Dodgeball, Juggling, Putting, You Name It – The Bears Are Having FUN and Other Bullets

May 21, 2019

I have mixed feelings about leftovers (Michael: Oh, not me. I’m a huge leftovers guy – everything besides french fries is great on Day 2). But snacking on leftover shredded pork really hits the spot.

That wacky ~~Joe Maddon~~ Matt Nagy is at it again:

We do things a little differently than everyone else. ¯_(ツ)_/¯ pic.twitter.com/vPbUHEWWQ8

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) May 21, 2019

Larry Mayer of the Bears’ official website has details of the team’s “Monday Funday” ahead of OTAs starting up. Events included an obstacle course, balancing a baseball bat in your palm, hitting a goalpost with a thrown ball from 55 yards away, juggling tennis balls, dodgeball, and coaches running sprints across the width of the field, and more. It sure beats lifting weights and sitting through meetings, doesn’t it? “It’s always fun when you go into a team meeting and you’re about to get ready for your lift and coach says, ‘We’re scrapping it,'” Kyle Long explained, via Mayer. “The mood immediately goes up. We’re lucky to have coach Nagy and to be able to do stuff like this. He’s got his finger on the pulse of the team. He does a great job.”

There is no denying it at this point. Since his arrival, Nagy has had a strong feel for his team and it showed last year with how everything was handled – from the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. As if you needed any more reasons to feel good about this team moving forward.

There is no quantifying how much being a “fun” team made the Bears good last year, but it can’t hurt to take a relaxed approach to things when the time is right. Keeping it loose and fun was something Nagy drove home last season in his first year as Bears head coach and I figured he would keep the good times rolling moving forward. Good for him, we need more fun in our football lives.

If you thought Khalil Mack was scary coming off the edge, imagine him as QB2:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BxtEkMJlQN4/

Mack isn’t going to take QB snaps this fall (wink-wink, nudge-nudge) but there is no time better than the present to dive into what offensive trends the Bears participated last year. Johnathan Wood of Da Bears Blog has perspectives on how certain personnel groups and formations were used in 2018.

On the other side of the ball, Eddie Jackson was nothing short of superb last season:

Eddie Jackson's 2018 season was one for the ages, leading the Bears defense in overall and coverage grade pic.twitter.com/g5yrX5E96O
— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) May 20, 2019

I’m glad Tom Thayer made the cut because he is one of the best offensive linemen in team history, and a darn good color analyst on the radio:

#8️⃣4️⃣: Tom Thayer#Top100Bears pic.twitter.com/zzsPOs7cYT

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) May 20, 2019

Doug Plank also made the top-100 list, which is great. But the guy who was the inspiration behind the 46 defense should have probably been higher:

#9️⃣9️⃣: Doug Plank#Top100Bears pic.twitter.com/6OoyJkjpjN

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) May 20, 2019

There are some curious names on this list:

Early #fantasyfootball season-long fades vs. ADP:

Antonio Brown
Mark Ingram
Tyler Boyd
Tarik Cohen
Larry Fitzgerald
Eric Ebron
David Njoku
Drew Brees
Emmanuel Sanders

— Evan Silva (@evansilva) May 20, 2019

I don’t know if you want to fade Tarik Cohen as a fantasy player because he figures to get a fair number of snaps as a pass catcher and rusher, but I suppose I can envision a scenario where he gets over-drafted. So long as Cohen gets consistent touches, he should be an easy weekly starter in the FLEX spot with RB2 potential in PPR leagues.

Books are awesome:

Ready, Get Set, Go! #DaBears LB @RoquanSmith1 shares his love of books w/ students at St. Bruno School. pic.twitter.com/uzgU5X4KtB

— Chicago Bears (@BearsOutreach) May 21, 2019

When you’re the Bears, your centennial jerseys are allowed to be different from everyone else’s:

Good look at how all NFL teams except the Bears will be wearing the NFL 100 centennial logo on their jersey collars this season. Bears will have regular NFL logo instead, along with their own team centennial jersey patch. (h/t @aydendomico2) https://t.co/HH0xmDj10g
— Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) May 19, 2019

Office gear, tools, and Zero Gravity chairs (OK, that’s a concept that’s new to me) are among the Deals of the Day today at Amazon.

Welcome to the party, pal:

Pros and Cons of Trading for Lonzo, Picking 7th (Again), Multiple Anniversaries, and Other (First-Time!) Bullets https://t.co/8stCekEKtw pic.twitter.com/ucjzeFqQk8

— Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) May 20, 2019

The Bulls didn’t win last week’s draft lottery, but there should be no shortage of storylines to follow leading up to the upcoming NBA Draft. So with that in mind, BN Bulls is tipping off at the right time.

Brett really captured the spirit of the thing here as he used “metaphorical, chef-inspired, masterfully-crafted, artisanal dong punch” to describe last night’s Cubs game:

A Nearly Perfect Dong Punch https://t.co/6f6BGX0PsY pic.twitter.com/Gznwdr9GO5

— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) May 21, 2019

And a sincere thanks to those of you who reached out and congratulated me on my upcoming appearance on “Outside The Ivy,” which is NBC Sports Chicago’s Cubs-centric, interactive, fan-driven, show which will air after select 7 p.m. CT games. Our first show is Wednesday. Tune in!

written by

Luis C. Medina

Luis C. Medina, who you can find on Twitter at lcm1986, has been covering the Chicago Bears at Bleacher Nation since 2017. Since then, he has written about 3 head coaches, 5 play-callers, and 11 starting quarterbacks. Previously, Luis wrote about the Cubs and MLB at BN (2015-16) and worked in the Chicago Tribune sports department (2011-16). He also co-hosted a Cubs postgame show, Outside the Ivy, in 2019.

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Dodgeball, Juggling, Putting, You Name It – The Bears Are Having FUN and Other Bullets

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