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Day in the Life: Bears equipment team

Story by Gabby Hajduk, photos by Bailey Black

ChicagoBears.com went behind the scenes to document a day in the life of the Bears equipment team, which consists of director Tony Medlin, assistant director Tyler Glende, assistant managers Thomas Woody, Gary Faulcon and Nick Cooks, and administrative assistant Cameron Reed.

From preparing cleats and helmets for practice to making a perfect game ball, the equipment team is tasked with a wide array of daily responsibilities that ensure the safety of players, efficiency on the practice field and readiness for gameday.

While every day is different for the group, the following is a glimpse into their roles during a padded training camp practice Wednesday, Aug. 14 — a day before the Bears' joint practice with the Cincinnati Bengals and two days before their preseason matchup at Soldier Field.

The Bears equipment staff typically begins their day around 6 a.m. during training camp. Medlin, Glende, Woody, Faulcon, Cooks and Reed file into the equipment room, which is connected to the locker room at Halas Hall, to start working on their individual assignments for practice and game prep.

Medlin — who is heading into his 37th season with the Bears — likes to spend the early part of his mornings getting things in order for the day, checking with his team and working ahead on gameday preparation. With a home game just two days away, Medlin packs equipment, uniforms and other gameday necessities into trucks that will head to Soldier Field throughout the week.

Woody works ahead for Saturday, packing on-field clothes like t-shirts, long sleeves, hats and shoes for more than 60 Bears coaches and staff who are on the sideline during the game. Their outfits are later placed in one of the trucks and eventually set up in their lockers at Soldier Field.

Faulcon—who is responsible for helmets and shoulder pads—and Cooks—who deals with all shoes, gloves and practice jerseys—work hand-in-hand throughout the morning.

Before every padded practice, Faulcon and Cooks make sure each player's cleats, shoulder pads, guardian caps and helmets are tagged with a sticker. The league tracking system, which is done by a company called Zebra Technologies, helps teams keep track of equipment that is worn during practice and games.

Sensors in the decleating room, where players enter and exit the practice field, scan the tags and automatically send data to the tracking system. Like any system, there are occasional flaws, so after every practice, Faulcon and Cooks make sure all the data was inputted correctly.

Faulcon then grabs each of the quarterback's helmets and inserts the headsets that are used to receive the play calls and talk with coaches during practice and games.

Down the hall, Glende—who handles all practice and game footballs—makes his final preparations for practice. Quarterbacks use the same set of footballs throughout camp, but Glende ensures they are handled with care and refreshed daily. He does this by brushing each ball every morning to add tack back to the leather.

The Bears' tailor, Simon Mezher, also works with the equipment team to stitch game and practice jerseys as well as make alterations and corrections to clothing. Mezher comes to Halas Hall three times a week to complete his work.

Before players arrive and the group's busy period begins, director of research & analysis Harrison Freid meets with the equipment team to provide a rundown of that day's practice.

Freid breaks down what the team will be working on in each practice period, such as a red-zone drill where the scoreboard—which is controlled by the equipment team—should show a 4-point deficit and two minutes on the clock.

Medlin then brings the group together for Glende to share any practice updates or important notes. The team then breaks as Reed and the equipment interns, which consist of four season-long interns and six training camp interns, head out to the field to set up practice. Glende, Woody, Faulcon, Cooks and Medlin stay near the locker room to assist players with any last-minute needs.

There's never any telling what needs may arise from 8:45 a.m. until the time practice begins. The influx of requests fluctuates depending on if the Bears are practicing in either pads or shells. Some players pop in just to grab an extra pair of socks, switch out shoelaces or simply say hello to the staff, while others ask for hands-on assistance.

Today, Woody and Glende help out in the clothing department, assisting defensive end DeMarcus Walker and running back Khalil Herbert by cutting the sleeves off their undershirts for practice.

Medlin fields a request from linebacker Noah Sewell, who is interested in adding extra neck support to his shoulder pads.

By the start of practice at 9:35 a.m., the entire equipment team is spread throughout the practice fields, working in their respective areas.

Reed, who manages the scoreboard and sounds the horn after each period, can always be found alongside coaching administration manager Chavis Cook, who serves as a pillar of support to the entire coaching staff, managing daily schedules and operations that come out of Matt Eberflus' office. The two work closely together each day to ensure practice remains on schedule and each period is correctly timed. Reed's job is one of the most meticulous — if his timing is off at all, it could put the entire practice behind.

