Patience, Progress, and Positive Vibes Heading into the Off Day (And Other Bears Bullets)

Aug 04, 2022

When in doubt, just know that there isn’t anything a trip to your favorite taqueria can’t solve.

The Bears don’t practice today. So take a deep breath, kick your feet up, and relax. You deserve a day to yourselves just as much as they do.

If we were a word-of-the-day blog, today’s word would be patience. P-A-T-I-E-N-C-E. Patience. That’s because everyone associated with the Chicago Bears offense is preaching patience as we’re in the thick of the first week of padded practices. It’s a theme throughout the Bears reporting with Chris Emma (670 The Score), Colleen Kane (Tribune), and Mark Potash (Sun-Times) writing about the Bears’ attempts to strike a balance between patience and the sense of urgency that comes with learning a new offensive system. A confident Justin Fields declares “It’s gonna come.” And I certainly believe it will … at some point. But the buildup to that point figures to be a bumpy ride.

A runner-up behind patience is progress. Because it sure seems like the Bears offense took a step forward on Wednesday after some clunkiness on Tuesday. Josh Schrock (NBC Sports Chicago), Will DeWitt and Nicholas Moreano (CHGO), and the Adam Jahns-Kevin Fishbain Pairing (The Athletic) are among those who detail the offense’s growth on Wednesday. No matter how minor it might be, incremental progress still counts as progress. Here’s hoping a repeat performance is in store on Friday when the team returns to practice.

Timing is everything. With that being said, is there any better feeling than going into an off day after having a good day at the office? I often think about this during baseball season. Getting a day off after a loos stinks. Mostly because it is easy to find yourself stewing in negative juices. Nothing like using day off to rue every mistake and run through the infinite woulda, coulda, shoulda scenarios in your brain. And with that mind, what fortunate timing for the Bears offense to have a good showing at practice. Because instead of to have a go into the off day with a bad day fresh in the memory banks, then returning to practice knowing your last appearance was a stinker, these Bears went into the off day (and will go into tomorrow’s practice) feeling nothing but positive vibes. So much of success in sports is rooted in the mental game. Perhaps this will provide a necessary lift.

Just nine days until the Bears kick off the preseason against the Chiefs. And it sure sounds like their starters will get plenty of time on the Soldier Field playing surface. Head Coach Matt Eberflus said Bears regulars will “get a good amount of work” in the exhibition lid lifter.

I see at least two 1,000-yard rushers and 20+ touchdowns in this picture:

Baby Got (Running) Back(s) pic.twitter.com/Y2DmGJ7ANk
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) August 4, 2022

Brace yourselves, Bears fans. There will be plenty of this coming in 2022:

https://twitter.com/RamsNFL/status/1554984913610293249

Moreover, there figures to be ample chatter from people who are genuinely surprised when they see Allen Robinson II performing well with the Rams this season. Because between the start of his career coming with little fanfare while in relative anonymity with the Jaguars and his most recent season playing for a Bears team with an overmatched coach/GM and quarterback carousel, it is easy for a number of football fans to forget how good he was. And that he is still young enough to be in his prime means that there is a real chance that linking up with Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford will elevate him to new heights.

For the record, you can be upset with Robinson with how his Bears career ended. I don’t blame you one bit. Robinson’s blocking moment going viral for all the wrong reasons will be forever engrained as the official beginning of the end. But if I were to assign blame as to why it didn’t end well for the Bears and Robinson, a vast majority would go to Ryan Pace (the GM who failed to give him a fair extension offer, watched the market explode, and was unwilling to keep up with everyone else) and Matt Nagy (the head coach who failed to properly utilize a receiver with an expansive route tree who was coming off consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons).

*Audible gasps*

#Patriots coach Bill Belichick: “Fantasy football doesn’t mean anything to me.”
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 4, 2022

For those of you who *ARE* fantasy inclined, Andrew Marchand (NY Post) reports Matthew Berry is heading to NBC Sports. The network could even deploy him in a show that goes head-to-head against the ESPN2 fantasy program he led for so many years. Berry has helped myself (and I imagine others) win fantasy glory over the years. Now, he’ll look to do it at a new network.

I’d love to be in a room with Josh Gordon when he reads this tweet:

Aaron Rodgers opened up about his journey to self-love and how ayahuasca, a psychoactive tea containing the hallucinogenic drug DMT, helped him reach the point he’s at now https://t.co/TpRmc9mkg3— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) August 3, 2022

Cardinals star receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown was arrested for criminal speeding, per NFL media. The report states Brown’s arrest for the criminal speeding chargers is a Class 3 misdemeanor that is punishable by up to 30 days in jail, a fine up to $500, and/or up to one year of probation. The uptick in the amount of dangerous driving incidents (Byron Pringle, Henry Ruggs III, Nate Hobbs) in recent memory is bothersome. Maybe the league should spend some time drilling its players on safety before another tragedy hits.

The NFL appealing Deshaun Watson’s suspension is far from the last chapter of this story:

Per source, Roger Goodell will not personally handle the Deshaun Watson appeal. He will designate someone not with the league office to handle it.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) August 4, 2022

Seen a lot of ppl claim that a lawsuit could mean Deshaun Watson plays Week 1. @ProFootballTalk puts on his lawyer hat and explains why that's not the case. pic.twitter.com/oNdN0Zc7UU— Chris Simms (@CSimmsQB) August 4, 2022

The latest on #Browns QB Deshaun Watson’s six-game suspension, the NFL’s appeal and where things go from here with @judybattista and me on @gmfb @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/SOGxpurIPJ— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) August 4, 2022

Everything you need to know about the Cubs’ highest-profile prospect addition from the MLB Trade Deadline:

One of the Cubs' new pitching prospects, Hayden Wesneski, gets the @cubprospects treatment – everything you want to know, here: https://t.co/Huq9u4lDmt— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) August 4, 2022

Oh, word?

Remember SlamBall? Sounds Like It’s Making a Comebackhttps://t.co/xB94STcWCe pic.twitter.com/na2l87vOMf
— Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) August 3, 2022

The first NFL preseason game is TONIGHT. If you’re going to do it, all I ask is that you please wager responsibly:

NFL preseason is back, baby. We've got a Hall of Fame Game promo code here if you're into it: https://t.co/nPidIVegqQ pic.twitter.com/7SMOThfaD2— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) August 4, 2022

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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Patience, Progress, and Positive Vibes Heading into the Off Day (And Other Bears Bullets)

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