Shorter Grass Favoring Bears Playing Style

Bears coach Matt Eberflus had at least some input into the decision to put down Bermuda hybrid sod at Soldier Field, largely because it can mean a shorter grass and faster playing surface.

Don't contact Matt Eberflus about what kind of grass to grow on your lawn.

"Like I said, I'm not a grass expert," the Bears coach said.

However, it appears he at least had some input into the new sod put down at Soldier Field last weekend, a Bermuda hybrid that is shorter and more conducive to a fast playing surface.

"This has been planned for quite some time," Eberflus said of the grass. "We feel it's going to be a nice surface. I think it's going to be a fast surface, which I think which lends to help us out. 

"Ken Mrock our grounds guy who has been here forever is outstanding and I've been working with him and he is just an outstanding man first of all, and he does an outstanding job here at Halas Hall. Obviously, you (media) guys see our fields here have been sweet and we are trying to take that there (to Soldier Field) and see what happens."

Eberflus modestly deflected inquiries into his own input.

"It was, you know, they were going to do some things, we talked about it and they ended up doing it," he said. "So not super deep."

It means a shorter type of grass.

"Yeah, we want a fast team, we want a long, fast, athletic football team," Eberflus said. "So I think that lends to our advantage."

Eberflus is familiar with it, and so, it seems, is kicker Cairo Santos.

"Yeah, I believe it's the same one we had at my last place on the practice field," Eberflus said of the Indianapolis Colts. "So it's very similar to that. It's a hybrid grass that does well with cold weather."

Santos recalled kicking on similar grass in Kansas City, so concern the Bermuda might not handle cold weather could be unfounded.

"I know the Chiefs had it," Santos said. "The Chiefs, the'yre also similar weather (to Chicago). They had a heating system underneath the field to keep it warm.

"So I've been familiar with that. The Bermuda was a better grass to kick on. In this cold if you can grow it and protect it, then it is a great thing."

Santos was to make a trip to Soldier Field Friday to kick on it and see if the sod has had time to take hold.

The shorter surface Eberflus talked about for speed also affects kickers.

"It's always been a shorter grass," he said. "I think you can see more of the ball. The plant foot is just tighter.

"The other one, the grass just got ripped out too easily."

Santos recalled an almost comical scene at halftime of the Chiefs preseason game, when sand was flying up everywhere as players ran.

"They just came at halftime, you (media) guys probably seen, and put down sand and it just becomes a sandy field," he said. "And then they spray paint it green."

No more paint, no more ripped up chunks of grass, and hopefully a better surface at Soldier Field well into the colder season.

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