A Real Danger in Matt Nagy's Plan for a Tougher Camp

Considering precautions being taken now, the No. 1 danger when the Bears report back to Halas Hall for July 28 training camp might not be coronavirus or how well the players have been able to learn offensive and defensive assignments without being on a field with coaches.

The real problem is simply being in shape.

The Bears prepared mentally using virtual defensive and offensive installation with meetings. What they haven't done as a team is what really concerns some players.

The conditioning that occurs on the field in the offseason during practices like OTAs and minicamp, in addition to extra conditioning work they do at Halas Hall before this are lacking.

"I think the No. 1 concern that you always run into is going to be the health and injury risk that these players have," coach Matt Nagy said. "They're all on different levels."

The lockout year of 2011 showed Nagy and other coaches how the different levels can mean varying degrees of injuries when camp comes.

"Coach Nagy, he wants to see who is going to be conditioned when we get back to get camp and who's not," Bears safety Eddie Jackson said. "And that's going to tell it all. A lot of guys say: 'Yeah I'm working, I'm doing this, I'm doing that.' But it's all going to show when it's time to report back to camp."

It applies everyone on a team and not just certain positions. Wide receivers and defensive backs probably get affected more than others.

"I think football's probably one of the hardest sports to get in shape just because you can run 1,000 sprints every day, but once you get on the field definitely as a DB we react to every play," slot cornerback Buster Skrine said. "So the first week of camp you're super sore. There is muscle memory for change of direction but for us we never know where we're going."

The lines can form early and often at the trainers' room door during camps with players who are hamstring or calf muscle victims when there has been offseason conditioning work at team facilities.

Imagine the extent of this when they've been left to their own devices to train.

Skrine had some advice for the rookies in this regard.

"I just told them if they can get on the field and do footwork at least four times a week for an extended period of time, 30 minutes or longer, that'll help them come to training camp in shape and help them with the soreness a little bit," Skrine said. "But the biggest part is mental just to know your playbook and just know you can line up on the field and give yourself a chance to compete."

It goes all the way down to offensive linemen, who normally get associated more with how much they eat than their conditioning.

"We're going to be in shape so we can finish plays," said offensive line coach Juan Castillo, whose goal is to make the line more physical this year. "Now we become physical, because we're in shape to finish the plays."

Nagy wants the team to hit the ground running because he promises it will be a tougher camp than last year. There will be competitions at numerous positions.

Players out of shape will be in that proverbial line to the training room for tub treatment, and as the old saying goes, "you can't make the club in the tub."

"So when they get here, the message has been loud and clear to the players via zoom calls, that that's the mindset," Nagy said. "What are you doing right now at home to prepare for that? Now, that said, two years ago we talked about being calloused. That's real. That's gonna happen this year—I promise you that will happen in our training camp. But we also can't be stupid. We need to make sure that we're smart and we're calculated in how we do it.

"Injuries can affect a football team. Specifically you can run into hamstring injuries, calf injuries, all that. We've tackled that pretty well. We have an actual plan on how we want to go about fixing that and we have a plan for it."

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