Fun Fact About Floyd, Howard’s Hands, Miller Impresses Again, and Other Bullets

The Chicago Bears wrapped up training camp practices (the ones that are open to the public, anyway) on Saturday night at Bourbonnais. Any training camp session that ends without a season-ending injury is a good one in my books. And this one closed with fireworks, so that counts as a bonus.

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  • The Bears beefed up their stable of running backs by signing Knile Davis, but I have liked what Taquan Mizzell and Ryan Nall have shown this summer (albeit in a small sample size). Nall showed a little bounce-back ability against the Bengals (highlighted by a nice 69-yard run) after a lackluster showing in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game against the Ravens. Mizzell has displayed speed and shifty-ness in his time in the backfield, though doesn’t have much to show from it in the stats column. Davis just adds to the competitive mix and brings a veteran presence that is still relatively young, as he won’t turn 27 until October.
  • Elsewhere in the running back department, it felt like any time Jordan Howard wasn’t on the field, he was keeping busy:
  • Howard’s hands have been a hot topic the last two offseasons and his ability to make catches and turn in some big plays in the passing game could take his game (as well as the offense as a whole) to another level. Running Backs Coach Charles London has emphasized working on Howard’s technique, going as far as to try some outside-of-the-box methods in an attempt to shed a glaring deficiency and turn it into a strength. If the old adage that practice makes perfect turns out to be applicable here, then Chicago’s offense just picked up another gear.
  • Look good, feel good. Feel good, play good. I feel like Jordan Howard rocking with some Air Jordan Concords fits the bill here:
  • If you were hoping that James Daniels’ Thursday night performance at center was going to lead to an overnight change of heart from the Bears’ brass, think again. Cody Whitehair was the team’s first-team center during Saturday’s practice. Whitehair was flanked by guards Eric Kush and Kyle Long, with Charles Leno Jr. and Bobby Massie at tackle. Despite a poor snap from Whitehair (something that plagued him in 2017) on Thursday, the Bears are standing firm in their commitment to Whitehair in the middle. Still, it was hard not to come away impressed with Daniels’ run at center against the Bengals and it should lead him to getting more reps – whether at center or with the first unit at left guard – moving forward.
  • Who knew Kyle Long had this kind of versatility?
  • On the other side of the line of scrimmage, Leonard Floyd continues to look good. Not only are the visuals positive, Floyd looks someone who is practicing and playing freely. Floyd certainly doesn’t look like someone who is coming off a season-ending knee injury. The third year in Vic Fangio’s scheme is often one where players show off their entire skill set, which makes me feel like Floyd is the next man up.
  • Fun fact about Floyd: He has 3.5 sacks in 4 career games against the Packers. That seems good. More, please.
  • The Bears look well-equipped to put up some touchdowns in the red zone with a collection of big bodies. I’m definitely looking forward to more throws like this one:
  • https://twitter.com/BN_Bears/status/1028472872799490051

  • Chicago has 10 pass-catchers (tight ends and receivers) who are 6-foot-3 or bigger. This kind of size tends to create favorable matchups in tight areas. It will be up to Trubisky to make the most of these potential advantages. And for that to happen, he’ll need to do better than a 78.9 rating in the red zone (though, we’ll gladly take a 4-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio in that area).
  • There hasn’t been a training camp practice where Anthony Miller hasn’t done something amazing and you can’t prove me wrong:
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    written by

    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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