The Bears played their first preseason game on Saturday, so storylines could finally shift from what we’ve seen in practice to what we saw on the field in game. Problem was it was the game field itself which became a storyline early in the afternoon.
That was the Bears practice field on Tuesday for Family Fest. Justin Fields said the grass was better by the time Saturday’s game rolled around, but it didn’t look much better.
It was so chewed up, that free agent center and NFLPA president J.C. Tretter sent a tweet condemning the state of the field, and stirring up a controversy on Twitter in the process.
“The playing surface was passed by the NFL for us to be on,” said Matt Eberflus. “I thought it was firm and it was good, so that’s where we’ll leave it at.”
The field may have passed muster for the league and the Bears head coach, but according to Cairo Santos earlier this week, the grounds at Soldier Field have always been less than ideal.
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“The grass isn’t great, again,” Santos said. “It was really sandy, which I expected… It's just what we have to deal with.”
Fields concurred that conditions on Saturday were par for the course, but he looks at it in a positive light.
“To be honest, last year I used our home field to an advantage because I knew how our grass was,” Fields said. “I knew other teams didn't know how it was, so I kind of used it to my advantage in running and stuff like that, using the long spikes and stuff like that.”
In between now and Week 1 when the Bears host the 49ers, Soldier Field will be used plenty more times. There’s a Chicago Fire game, and three concerts that should pack fans in: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bad Bunny and Rammstein. Things could get worse for the grass before they get better.