When Bears players arrive at Halas Hall on Monday, things are going to look a little different. And it’s not just the new state-of-the-art training facility that the Bears have overhauled. They’re also heading into an offseason program where they’re no longer the team that is flying under the radar. They’re the ones that people expect to be good. They’re also the ones with the targets on their backs now.
“Now, we’re the hunted. We’re not hunting anymore,” Bears head coach Matt Nagy said. “That’s what you want. We want to be that team that gets on primetime as much as we can. If you’re doing that, you’re doing something right because people want to see you.”
There’s a similar excitement for when the Bears reported last offseason. Only now, they’re coming off a 12-4 season where they won the NFC North and made their first playoff appearance in nearly a decade. There’s a sense of unfinished business following that early-round playoff exit to the Eagles.
But it won’t be easy to replicate the success from last season. Now, the Bears are the team that everyone is looking to usurp. Their competition is stiff, with a schedule featuring games against six playoff teams from a year ago, including the Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Rams, New Orleans Saints, Los Angeles Chargers, Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys.
While the Bears found almost immediate success last season, there’s a concern about a possible drop-off. It’s a natural concern of a team that goes from worst-to-first and wondering if they can maintain that momentum. For some, they can. For others, the fall is a hard one.
How will Bears players deal with the success from last season? Will they let their confidence get to their heads? Or will they let their confidence guide them towards the ultimate goal: the Super Bowl?
“Our players are going to realize and they’re going to feel it from our staff and from myself that last year is gone,” Nagy said. “It was the same thing for us last year. I told them, ‘I don’t care anything about what happened in 2017. I don’t care, this is a new year.’”
The Bears will hold their rookie minicamp May 3-5 and hold 10 OTA practices from May 21-23, May 29-31 and June 4-7. The team’s mandatory full-squad minicamp is scheduled for June 11-13.
Let’s take a look at what to watch for as the Bears begin their 2019 offseason program.
1. The kicker competition
With no glaring holes on the Bears’ roster, the one question mark heading into the 2019 season is resolving the kicker situation. Following the release of Cody Parkey, the Bears are searching for stability at a position that has plagued them since Robbie Gould’s departure.
Currently, the Bears have three kickers on the roster in Chris Blewitt, Redford Jones and the recent acquisition Elliott Fry. GM Ryan Pace has welcomed competition at the position, and he might not even be done yet with the 2019 NFL Draft coming up.
“Right now we’re all just very open-minded,” Pace said last month. “We have two kickers on the roster now and we’re open to continue to add competition to the position. The keyword is competition at that spot and doing creative things to make them feel that pressure and that competition.”
The Bears likely won’t bring three kickers to training camp, which means that this offseason program will serve to narrow the competition to a two-man race. But only time will tell.
2. Strides on offense
The arrival of Matt Nagy last season signaled the beginning of a new, innovative offensive system that would aim to bring the Bears into this modern NFL world. With a franchise quarterback in Mitch Trubisky, the mind that would mold him in Nagy and a slew of offensive weapons like Tarik Cohen, Allen Robinson, Anthony Miller and Taylor Gabriel, the pieces are certainly in place.
This Bears offense is expected to make significant strides in 2019. Last season, it was all about laying the groundwork and learning a new offense. With a season of experience under their belts, this season becomes about fine-tuning an offense that flashed its potential a year ago.
“There’s probably more this year on scheme and building our identity than there was last year,” Nagy said. “Last year it got kind of old because we were watching so much Kansas City tape that you don’t really know what you’re watching. You think you do. Until you get to the season and now you understand, OK, this is what we do well. We’re doing that right now in the mornings. We’re going through and seeing what is our identity. I’m learning that as a play caller and as a head coach.”
3. Mitch Trubisky’s growth
Ultimately, the success of the Bears offense hinges on third-year quarterback Mitch Trubisky. In his first season under Nagy, Trubisky made significant progress from start to finish.
While there were concerns about Trubisky’s accuracy and footwork throughout the season, there was a marked improvement in his decision making, and ultimately it’s his playmaking ability that makes him a threat. Trubisky saved his best for last in the fourth quarter of the Bears’ playoff game against the Philadelphia Eagles, which inspires confidence moving forward.
“Midway through the season, beginning of the season, we talked about next-play mentality,” Nagy said. “He conquered that. He had a couple games in there where he’d be the first to tell you that he felt like he could have played better. And he was hanging onto previous plays. He got by that. So all that growth, he is so excited to get in there. There might be some times this year where I say, hey, just take this series. In OTAs or training camp, hey, call this series right here. I’m going to let you run the show. I couldn’t do that last year because he didn’t know what to call. This year, he’ll be able to do that.”
Last season was all about Trubisky learning this offense. Now, the Bears expect him to make that leap.
4. The defense under new DC Chuck Pagano
There’s a lot that’s been made of the departure of former Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. Some people have speculated that the Bears defense will experience a drop-off from last season. But what gets lost in all of that talk is the fact that the Bears will return 10 starters, including Pro Bowlers Khalil Mack, Eddie Jackson, Kyle Fuller and Akiem Hicks, to a defense that was arguably the league’s best in 2018.
The Bears don’t expect too much of a turnaround of the defensive side of the football with new DC Chuck Pagano. But what Pagano brings to the Bears is a more aggressive approach that’s about wreaking havoc and dictating the tempo with a focus on fundamentals and technique.
“We’re not gonna try to jam square pegs into round holes,” Pagano said. “There is a ton of talent here. There [are] impact players on all three levels. So we’ll always do the best that we can to put them in the best position to play to their strengths.
“There’ll be some things from a terminology standpoint that I’ll have to learn and I’ll put the onus on myself and the new coaches and try to make it as seamless of a transition as possible for the players.”
With the losses of Bryce Callahan and Adrian Amos to free agency, the Bears added Buster Skrine and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix to their roster.
5. Cody Whitehair and James Daniels
Last month, Bears head coach Matt Nagy said that the Bears are open to Cody Whitehair and James Daniels switching positions. Whitehair, a natural guard in college, and Daniels, a natural center in college, were part of an offensive line that was one of the best in the league last season.
While it’s tempting to see what both Whitehair and Daniels can do at their natural positions, when given the time, if the Bears already have a cohesive line in place, are they willing to mess with that? Trubisky, the guy that will be affected by the switch or non switch, has been complimentary about Whitehair’s contributions at center.
“I love Cody, he’s my guy,” Trubisky said. “He’s probably one of the best practice players we have. We need more guys that practice like Cody does, with the energy and passion he brings. He’s very protective of me and he’s very hard on himself. He’s a perfectionist. He wants to be perfect. But he’s done a great job for us. He’s a great leader of this offense. I can’t say enough great things about Cody Whitehair.”
Regardless of it the Bears elect to try out Whitehair at guard and Daniels out at center, they have a good chemistry on that front line that looks to build off a solid 2018 campaign.
