Coach Dick Jauron and offensive coordinator Gary Crowton defended their policy Sunday of giving all of the practice snaps with the first-string offense to developing quarterback Cade McNown despite its apparent deleterious effect on backup Jim Miller. Crowton said it is the way most teams conduct their quarterback preparations.
That’s not necessarily so based on a spot check around the NFL. Indeed, the Bears last year gave McNown a turn at No. 1 in practice besides also giving him scout-team reps that often are run by the No. 3 quarterback. Their plan, though, was developmental more than game-specific preparations.
San Francisco coach Steve Mariucci, the quarterbacks coach at Green Bay when Jauron was coaching defensive backs in the early 1990s, had a young, developing Brett Favre taking 90 percent of the practice snaps, with the other 10 percent going to backups Mark Brunell and Ty Detmer. Now that he has first-year starter Jeff Garcia running the 49ers, he splits practice time 80-20 with the first unit.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers still are working to bring Shaun King up to NFL speed in his second season but typically insert backup Eric Zeier for 10-to-15 percent of practice time with the No. 1 offense. In Minnesota, the situation perhaps closest to the Bears’, Daunte Culpepper’s development is paramount so coach Dennis Green gives backup Bubby Brister virtually no time during the week except on Friday.
Cincinnati Bengals coach Dick LeBeau is focusing on preparing Akili Smith as fast as possible, especially because Smith, like McNown, missed the first part of training camp last year due to a contract impasse. But veteran backup Scott Mitchell gets as much as 20 percent of the practice snaps. Mitchell came off the bench the last two weeks and was a dismal 4-for-21 passing, compared with Miller’s 14-for-34 against Philadelphia.
Quick change: Guard Chris Villarrial was a surprise substitute in the second quarter Sunday. He didn’t start because of a strained groin but was sent in abruptly for starter Casey Wiegmann. The problem was the play of the Eagle defensive line and powerful tackles Corey Simon and Hollis Thomas, although Jauron denied the reason was unhappiness with Wiegmann’s play.
“I wouldn’t say unhappy is the right word. Casey gave us all he had,” Jauron said. “He’s a little bit undersized to play offensive guard. And they have pretty good inside people. Chris said he felt OK. He was certainly OK to suit up. My feeling was if he was OK to suit up, he was OK to play. That’s why we made the change. He just gave us a better size matchup.”
Bad start: The Bears’ 1-7 start matches the three worst beginnings in team history. The 1997 Bears started 0-7, then won their eighth game on the way to a 4-12 season. The 1969 team’s one victory in a 1-13 season came after an 0-7 start. And the 1945 team was 1-7 before rallying to win its last two games.
Scheduling: Jauron initially said the Bears would follow their usual schedule of Tuesday off and practices Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. But in a move that gives the players a coveted three-day weekend, Friday’s practice was switched to Tuesday, leaving Friday off.
