[CBFF] Soft Camp: Pro or Con?

[Steve Behrens]

I'll let you know after the first 1/4 of the season.

-Behr


On 8/25/07, Tom Shannon <tshanno at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> http://bloggeddrain.typepad.com/cbff/2007/08/soft-camp-pro-o.html
>
> Soft Camp: Pro or Con?
>
> by Tom Shannon
>
> Just a short entry about something that has been nagging me over the last
> couple weeks.  By nearly all accounts, the Bears have been running what
> you
> might call "Camp Comfortable" this year.  Head coach Lovie Smith has has
> not
> had the players in full pads very often.  Now I admit that I don't want to
> see veteran players limping into the season bruised and beaten up.  But I
> do
> wonder if a certain amount of full contact, mental conditioning isn't
> necessary and, assuming that is so, how much.
>
> It's true that the Bears are a veteran group.  But I remember other
> veteran
> groups in the Dick Jauron era who could have benefited from a little more
> camp work.  Jauron was always a little soft on the players in camp,
> figuring
> they would be grateful (they were) and would play harder for him because
> of
> it.  But there were times to my eye when they went into the season very
> unprepared for what was ahead.  I'm thinking particularly of 2003,
> Jauron's
> last year.  Jauron seemed to sense that something was wrong after the
> third
> preseason game when the starters play most of the contest.  But it was too
> late.  The team never really looked right until week 8 against the Detroit
> Lions.  It took that long for them to catch up.
>
> It will be interesting to see how the Bears come out of the gate this
> year.
> I sincerely hope that they look sharp despite a less than challenging
> camp.
> But if they don't, they are in for a long and desperate climb back to the
> playoffs, even in a softer than usual NFC North.  A slow start against
> three
> 2006 playoff teams followed by two divisional away games could result in a
> hole that they can't dig out of.
>
>
>
>
>
>
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