Nagy’s wish: To see eye to eye with his QB
Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky turned 25 on Tuesday.
“We were going to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to him in the team meeting, but he did that little thing where you put your head down,” coach Matt Nagy said. “I just, I had to feel for him.”
Trubisky will spend the next two weeks trying to get a feel for him, too.
The quarterback is unlikely to play in either of the Bears’ final two preseason games. Still, Nagy knows what he wants to see from his quarterback during practice.
“Just the anticipation now,” Nagy said Tuesday. “That’s probably the biggest key word for him as we go is trying to predict when the ball’s coming out.”
Nagy stands behind the quarterbacks in practice; no one else is allowed between the hash marks on the field. There, the former Delaware and Arena Football League quarterback can see what Trubisky sees.
“I want his vision within the plays now really going exactly where my eyes are going,” Nagy said. “When I’m standing back there behind him, when I’m looking to the right, he’s looking to the right.
If I’m looking to the left, he’s looking to the left.”
It’s not enough for Trubisky to make the right throw.
It has to be for the right reasons.
“He answers to me when he throws the ball somewhere — ‘Why did you do that?’” Nagy said. “And if his answer’s good, those are the things I’m looking for. And I think we’re right there, but we won’t know that until we get into the season.”
Injury update
Guard Cody Whitehair returned to practice six days after hurting his finger in the Bears’ practice game. Backup tackle Rashaad Coward, who Nagy said probably won’t play this week, remained out with an elbow injury.
Receiver Anthony Miller remained out with a sprained ankle, as did outside linebacker Aaron
Lynch, who has a shoulder issue. Defensive end Jonathan Bullard did not practice for an undisclosed reason.
Is this fun?
The Bears are in the doldrums of the preseason, but Nagy said he’s trying to keep things light nonetheless.
“We’ll have some fun in meetings,” he said. “We’ll maybe make some jokes on some guys here or there. [Cornerback] Prince [Amukamara], in particular, we like to pick on.
“In practice, too, there’s that balance of not being too crazy serious and letting the guys be themselves. I feel like one of my strengths is probably not sticking to a script. I believe in, just, if I feel like it’s a day where we want to have fun, we do.”