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Chicago Bears begin London practices aiming to keep the momentum going on both sides of the ball

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Published  October 10, 2024 5:14pm CDT
Bears
FOX 32 Chicago

Bears begin practices on London, trying to simulate a normal week

After a walkthrough on Wednesday, the Bears got back to full practice Thursday. Cassie Carlson has more from London.

LONDON - The Jaguars' travel plans were delayed slightly due to the effects of Hurricane Milton, so they won't be arriving until Friday morning. 

In the meantime, the Bears had their first full practice on Thursday. 

Offensive guard Teven Jenkins did not practice on Thursday, and defensive back Tyrique Stevenson was limited with a calf injury.

Still, the Bears had practice with a beautiful backdrop of the English countryside behind them.

"When it's work, it's work," Bears defensive back Kyler Gordon said. "So like we're out at practice or meetings, film, whatever that is like, that's all I'm thinking about."

"We got some free time, then I'm going to go ahead and chat to like, the English people and stuff like that, see what's up or explore."

"We challenged the players going into this walkthrough to, regardless of the format of the circumstances, to make sure that all the attention to detail that we master," Bears defensive coordinator Eric Washington said.

The Jaguars put up a season-high 37 points in their first win last week. The Bears defense is hoping it's a one-week surge for the Jags. The Bears have held their first five opponents to just 17 points per game and have 11 takeaways through five games. 

Those 11 takeaways rank as the third-most in the league, behind only the Vikings and Packers.

On offense, Shane Waldron credited the run game for sticking together and continues to look for ways for the run game to improve while also finding tempo works in their favor.

"Being able to mix and match different tempos on offense is always a good thing," Waldron said. "Whether you can go no-huddle, different tempos at the line of scrimmage. So as we continue to grow on offense, being able to use different tools depending on what week we feel like it creates an advantage."

With Elijah Hicks starting in place of Jaquan Brisker who's out with a concussion. Hicks had plenty of reps with the first-team defense this preseason when Brisker missed a chunk of training camp with an injury.

Eric Washington said he has a tremendous amount of confidence in Hicks, the third-year safety out of Cal, because of his attention to detail and preparation each week.