While I will certainly miss the inside look at Bears training camp, the end of Hard Knocks means the regular season is beginning and I am incredibly ready for some real, live, meaningful Bears football.
Let’s move on to episode four.
Highlights from “Hard Knocks” Episode 4
Ryan Poles’ sleeveless hoodie/long sleeve shirt look is fantastic.
The number of coaches and staff at these meetings is amazing. I know this isn’t the first time we’ve seen one of these fully staffed meetings, but this time, for some reason, it just caught my eye.
I love that Poles pointed out that the end zone wasn’t completely painted on Rome Odunze’s near touchdown against the Bengals. I mean, Kerry Joseph was right – you have to know where you are on the field – but at the same time, the back of the end zone on every field is painted completely white, so Odunze could easily be thrown out of the game if he uses his peripherals.
The spotlight on Ian Wheeler and the two running back coaches made me sad. Chad Morton and Jennifer King obviously both like him. Knowing how his preseason ended while watching his post just made me sad. Hopefully he makes a full recovery and ends up somewhere, but having medical school to fall back on isn’t a bad plan B!
Chad Morton seems like the type of coach you would love as a position coach, but also one who (if you’re on defense) could be very annoying during team segments when he runs all over the field after good plays by his defenders.
It took them over 12 minutes to get to Caleb!
The attention to detail the Bears have with Caleb is impressive. I mean, he has a film session where he shows how to properly smash the ball! Side note: Even though this intentional grounding was penalized in the preseason, in a real game situation it would have to be SO, SO egregious to be penalized.
Ferris Bueller salute! It feels like HBO used just about every cheesy Chicago reference in this series. While DJ Moore’s family trip to the ice cream museum (I still have to go there) seemed like a fun, really relaxed moment, this trip to the Sears Tower with the quarterbacks felt very orchestrated by HBO.
10 teams in 8 years sounds like a real pain! Hopefully Adrian Colbert will land on his 11th team soon and find a spot this season. He seems like a guy that’s easy to root for. His childhood bike accident story was hard to watch. It’s so cool that he’s returned to an NFL career after that and can even get back on the bike.
Theo Benedet has done it again! His serious attempt to defend Clorox cleaning wipes as a replacement for Dude Wipes is fantastic.
Chad Morton and Jennifer King getting Ian Wheeler ready for his rookie performance was just another example of how popular he is. The smoke machine and Velus Jones Jr. as a background dancer were a nice addition to the performance. But it’s so hard to watch these clips of Ian Wheeler when you know what’s happening in the Chiefs game.
The contrast between Adrian Colbert meditating and calming his mind while Tyson Bagent’s father arm wrestles in a Kansas City bar was hilarious.
Although Bagent himself seems to be undoubtedly a gamer, his personality doesn’t seem to be any more different from his father’s. Or at least the way he motivates himself?
It was pretty funny to see all the stars arrive for the final preseason game and know that none of them would play.
It’s pretty crazy how far Tyson Bagent has come in such a short amount of time. In just two years, he’s gone from a D2 starter to potentially one of the best backup QBs in the NFL. The Bears have a good replacement. Eventually, someone will want to give him a chance as a starter, but until then, I’m glad he’s here. Plus, the sideline caps he and Caleb wore during the KC game were awesome.
I know it was only the preseason, but it was so much fun to watch the montage of the Bears defense dominance over the Chiefs.
Oh no. We hear Ian Wheeler’s mom talking about how you never know how many chances you’re going to get, so Ian should make the most of them. And he’s about to tear his ACL. Damn.
“Are you okay?” “No.”
Even in the preseason, I still love hearing Jeff Joniak say “Touchdown, touchdown Bears!”
We didn’t see any interaction between Caleb Williams and Patrick Mahomes after the game!
Man. Ian Wheeler’s hug with his mother. No words, just straight into the hug. That was hard. The whole scene was really well done, but really hard.
The meeting between Ryan Poles and Ian Wheeler was good. You can see how heartbroken Wheeler is, but at the same time, the fact that he’s being placed on the injured list and can stay with the Bears, rehab himself and get a second chance could give him a chance to stick around next training camp.
The Bears have a good player in Ryan Poles. You can tell he clearly cared about Ian Wheeler throughout the entire meeting and really wants the best for him. And this was just a running back who probably wasn’t going to make the team. The guy got it and he seems to understand how to deal with people.
