
"Like I said, preseason games, reps, playing more, creating more reps, having the ability to have both those quarterbacks play with the same wide receivers and tight ends against the same defenses, that's going to be important," Nagy said.
It's tougher to show some of those aspects of quarterback play without two of the games.
Regardless, the bulk of the work in practices was going to be more important than preseason simply because there are many more practice repetitions than there are in games.
But the game time lost for Foles should be huge because he'll report to camp with only video exposure to the offense beyond the time he spent in similar attacks with the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles in the past.
Cutting preseason in half does hurt the Bears defense at cornerback because they are going to be considering use of a rookie at cornerback, Jaylon Johnson. And he has no real NFL exposure, making it more likely one of the veterans like Kevin Toliver II, Artie Burns or Tre Roberson wins the job at least initially. This could also be the case at safety because Deon Bush has played four seasons in this defensive system while Tashaun Gipson will be getting his first exposure to it when practices start.
Another aspect sure to be impacted by two less preseason games is the work being done by new offensive line coach Juan Castillo toward turning around the line's run blocking. The Bears need the practice and reps in games for their starting linemen to establish some cohesiveness in the blocking scheme.
The games give them more of a chance because it's full contact, and there is almost no full contact in practice.
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