Chicago Bears vs New England Patriots: Joint Practice recap Day 1, and yes there were some fights!

The Chicago Bears and the New England Patriots kicked of their week of joint practices today in advance of Thursday’s preseason game at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. The original plan was for the teams to get together today and tomorrow, but last week they announced a 3rd joint practice for Wednesday.

On the injury front, the Bears have tight end Zach Miller and wide out Eddie Royal back practicing, and running back Ka’Deem Carey was dressed, but limited as he goes through concussion protocol.

Defensive end Cornelius Washington was resting his knee and ankle that he injured in the 1st preseason game, and rookie ILB Nick Kwiatkoski was also held out of practice with his nagging hamstring injury.

Outside linebacker Pernell McPhee, still on the PUP list, made the trip and is progressing, but corner Kyle Fuller was left home to rest/rehab his knee. I’ll have more on Fuller in tomorrow’s Ten Thoughts on the NFL.

There are a few Bears/Patriots story-line connections to keep an eye on, but none bigger than ex-Bear tight end Martellus Bennett, who took a shot at Bears’ QB Jay Cutler last week.

Bennett warmly met a number of Bears before practice, including head coach John Fox and offensive lineman Kyle Long, but not Cutler.

OMG its like middle school!

Bennett isn’t the only former Bear in New England, they also have Shea McClellin, Brock Vereen and Bear Pascoe. I’ll also have more on McClellin in tomorrow’s Ten Thoughts.

After the midpoint of practice Bears’ WR Alshon Jeffery and Patriots’ corner Malcolm Butler grabbed each others facemask and a fight ensued!

Butler was sent to the locker room after the skirmish, as the Patriots have a strict no fighting policy, however Jeffery stuck around to watch practice.

This next picture was taken from the Twitter of the NFL Network’s Courtney Fallon, but the tweet was deleted for some reason.

Courtney Fallon, NFL Network

Check out Bears’ OLB Lamarr Houston corralling 2 Patriots in that pic above.

Do you guys remember what happened the last time Houston was on the field with the Patriots?

Guys, I think George McCaskey might be a bad-ass.

"I just happened to be standing right there.” McCaskey nonchalantly said after practice. “It was no big deal." When asked what compelled him to get in between the two pro athletes, McCaskey added, "To protect our guy."

Bad-Ass.

Interesting to note that Ted Larsen wasn’t mentioned once when it came to the fight or the aftermath, or the other fight later in practice.

Another fight you say!?!

Yes, more on that later!

I’m not sure how true the next Tweet is, but I thought it was funny enough to share.

Now on to some actual tweets about the practice...

Since both teams have their beat reporters there covering the practices this week, we’ll sprinkle in some Tweets from New England's reporters as well as our usual round up of Bears’ beat guys.

Practicing against the explosive New England offense is a good ting for the Bears, but one of the Pats’ best players, tight end Rob Gronkowski, is done for the day.

Somehow Bennett dropping passes will be Cutler’s fault.

And then just when you think the chippiness has died down, another wee skirmish breaks out!

Lamarr Houston is regulating today!

And that’s a wrap...

Curious how the Bears’ offense fared, then look no further that this tweet to draw your own conclusion.

Wait a minute, there was another spat after practice?!?

If you guys come across any other interesting nuggets from practice, be sure to share them in the comment section.