BOURBONNAIS, Ill. — The storms that rolled through Day 5 of Bears training camp on Monday morning felt somewhat fitting, given how much the team has focused on situational football during the first week at Olivet Nazarene University. The lightning held off long enough for fans in attendance to watch from under their umbrellas as the Bears dealt with sloppy conditions for the first time in 2019.
“The rain, that’s part of the elements,” Matt Nagy said. “We’re gonna see that. We all know that we’re gonna have that in a lot of different games. The guys did a good job.”
The steady rain caused conditions to quickly decline, and players struggled with a slippery field throughout the morning. Kicker Elliot Fry -- who went 8 for 10 on the day -- missed one when his plant foot came out from under him on a 51-yard attempt. Overall, it was another encouraging day in what’s been, so far at least, a tightly-contest kicking competition.
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“We don’t care about wind, we don’t care about rain, we don’t care about whatever,” Nagy said. “...You saw Elliott slip on that one. That could happen. Next play mentality, and make the next one. I thought he did a good job today.”
Chalk it up to the weather, or to early camp miscommunication, but the Bears’ offense had another uneven performance on Monday. Trubisky never quite found his touch on deep balls, under throwing a handful of passes that included a couple interceptions. Though if there’s a silver lining, it’s that all three quarterbacks got some valuable wet-ball reps.
“You don’t get a lot of practice at throwing wet balls unless you’re practicing outside in the rain or playing in the rain,” Chase Daniel said. “We had one rain game last year -- I was playing in it, actually -- and yeah it’s definitely different. You’re maybe not trying to force balls that are just a little bit open - ball security becomes a huge issue for us on offense.”
The Bears did manage to keep the ball off the ground, for the most part. “I think we only had one dropped snap the whole day,” Daniel added. “with wet balls for the first time and in our second padded practice - I’d say that’s pretty good.”
- Tight end Adam Shaheen sat out for a second straight day with a sore back. The Bears don’t consider it to be serious, but given his recent injury history, are taking things slow. ““I don’t think he’s a little ways [away from returning], but again we’re being a little bit cautious,” Nagy said. “I think he definitely got better from yesterday, but we just feel like, again, today coming out here with the weather and where’s he’s at, it didn’t make sense for him to be out there.
“He is a big guy and he’s been working on his flexibility, but for us, I personally don’t look at it as too much of a concern. We want Adam to be healthy for Week 1, so whenever that is there is no need for us to push anything. I’m not real concerned about it.”