John Fox had a simple guideline when he coached the Chicago Bears. When the weather was relatively nice outside, the team would practice outside. If it rained or snowed during the day, then the team would move indoors. The reasoning behind it was an effort to avoid major injuries brought about by field-related conditions. Sounds logical, right? The thing is it didn’t do much.
The Bears were still one of the most injured teams in the NFL during that three-year span. His protection plans did next to nothing. So would Matt Nagy continue that policy regardless? The simple answer is no. One of his first declarations up reaching Bourbonnais was that the team would experience a heavy dose of physical practices.
His reasoning is he wants to callous the players’ bodies against the rigors of an NFL season. That can’t happen without putting them through a true grind in camp. However, that’s not the only change Nagy would implement. The other came in his decision to alter their policy towards inclement weather.
Chicago Bears new practice policy has a whiff of Bill Belichick to it
When news came down that rain would be in the forecast for the first day of training camp practices, most assumed the Bears would move indoors. In a big twist, that wasn’t the case. The team moved out to the practice fields and went about their routines, often in the middle of a heavy downpour. When asked about the decision afterward, Nagy offered his reasoning.
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“I think it’s important to do that. You don’t want to have that mentality where you just always try to have perfect weather,” Matt Nagy said. “That’s not realistic. Whether it’s the wind, which can be just as bad as the rain, rain, snow, I mean, we’re in Chicago, so that’s something we need to take into account. And we’re going to be playing in other bad weather areas so it comes and goes. In the summertime, you like have your first practice and have the sun, but it didn’t happen and that’s OK.”
This is a rather refreshing approach. One that doesn’t seem like the norm these days. Why do teams have those nice indoor facilities if they won’t use them? Mostly they’re there for convenience. It comes down to the given head coach in charge. It turns out that Nagy has taken a page out of the book of another prominent head coach.
None other than Bill Belichick himself.
The New England Patriots play the majority of their games each year on the east coast. This means they encounter every form of weather imaginable from blistering heat to rainstorms and fierce blizzards. If any team should have the right to an indoor facility, it’s them. Belichick won’t have any of it though. He views the weather as a poor excuse to not practice where his team will end up playing almost all their games every year.
“What mental side of it? We practice in it and whatever we practice in, I’m sure we at some point play in it. We’ve practiced in everything this year — hot, cold, windy, still, day, night, rain. Whatever it is, it is.”
It’s hard to argue with the results. The Patriots are every bit as good in bad weather games as they are in perfect weather. One can’t deny that being able to practice in those conditions prepares them well for the eventuality of playing in them. Nagy deserves major props for recognizing this benefit. Something Fox and Marc Trestman before him never quite grasped.
