The Chicago Bears will host joint practices with the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills ahead of their respective preseason games at Soldier Field in August. Now, head coach Ben Johnson is discussing the plans for these joint practices and how it’ll benefit the team during training camp.
Johnson said there will be one joint practice with the Dolphins (before their Aug. 10 game) and Bills (before Aug. 17), which will serve as a way to break up camp while increasing competition.
“The plan is just to be one day with each of those teams,” Johnson said. “The way I view those in the past have been, it’s a good opportunity to break up camp a little bit of a controlled setting – yet high intensity. I think the competitive nature of just about everybody – once you get in between those white lines against an opponent like that, it goes up another notch. That’ll be good.
“It’ll be at that point in training camp where we’ve had, call it twelve, thirteen, fourteen practices in, and just a little bit different will be good for us. For everybody, coaches and players alike. It’ll be fun to go against a different scheme. That thought process, the problems that arise that way, but also for our players being able to compete against a different opponent. The controlled setting of it is really important. I’m excited for both of those opportunities.”
Chicago has participated in joint practices the past two years, hosting one against the Cincinnati Bengals (that was closed due to weather) and visiting the Indianapolis Colts for two practices in 2023 — both under former head coach Matt Eberflus. During Matt Nagy’s tenure, the Bears hosted the Dolphins for two joint practices.
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