Bears Names Team Captains For Week 1 vs. Packers

Thursday's report on bear wounds revealed more encouraging news with who was not there for the second day in a row. Khalil Mack, Roquan Smith and Leonard Floyd all participated fully in the trials on Wednesday and Thursday, continuing their progression Sunday night against the Green Bay Packers.

The number of games of each player and the impact they will be able to vary. Coaches and coaches have formulated plans for each week and will only finalize them after the last session of Friday's match week. But here's where the Bears stand with three of their most important players on the defensive side of the ball:

Khalil Mack

Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio was quick to quote Aaron Donald's countdown to his first match in 2017, after a delay that lasted until the eve of the regular season. Donald made his season 2 debut for the Los Angeles Rams and played only 48 snapshots, which is about two-thirds of Rams defensive shots that day. Outside of three wins, Donald has never played less than 78% of Rams defeats after his season debut.

"Some guys played in the '20s (after their detentions)," said Fangio. "I think everyone is individual, but it's something we'll have to manage and monitor."

For Mack, the most important obstacle to playing a high percentage of shots lies in the fact that his conditioning did not participate in a preparatory workout. But he's a guy who has never missed a game in his career and has played a little less than 90% of Raiders defensive losses since his NFL debut in 2014.

Mack said that he spent most of his time taking an intensive course on the Bears Manual – the coach of the external linebackers, Brandon Staley, "is like my guardian after school" . an impact against packers.

"Just a little bit I want to know to try to go to Aaron on Sunday," Mack said.

Fangio, always honest, was certainly happy to add Mack to his defense, although he does not consider the 27-year-old as a panacea. Make no mistake: Mack will play Sunday, and although the number of shots obtained at Week 2 is not as high, the Bears' defense will be better for him.

"Whenever you get a player of his ability, he can do nothing but help you improve, he helps the players around him," said Fangio. "But he was the same player in Oakland throughout his career, very well decorated and with much honors he deserved and Oakland has never been better than mid-20s in defense. by that."

Still, the Bears will launch Mack in a defense that finished in the top 10 points of the NFL in 2017 and has retained almost all of its top players. This has sparked a lot of excitement inside and outside Halas Hall this week, although Fangio is not too worried about what is being said outside of these Forest Lake walls.

"I'm not too familiar with the media and the reaction of fans," Fangio said. "I'm only paying attention to the Cubs in the media. … The Cubs had a big win (Wednesday night). "

Roquan Smith

How much Smith will be involved on Sunday is a little less clear.

Smith is optimistic that he will be active for the game, and Bears coaches have not indicated that their status to play Sunday was in question. But as Fangio has pointed out, Smith has not faced anyone since January 8, when Alabama defeated Georgia in the College Football Playoff championship game.

"He had a good spring for us, played a lot of games, learned the defense," said Fangio. "But basically, he did a half training in Denver when he made his report, then he was away for a while, and he was training here recently, looking better every day. At some point, just put it there. You can not just say that he has not faced anyone since last January. He will have to do it at some point.

The Bears are not giving up on their plan for Smith, but with a full week of training before Sunday, he is likely to play. But he will not start with Nick Kwiatkoski in the running after Danny Trevathan. Some use of the situation may be the most likely way for Smith on the ground, although that does not take either the general choice # 8 to prove that he deserves a larger share of clichés.

"I think he's a good natural football player, I think he understands the game, I think he understands what we're trying to do," Fangio said. "He has good reactions, good instincts. And every time you have that, it helps the process.

Smith said that the hamstrings that pushed him away from the second common practice in Denver in mid-August until this week was "never too crazy" and said he felt "well" before training on Wednesday. Smith's greatest involvement will be how he will communicate with coaches and coaches.

Although the shot may be limited for his shots, there will be no strict limit on the number of shots for a baseball player.

"I do not like the number of words," says Fangio. "Steve Carlton and Nolan Ryan did not have any pitch counts."

Leonard Floyd

Sunday will not be the first time Floyd will have to face a club from his hand – he played with a freshman in Georgia in 2013.

"It does not change much," said Floyd. "It's always like you're using your hands. You just had one of your hands in the club. You just have to use the club a bit more. Apart from that, everything is just football.

Fangio admitted that it would make things "difficult" for Floyd, especially by protecting himself on Sunday. But the Bears claimed that Floyd suffered his hand injury in Denver on Aug. 19 and that he would not be outdone for week 1, which certainly seems to be the case with only a few days before the trip to Green Bay.

It's a bit like the Cubs who know who will be closest to the playoffs – a problem exists, but it's a problem that can be overcome, as seen by one of the biggest Cubs fans in the building.

"Joe Maddon has to do his tricks," said Fangio. "The best baseball manager is going to get them through."