BOURBONNAIS, Ill. -- One of the biggest adjustments for veteran wide receiver Victor Cruz has been the realization that the Chicago Bears operate on Central time, not “Coughlin time.”
“All the clocks are five minutes ahead in New York -- Coughlin time,” Cruz said with a smile on Friday. “I’m five minutes early to every meeting, looking around like, ‘Nobody’s here?’ Not that that’s a bad thing, but there are just different things coaching-wise that you kind of get used to after seven years of being in one place.”
Cruz played for Coughlin in six of his seven years with the New York Giants, until the two-time Super Bowl-winning head coach resigned after the 2015 season.
The definition of old school, Coughlin ran a tight ship, insisting that players arrive to meetings five minutes early or risk being fined. While coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Coughlin once fined a player for wearing white socks with sandals -- a fashion faux pas for sure, but an offense that most head coaches probably do not deem worthy of a fine.
But Coughlin was a winner, and Cruz thrived in New York until injuries derailed his career.
The atmosphere in Chicago is not quite as over-the-top strict. But while Cruz can’t shake some of the habits he picked up from Coughlin, the veteran receiver likes the way Bears coach John Fox interacts with players.
“Coughlin was more so extremely diligent and prideful in that discipline and diligence,” Cruz said. “Fox is the same way, but he’ll come and have a conversation with you on the sideline about that discipline and about things that he’s done in the past and things like that. Coughlin was more between those lines, it was all business. You could talk to him afterwards, but between those lines we’re just getting right to business.
“But Fox is the same way. You can tell he has that attention to detail, but he’ll come and tell you about it a little bit on the sidelines.”
And Fox probably won’t fine you as often, right?
“At least I hope not,” Cruz laughed. “I haven’t gotten fined yet. I won’t speak that into existence.”
Cruz has a great opportunity, not just to make the Bears, but to contribute heavily on offense. The Bears need receivers to step up after top target Alshon Jeffery left in free agency. Cruz was two yards shy of having three straight 1,000-yard receiving seasons from 2011-13. That’s more production than any of Chicago’s other receivers -- Kevin White, Markus Wheaton, Cameron Meredith and Kendall Wright -- have on their respective resumes.
The key for Cruz, like so many of the Bears, is health. Cruz played in just 21 games over the past three seasons.
“I think I fit in very well in this offense, a lot of it especially from a slot perspective,” Cruz said. “It definitely suits my abilities and I think if I just continue to prove that I can make those plays and run those routes the right way and get myself open, that I'll be out there on the field playing on Sundays.
“[My goal] is to just to catch everything in front of me and get through the preseason unscathed and hopefully put some good things on film and get ready to roll.”