LAKE FOREST, Ill. (670 The Score) -- Late Tuesday as the Bears arrive into Westfield, Ind., for their joint practices with the Colts, head coach Matt Eberflus isn’t making plans to catch up with friends in the Circle City.
Eberflus and members of his Bears coaching staff will meet with first-year head coach Shane Steichen and his Indianapolis assistants to design the most constructive plan for their joint practices, which will be held Wednesday and Thursday at the Colts’ training camp site north of downtown.
“(It) will be cool to be able to sit down and talk about the practices, talk about the tempo of practice, talk about the matchups,” Eberflus said Monday. “And making sure we’re squared away so we’re both getting what we want to see out of the practices.”
The Bears and Colts will play their scheduled preseason game Saturday at noon CT from Lucas Oil Stadium. But the team's respective schedules allowed for the Bears to arrive in town for a pair of practices with the Colts.
Joint practices have proven to be an important evaluation period for teams during the course of training camp. While preseason games are played with the parameters of game rules and officials, joint practices are conducted through structure agreed upon by each team.
Eberflus, Steichen and their respective coaching staffs can produce a practice plan that allows their players a new challenge and the talent evaluators receive practice tape that can help form key roster decisions.
For his part, Eberflus was most eager to see how the Bears square up in individual matchups with the Colts.
“It’s great that our guys get to go against a different team,” Eberflus said. “I’m excited about it.”
The players find joint practices to be a welcomed change because they get to line up against an opponent – not a teammate. The Bears have conducted training camp with caution towards protecting players’ long-term health. That means physicality has often been lacking during practices.
This week, quarterback Justin Fields will get to square off against an unfamiliar defense. He’ll have the opportunity to prepare for the Colts’ scheme and treat this as if it’s a regular-season game week.
Fields will face his toughest test yet of the preseason.
“Just practicing against somebody else,” Fields said. “I’m definitely excited for that. Using the Indy practices, they’ll probably do a little bit of more stuff than they would do in a preseason game, so I’m excited to see those different looks. I know they’re probably going to make it challenging on our offense, so it will be good for the guys. It will be good work.”
But the players most excited for these joint practices are the offensive and defensive linemen, who throughout the course of training camp have been restricted from playing at full contact. There’s an increased level of urgency when lining up against a new foe.
Facing an unfamiliar opponent brings a different type of test. The Bears are ready to square off with the Colts.
“It’s real, it’s real,” defensive lineman Andrew Billings said. “You can play a little harder when it’s not your own teammate.”
Chris Emma covers the Bears, Chicago’s sports scene and more for 670TheScore.com. Follow him on Twitter @CEmma670.
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