5 things we learned from Bears coordinators

[Staley Da Bear]

Pagano has only one complaint on the play.


"He got fined for not pitching the ball and getting tackled by an offensive lineman," said Pagano, likely in jest. "We worked [on] that in practice. We have an interception team drill. You get on the sidelines. There's always guys blocking. And there are always triggers, slow guys, myself, clapping for the ball. There are two, three guys there begging for the ball."


Along with linebacker Robert Quinn's strip-sack, Bush's interception gives Pagano confidence that this defense will manufacture more takeaways this season.


"We're really close with the turnover stuff," said Pagano. "They're making them in practice. You see it on Wednesday, you see it on Thursday, you see it on Friday. Usually, when that happens during the week, it's going to happen on Sundays."


(2) Quarterback Mitchell Trubisky has improved at selling play-action.


A major difference between this year's offense and those of the past two seasons has been the increase in play-action. Lazor sees that as one of the reasons the Bears have more than doubled their scoring total compared to the first two weeks of 2019.


An important aspect is the quarterback's ability to sell the run by turning his back to the line of scrimmage. Lazor believes that the proliferation of shotgun offenses in high school and college football has made this effort feel unnatural to young quarterbacks.


"A lot of these guys in high school and college now are just standing in the shotgun, just 'bounce, bounce, bounce' in place," said Lazor. "Just watching all these things happen. But that doesn't distort the defense. For the defense, they just play pass coverage. So what you give is that you're not watching everything that happens for the defense while you sell the run, but you train yourself."


(3) Expect Danny Trevathan to rotate going forward.


Trevathan played less than half of the defensive snaps on Sunday, in part because of a big picture plan to keep the nine-year veteran healthy throughout the season.


Trevathan played 90 percent of snaps against the Detroit Lions in Week 1 and rarely left the field when healthy last season. The team is hoping to keep the 30-year-old linebacker from wearing down.


"Our goal is to make sure he can play 20 games this year," said Pagano. "It's no different than Akiem [Hicks]; we have a rotation. Our goal is to make sure that 16 regular-season games for Danny and then, if we are lucky enough, make the playoffs and make a great run. That's the goal. We are going to manage that and keep a close eye on that and do the right thing during the week and the right thing for him on Sunday."


Like fellow veterans Jimmy Graham and Ted Ginn Jr., Trevathan did not participate in practice Wednesday to get an extra day of rest.