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Chicago Bears News: Joint Practice With Colts Underway

By Derek Hanfland

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We’ve made it past the mid-point of the week. Hump day is in the rearview mirror and the weekend is nearly within reach. Thursday isn’t as good as Friday, but it’s close. To commemorate this almost-weekend moment, Bear Goggles On brings you the best source of Thursday Chicago Bears news from around the interwebs.

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Welcome to your August 20th, 2015 edition of Bear Dawn.

Kicking off this morning’s festivities will be Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Sun-Times. I don’t know if we’ve heard from Uncle Rick in quite some time, so it’s good to get a visit from the opinionated columnist. In this case, thanks to the way the Sun-Times currently formats their online content, we’re actually getting a double-dose of the Rickster.

To start, Morrissey opines on the Kevin White injury. To answer your immediate question — no, we’re not done with that yet. The title of Morrissey’s piece is the question that serves as the theme: Was Kevin White injured when the Bears drafted him?

May 8, 2015; Lake Forest, IL, USA; Chicago Bears wide receiver Kevin White (13) during Chicago Bears rookie minicamp at Halas Hall. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

While I admittedly wasn’t thrilled with the way the Bears handled the White injury situation, I understand it. I think it could’ve been handled better, but I understand that secrecy is the method by which all teams handle these things. Reading between the lines becomes a necessary skill.

Having shared those points of view, I stop short of saying the Bears drafted a player they knew was injured or specifically injury-prone regarding his now-infamous shin. I feel like it was bad luck, or is that my naiveté talking? Oh, wait — is that now my paranoia talking?

Lets move on from the rabbit hole of thought in which the Kevin White conspiracy theories exist before it’s too late.

Morrissey’s next piece features former General Manager Jerry Angelo offering up his less-than flattering opinion of Jay Cutler. In a garysheltonsports.com ranking of NFL quarterbacks, Angelo ranks Jay #21. After mortgaging a few years of Bears football to get Cutler, Angelo’s observations in hindsight sing a different tune.

"“Has the physical tools, but inconsistent, particularly in the clutch, mostly due to a lack of poise. He’s not comfortable reading defenses and consequently locks on to a favorite or predetermined target that may or may not be the right choice. The less he’s asked to see the better he is. A better half-field general than a full-field one. This will be his make-or-break year. Needs to be his biggest critic and hold himself accountable.’’"

As much as one could make the case of some sour grapes influencing Angelo’s take here, he’s not far off in my opinion. Hindsight is 20/20 though. I’m hoping for the “make” in Angelo’s make-or-break assessment.

For the Bears, Angelo is old news. Lets move on to some actual news and check in with Rich Campbell and Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune, who bring us eight observations from the joint practice between the Bears and Colts on Wednesday afternoon.

Unlike some of the other joint practices that have taken place around the league this summer, the Bears and Colts kept it classy and did not start throwing ‘bows. ESPN’s Mike Wells writes about how there weren’t any fights at the Colts/Bears joint practice. By all accounts it was a positive joint venture for both sides.

When asked how the Bears starting offense fared against the Colts starting defense, Jay Cutler said they (the Colts defense) “won the day”.

I’ll leave you this morning with a random news tidbit regarding a couple of former Bears that I’m sure you remember. Joining Hub Arkush this season for 670 The Score’s Bears post game coverage will be none other than James “Big Cat” Williams and Olin Kreutz. CBS Chicago brings you the feel-good story.

Today will be the second and final practice with the Colts before the two teams meet up in the second preseason game of the season for both. Lets hope all parties get thru it healthy. Look no further than Kelvin Benjamin or Louis Delmas to see how quickly bad news can rear it’s ugly head.

BEAR DOWN.

**An addition to this Bear Dawn post involves sad news that broke late yesterday. Former Bears quarterback, Erik Kramer, was found wounded in an apparent suicide attempt. You can read the story here as reported by NBC News. Thoughts and prayers of Bear nation go out to Kramer and his family.

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