A Visit to Chicago, then Alec Ogletree Has Work

Saying Alec Ogletree has been in the right place at the right time doesn't come close to telling the story.

It's entirely uncanny the way his sense of timing has been. He's been exactly what the Bears need, and it goes beyond making six interceptions in his first four practices at training camp.

Ogletree finally went a practice without an interception on Tuesday but the start he's had since signing with the Bears has been nothing short of dazzling.

It all started with a trip to Chicago to visit his good friend Robert Quinn, so they could watch Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, the Bears edge rusher's kid sister, win the Olympic gold medal for the hurdles. 

They watched it at Halas Hall on a big screen.

"It's crazy because I was actually here," Ogletree said.

It wasn't his first trip to Halas Hall. He had a tryout last August and another one this offseason. So he was feeling at home.

"I came to watch his sister run and spoke to all the coaches and stuff and obviously I did a couple workouts here before," Ogletree said. "And you know, didn't really think anything of it, just was gonna be here for a couple days and then go back to Georgia.

"Ended up being that my agent called me and asked me where I was at. I said, 'I'm in Chicago.' He's like, 'Uh, don't leave. They want to sign you.' So that's kinda how that went. Just right timing, I would say. I'm appreciative of the opportunity to come in and still get a chance to play and show them I can still be here."

Then he had to show the good timing on the field with all the interceptions.

"I have never had that many interceptions in practice," he said. "I guess they're good for practice right now. Hopefully I can do that on Sundays."

Ogletree undersells himself a bit here as he has 12 interceptions in 95 career games, a high total. He had five in 2018, including two of Chase Daniel with the Giants in a 30-27 win over the Bears and returned one of those for a touchdown. He picked off Mitchell Trubisky in 2019 in the Bears' 19-14 win over the Giants at Soldier Field.

So, maybe it's just Bears QBs he likes to intercept?

"It's all good that we're on the same team now," Ogletree said.

It's been quite a fall for Ogletree considering he was a starter with the Rams and Giants but then was cut by the Jets last year.

"That's kind of how this league works," Ogletree said. "And so I kind of understood that, and it helped shape my mindset in terms of getting back into the league.

"It's like, they don't care what you did before. It's about what can you do right now. I wanted to come in and show I still can do it. I never lost it. To me. People can say different, but if I believe in myself that's all that matters to me."

If Ogletree is to make the team, he'll need to show he can do more than intercept passes. As a backup linebacker behind Danny Trevathan and Roquan Smith, he'd need to play special teams and the 29-year-old really hasn't done it extensively since his first few years in the league

"For a while, I just didn't have to play special teams," Ogletree said. "I never really played it. My first couple years, and then kind of switched to like the actual Mike linebacker and they kind of just took me off of it so I just never really had the chance to play it.

"But special teams I definitely can play special teams if that's what the coach asked me to. I'm here to do that. But at the same time, you obviously want to be out on the field making plays on defense and stuff like that. But also, you know, you have to humble yourself a little bit and understand that you may have to play special teams and if that be the case, that’s what I’ll do."

The final bit of good timing shown by Ogletree is simply being available when others are not.

The Bears were without inside linebacker Christian Jones because he went on the reserve/COVID-19 list, Roquan Smith (groin injury) and backup Josh Woods (quad), and had been without Joel Iyiegbuniwe, but he returned.

So when Jones came off the COVID-19 list, it seemed Ogletree would move back to practicing with the second team. He had been with the first team, which is a rather lofty position for someone they just signed.

However, Trevathan came up with a sore knee and couldn't practice on Tuesday, so Ogletree stayed out there with the starters.

"What a credit to him to come in here and we are down some numbers at inside linebacker and all he is doing is making plays," coach Matt Nagy said. "You can't ask for more than that.

"He's somebody that over the years here since I've been in Chicago, you go back and look at the tape, he's had a couple picks and he's done some good stuff so credit to him."

And a really good sense of timing.