Chicago Bears Training Camp Checklist: What's Important
The Bears report for training camp Tuesday, looking to accomplish five objectives over the next six weeks as they build toward a regular season without a preseason game as preparation.
Some will be addressed more quickly than others because this will be unlike any other training camp. It won't involve much football initially, just conditioning for a few weeks.
They've spent the offseason trying to upgrade obvious weak spots and in camp some of those will be addressed, although it's possible they won't see the fruits of their personnel department's labors until the regular season begins Sept. 13 at Detroit.
The most obvious objective is to determine the winner at one position.
1. Find the Starting Quarterback
The Nick Foles and Mitchell Trubisky quarterback battle must play out and doing it without preseason will make every pass in seven-on-seven, red zone and full squad scrimmage important.
"I know we're going to push each other, but I still feel like this is my team and I’m excited for the competition and just get back on the field with my guys and show everybody what I can still do and how hard I’ve been working this offseason to help the Bears win games this year," Trubisky told media.
It's the first real Bears quarterback derby since 2008 when Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton battled for the starting spot.
Has Trubisky truly found out how to become a master of defenses, as coach Matt Nagy said he wanted to see this season? If so, he did it during the offseason by watching film because there was no indication at the end of last season the Bears' 2017 first-round draft pick had figured out this part of playing quarterback.
Foles has to prove he has mastery of an offense he hasn't had time to work in during the offseason, although it is similar to the attacks he quarterbacked in Philadelphia and Kansas City.
It's supposed to be an open and "honest" competition according to Nagy. Look for a winner being announced sometime in late August.
2. Finding the Running Game
In order of importance, some might even consider this bigger than No. 1. With the proper running game, either one of the quarterbacks could probably lead the Bears to a winning season considering the potential dominance of their defense.
David Montgomery needs to take a step up in Year 2, Tarik Cohen must do better than a 3.3-yard average and Ryan Nall must prove he can be the backup to Montgomery. Yet, this isn't about running backs at all.
It's about the offensive line and pushing defenses off the ball for the first time since Nagy became head coach. The Bears haven't been a good running team since 2015. They finished 11th in rushing that year, same as in 2018. The difference was in 2018 Mitchell Trubisky accounted for more than 400 yards of their total and with just half of that total like he had last year the Bears' running game in 2018 would have been well down in the pack. His running disguised how poorly they ran in 2018.
Adding Germain Ifedi doesn't seem like much of a personnel improvement for an offensive line struggling to block the run, but new offensive line coach Juan Castillo hopes to find a way to get the mechanics of this operation turned around.
As Nagy likes to say, they need to find their identity, which he interprets to be their running attack. It's not easy to find it when they're not going to be in full pads until mid-August and have no preseason games.
3. Ironing Out the Secondary
For the second straight year the Bears turned over 40% of their secondary's personnel. They'll find working a rookie like Jaylon Johnson into the starting lineup at cornerback is no easy matter. Safety Tashaun Gipson had some injury issues in Houston last year and they need to know he's 100% health-wise. More than that, they need to get both of those two up to speed with their coverages and work on communication between defensnive backs.
4. Clearing Tight End Fog
The Bears think they know how their three new tight ends fit into the mix, with Cole Kmet and Demetrius Harris at the Y tight end and Jimmy Graham at U tight. Will it really work out that way or will some of the holdovers from last year like Jesper Horsted or J.P. Holtz make for a competitive battle? Is there anyone who can block at the tight end position sufficiently? Supposedly Harris is an effective blocker but there must be others capable because this position is critical in their running game.
5. Get in Shape
Sure, they're all coming to camp and think they're ready to go but as defensive back Buster Skrine pointed out during the past offseason, being in condition in football is all about starting and stopping. Muscles break down when subjected to every day punishment in camp. The stress for muscles is much greater then. Players normally have team conditioning in April but this year they had to condition on their own, and that could mean players coming in with a very wide range of conditions. It's part of the reason this emphasis on conditioning at the start of camp is so important. Hamstrings, groins and calfs are important issues for players not in shape.
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