John DeFilippo has the grading system drawn up. When the Bears quarterbacks coach watches practice film, he’ll judge his passers on whether they threw a completion – but also precisely how accurate they were. He’ll critique not only if a quarterback scramble earned a first down, but whether it was the right decision in the moment.
“We’re going to take it to the next level a little bit in terms of accuracy, in terms of timing, decision-making,” he said Thursday.
With no preseason games on which to judge Mitch Trubisky and Nick Foles, it’s all the Bears can do.
“Trying to keep perspective,” offensive coordinator Bill Lazor said. “The part that’s closest to real football, is, the part that should be the most important.”
That part remains 10 days away. The Bears can’t hold a padded practice until Aug. 17.
Until then, Bears coaches are forced to judge the preliminary round of their quarterback derby on more subtle gestures.
First impressions matter. DeFilippo had never seen Trubisky throw live — or even met third-stringer Tyler Bray in person — until this week. Still, there’s only so much DeFilippo and his fellow Bears coaches can learn from how his quarterbacks handle a walk-through at Halas Hall.
And that’s where the danger lies — and not just because Trubisky has been notorious in his career for playing well in practice but not on Sundays. This early in the NFL’s most bizarre preseason ever, it’s just as likely that a strong classroom performance produces a false positive as not. If a coach catches Foles or Trubisky leading in a quiet moment, it could portend great things — or nothing at all.
“It’s a very unique situation,” DeFilippo said. “We’ve just got to get to know each other as well as we can and as quick as we can.”
And pick a starter as fast as they can, too.
“In that competitive environment, you want to see which guy moves this offense better, and I think it just really comes down to something as simple as that,” DeFilippo said. “Obviously, when you’re in the huddle, who’s functioning better. But at the end of the day, which guy is raising the other 10 guys’ level of play.
“Hopefully one of those guys steps up in that role sooner rather than later. That would be great for our football team. But obviously we’ll take it out as long as we need to, to make the best choice for our football team.”
DeFilippo became a first-time father July 31. He can’t imagine, if he were to have another child, trying to pick a favorite. He’s used that analogy to his friends when they, quietly, ask him which quarterback he prefers.
DeFilippo admitted what coach Matt Nagy did last week: that Foles being out-of-state during the entire offseason was a disadvantage for him, but not necessarily an edge for Trubisky. He said he’s watching how Foles and Trubisky interact with each other during team meetings and walk-throughs— so far, they’re interacting comfortable. That, he said, is a good sign of character.
“There’s gonna be great competition,” he said, “but it’s not gonna be combative.”
The practice film, he said, won’t lie.
“We get a grade, every week, for 16 regular season games — and you pass or you fail,” he said. “There’s no in-between. There’s no getting a C. It’s either an F or an A.
“So we would be doing a disservice to our fans, our organization, our ownership, if we put any bias into this at all. And so I think that, when you put it that way, it allows your mind to work in an unbiased way.”