Along with his practice duties, Reed assists Medlin and the staff throughout the day with administrative duties such as scheduling, trucking, travel and more.

Glende spends the entire practice with the quarterback group. He snaps the ball during individual drills, keeps track of all the footballs and ensures the ball is properly placed during team periods.

Medlin floats between all groups during practice. He assists in making sure practice is moving as scheduled, is on standby for any equipment issues the players run into and is always ready to provide assistance for any drill, such as sending punts through the JUGS machine.

Other responsibilities of the equipment team during practice are fulfilled by the team's intern group. Those tasks switch on a day-to-day basis but can include Mark Chatman swinging pads for defensive line drills or Antonio Cianferri holding the first-down markers during 11-on-11 situations.

As practice wraps up, the team once again disperses, preparing for their next set of responsibilities. Some of the interns will remain on the field to clean up the equipment or work with the players as they get some extra reps in.

Woody heads inside and waits for players to return to the decleating room. He collects every player's practice jersey to be washed, dried and hung back up for walk-through later that day.

Cooks and Faulcon grab bins and racks from the equipment room and set up outside the locker room. Cooks collects the players' cleats while Faulcon takes their shoulder pads.

Once every player is off the field and all equipment is collected, the team takes a short break to eat lunch and reset for the second half of their day.

Upon returning to the equipment room, Faulcon and Cooks sanitize all the cleats and shoulder pads before taking them to their respective drying stations. The drying process typically takes around three hours. Each piece of equipment is later placed back in each player's locker, ensuring they are all set for practice when they return the following morning.

Bohemier and Tylan Keosongseng continue the post-practice refresh by working through sets of laundry which include practice jerseys, practice clothes, gloves and towels. Once all the laundry is finished, they will return each player's belongings to their locker.

Glende returns to the back of the equipment room to work through the 24 game balls for Saturday's contest. The league sends each team 12 primary balls and 12 backup balls for every game, all of which are inflated to 13.0 pounds per square inch (psi). However, Glende still must prepare the football to his quarterback's liking.

Every quarterback prefers a different feel when it comes to a football's surface. Some like the natural bumps and ridges on an untouched football, while others want it to be as smooth as possible. With Caleb Williams set to start Saturday's game against the Bengals, Glende prepares the footballs to the rookie's preferences.

That process begins by running the football over a brushing machine for about a minute to break the film off the brand-new ball.

Glende spends the next 10 minutes working on the football to ensure it is prepared to the quarterback's liking. He will repeat the process until each football is gameday-ready.

Back in the locker room, Faulcon hand-washes each helmet and guardian cap from the morning's practice and hangs it back up. He then places a clean jersey in each locker — making sure to install the speaker system used for coach-to-player communication in every quarterback's shirt — in preparation for the late afternoon walk-through.

Inside the equipment room, Cooks begins to log new cleats for safety Jonathan Owens and cornerback Jaylon Jones. Each time a player uses a new or different pair of cleats, they are tagged and manually inserted into the database beforehand by Cooks, who details the brand, model and size of the footwear.

Medlin sifts through each game jersey for Saturday, checking to see if any last-minute stitching repairs are necessary.

Just before the walk-through begins, Medlin, Glende, Faulcon, Cooks and Reed meet with other members of the Bears' football operations staff in the Walter Payton Center to discuss the upcoming joint practice with the Bengals.

Medlin and his team help the group formulate a back-up plan in the case of inclement weather. They also prepare the Walter Payton Center to serve as the Bengals' locker room space the day of the practice.

Around 5:00 p.m., the team files back out to the practice fields for the daily walk-through, which takes place after a team meeting.

Much like during practice, the equipment team assists with the operation and schedule of walk-through, which includes setting the clock, snapping and retrieving the footballs and alerting the team when to switch periods.

At the end of walk-through, the equipment team once again collects each player's jersey before running them through another laundry cycle that evening.

The group's day wraps up shortly after walk-through as each staff member completes one or two more tasks in preparation for the following day, whether that's swapping out the defense's practice jerseys from white to blue to match the offense ahead of the joint practice or packing extra visors for gameday.

Medlin's morning tasks come full circle as he completes his day the same way it started—by helping prepare some of the gameday trucks to be sent off to Soldier Field.

About 12-13 hours after the equipment team's day began, they close up shop, knowing players are also wrapping up their days. The group will return to Halas Hall in another 12 hours to ensure another day of training camp goes off without a hitch.