It’s only been two days of training camp practices at Halas Hall for the Chicago Bears, but so far the three quarterbacks are performing exactly how one would expect they’d be performing at this point in the offseason. After scouring over several reports from Thursday’s practice, from both the media and the fans that were in attendance, this Tweet from ESPN’s Jeff Dickerson summed everything up nicely.
Thursday QB update:
— Jeff Dickerson (@DickersonESPN) July 29, 2021
*Andy Dalton looked sharp. In clear command of the offense. How you'd expect a QB entering Year 11 to practice.
*Justin Fields not as crisp. Some accuracy issues. How you'd expect a rookie QB to look on Day 2.
*Nick Foles mostly diced up the #3 defense.
I know fans want Justin Fields to dominate from day one and take the starting job, but rookie quarterbacks rarely are able to practice comfortably from the get go. Fields has impressed the coaches with his knowledge of the playbook, the scheme, and the terminology, but knowing it and doing it are two different things. He needs reps in his new pro offense, plain and simple. He’ll get there, but it’ll take some time.
Andy Dalton has been the QB1 for 144 professional regular season games, so it’s natural that he feels more comfortable on the second day of practice in his eleventh training camp. His processor is at a different level, because he’s seeing things from the defense he’s seen thousands of times. He’ll have some mistakes as he’s still getting to know his teammates, but there’s nothing that will be able to shake his confidence in a practice setting.
Nick Foles is in his tenth season, he’s in the second year of a system he’s very familiar with, so he should be slicing up guys like Xavier Crawford, Dionte Ruffin, and Caleb Johnson. If Foles can get just adequate pass protection during the preseason, he’s probably going to look damn good mopping up the second halves of games.
On the injury front, head coach Matt Nagy said that he’s not concerned about Eddie Jackson’s hamstring or Germain Ifedi’s hip flexor. Jackson tweaked his hammy working out on his own, and Ifedi’s injury was from yesterday’s conditioning. Teven Jenkins (back) did not practice today, nor did Akiem Hicks (no reason given).
Nagy also said that Robert Quinn (back) and Bilal Nichols (toe) would be limited today.
When asked how the team is with the 85% COVID vaccination rate, Nagy said “we’re either at or above,” and speaking of COVID, assistant coach John DeFilippo, who is fully vaccinated, is going through COVID protocol.
Now let’s fire through a few Tweets from some people that were at Halas Hall today.
TE Jesse James with a terrific catch over the middle from Justin Fields. He can move and looks like a nice late July addition.
— Brad Biggs (@BradBiggs) July 29, 2021
Fields bobbled a bad snap and it’s on the ground. Next play was a nice dump off after going through progressions.
— Kots (@PocketDitkas) July 29, 2021
WR Darnell Mooney just put a nice move on Jaylon Johnson to get open deep. But Dalton overthrew him. #Bears
— Zack Pearson (@Zack_Pearson) July 29, 2021
Throw of the day (so far): Andy Dalton to Marquise Goodwin deep down the left sideline.
— Kevin Fishbain (@kfishbain) July 29, 2021
Catch of the day: Jesse James high-pointing a rocket from Justin Fields.#Bears
Nick Foles with a nice throw near the right sideline to Scooter Harrington.
— Nicholas Moreano (@NicholasMoreano) July 29, 2021
FWIW, Robert Quinn had two absolute blow-bys on 11-on-11s. Would have easily been sacks.
— Ben Devine (@Chicago_NFL) July 29, 2021
#Bears camp practice is over. Best thing I saw was a diving catch by Allen Robinson, which wasn’t during the photo period, so … pic.twitter.com/aNDqxNCL9d
— Patrick Finley (@patrickfinley) July 29, 2021
Riley Ridley struggled a bit to start practice with a few drops in drills. But he just made a nice catch on the sidelines from Justin Fields. #Bears.
— Zack Pearson (@Zack_Pearson) July 29, 2021
Elijah Wilkinson and Lachavious Simmons were the tackles on the play. https://t.co/werg6nkNRM
— Nicholas Moreano (@NicholasMoreano) July 29, 2021
Rodney Adams just dropped a gorgeous rainbow from Fields in the Endzone.
— Kots (@PocketDitkas) July 29, 2021
Fields hanging with the O-Line. #Bears pic.twitter.com/fJsrEb3utY
— Ben Devine (@Chicago_NFL) July 29, 2021
- CBs Duke Shelley & Thomas Graham each made some plays
— Brad Biggs (@BradBiggs) July 29, 2021
- TE Jesse James looks like he can fit in
- Things were uptempo from one period to the next as Nagy pledged
- Nagy said QB coach John DeFilippo missing because of COVID protocol
The talk from Nagy/Desai has been getting this defense back to a top level. So far they have looked good in two days of practice that the media has attended. #Bears
— Zack Pearson (@Zack_Pearson) July 29, 2021
* For the Bears defense, Eddie Goldman and Robert Quinn had noticeable days of practice.
— Adam Jahns (@adamjahns) July 29, 2021
* The longer the practice went, the more it felt like one of those days where coaches say that the defense is typically ahead of the offense at this point in camp.
#Bears RB David Montgomery says he feels a lot looser and a lot shiftier after his off-season work. "I definitely feel different." @ChicagoBears @WBBMNewsradio
— Jeff Joniak (@JeffJoniak) July 29, 2021
One player I’ve been impressed with so far in two days is Christian Jones. Cheese has a grip on ILB3 spot. Has made some really good plays. #Bears.
— Zack Pearson (@Zack_Pearson) July 29, 2021
Montgomery: “He ain’t told me to shut up yet, so I’m good.”
— Sean Hammond (@sean_hammond) July 29, 2021