Friday’s have turned into trips down memory lane for former Bears wide receiver Earl Bennett. His “Storytime with Earl” series is picking up steam as he shares personal stories of his time with the Bears every Friday on his Twitter feed, and now on his ProStyle blog.
His latest story, “Thumbs Up,” details a 2011 training camp practice where he had to block future Hall of Fame defensive end Julius Peppers for a specific play. Listed at 6 feet 7 and 295 pounds, Peppers was almost unblockable in his prime. Now imagine a 5-11, 209-pound wide receiver trying to stop him.
In a regular season matchup, Bennett explained he would normally chop-block the defensive end, but doing such a thing in practice would “cost me my job.” So he had to meet Peppers head on.
Bennett sets up the scene:
I had a conversation with DE No. 1. We discussed a thumbs up so he wouldn’t rush hard and screw up the play since I could not chop block him. He agreed, and the thumbs-up plan was intact.
Fast forward to the scrimmage. The offense is doing well, and the coaches are yapping at the defense. Coaches insert me in the game and before I get in the huddle coach reminded me to give DE No. 1 the thumbs up. So, I did. He ignored it. I enter the huddle and get the play. I peek out of the huddle and make eye contact, and I think it was hard to see his eyes with that tinted shield, with him and give him a thumbs up. He gives thumbs up back. Perfect! I was relieved. Just for assurance, when I broke the huddle so that the film crew could record it, I gave him another thumb. He shook his head as in no. … After that, I knew this play was going to be a disaster.
QB No. 1 calls for me to come in motion, so I do. I give another thumbs up, and obviously, he ignored it. QB No. 1 goes through his cadence and says hike. I have never been pushed back so far in my life. I felt as if I had been pushed back to my youth. Seriously, I felt like a little kid trying to stop their big brother during a basketball game. The worst part was that he pushed me into the quarterback. All I hear is, ‘What the [expletive] is Earl doing.’ Now, I have to explain why QB No. 1 almost hit his hand on my helmet. We ended up getting an understanding, which was good.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget how dominant Peppers was when he was in Chicago. He didn’t always have the stats, because he was frequently double-teamed off the line, but he reinvigorated the Bears defense in the early 2010s. And now we have an idea of what it feels like to be rushed by him — in a practice no less.
