BOURBONNAIS, Ill. (670 The Score) -- Bears guard Kyle Long turned the corner as the offense pushed forward downfield. There charging at him was linebacker Danny Trevathan, who had his shoulder lowered for contact.
The three-time Pro Bowler Long and the former Super Bowl champion Trevathan cracked their pads together before the whistled sounded to end the play. Moments afterward, they came together again with a hug before returning to their respective huddles.
During each day at Bears training camp, there has been an intense battle between the starting offense and defense. Their goal is to make each other better.
"Iron sharpens iron like man sharpens man," Bears defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano said.
The Bears won the NFC North with a 12-4 mark and reached the playoffs in 2018, but it wasn't good enough. The defense led the NFL in opponents' scoring and takeaways, while the offense finished 21st in yardage per game.
Upon reporting to training camp last week, Bears running back Tarik Cohen admitted that Chicago's "defense bailed (the offense) out last year a lot." Coach Matt Nagy has spoken plenty about the untapped potential for his offense, and quarterback Mitchell Trubisky has embraced the challenge of leading his unit toward better production in 2019.
When Trubisky leads the offense to the line of scrimmage during first-team drills, he looks across the ball at All-Pro talents like Khalil Mack, Akiem Hicks, Eddie Jackson and Kyle Fuller.
Then the snap is delivered from center and the battle begins all over again.
"I don't think there is any other defense in the NFL that I'd rather go against in practice every day," Nagy said. "These guys fly around, they do different things and it makes us better. The balance now is making sure that me, as a head coach, that if there is any frustration with the offense because it's different things that we are seeing, that we don't get frustrated, you know, and make that affect the next play."
Veteran tackle Bobby Massie knows the difficulty of facing this Bears defense better than anybody. Often, he lines up face to face with Mack.
"It's a battle every day," Massie said. "It's probably one of the best defenses -- a top-five defense -- in the league. Some of the best defensive players in the league, we have on this team. It just makes us better. Iron sharpens iron. We come out, bang heads every day. But somebody's got to come out with a victory. We make them better, and they make us better."
The challenge is one for both sides of the football. Trubisky is in his third year in the league and second season working in Nagy's offense. His comfort continues to grow, and that stands to benefit the Bears' arsenal of weapons.
Nagy's play-calling creativity, Trubisky's personal development and the Bears' versatile personnel have all presented a tough test for the defense in practice.
"It's definitely great going up against a lot of good competitors on the other side of the ball," linebacker Roquan Smith said.
"We're just working to get each other better."
Competition within the Bears has been fierce since the sudden end to last season. As they left their home locker room at Soldier Field early last January after a wild-card round loss to the Eagles, Nagy reminded his players that they would grow and become better. They understood it.
As the Bears sharpen iron with iron, Nagy's influence is certain.
"The culture that he has built is off the charts," Pagano said. "It's very unique. You don't find it very often. He's got a vision for this football team, and he understands it's a lot harder to handle success than failure. He's not going to let this team get complacent. He's going to keep his thumb on these guys, and he's going to push them."
Injury report
Tight end Adam Shaheen (back) returned to practice but in a limited fashion. Meanwhile, rookie receiver Riley Ridley (hamstring), rookie running back Kerrith Whyte Jr. (foot/hamstring) and rookie cornerback Stephen Denmark (ankle) are all sidelined from practice.
Chris Emma covers the Bears, Chicago's sports scene and more for 670TheScore.com. Follow him on Twitter @CEmma670.
