Bear Digest

A Chicago Bears scouting combine primer and what it all means

Analysis: It's best not to attach much Bears significance to the scouting combine because doing so invariably leads to disappointment, but what comes later has more meaning.

Gene Chamberlain

Bears QB Caleb Williams and Tulane-Tampa Bay QB Mike Pratt on the field last year at the combine.
Bears QB Caleb Williams and Tulane-Tampa Bay QB Mike Pratt on the field last year at the combine. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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The NFL scouting combine is nothing more than a big teaser for the rest of the offseason.

There is no real substance, and if you don't believe it then listen to some of the talks coaches and general managers give at the event in the first few days, including Bears participants.

They can't be pinned down on anything. They'll say what's good about a particular player sometimes, but won't want to say they actually like a specific player over another or why.

They're in Indianapolis to watch and talk but they don't want to talk too much.

Most of the time they won't pinpoint a specific need but they're willing to include it as one of many when asked.  Bears GM Ryan Poles is good at this.

It's all a forum for the general and vague. Anything substantial occurs behind the scenes and comes out later, like when Poles first initiated talks for trading the first overall pick to acquire DJ Moore and a year later select Caleb Williams.

About the only time something does happen it's a contract extension, like in 2002 when Bears QB Jim Miller got a new deal after leading the team to a surprise division title. The whole thing fell apart the next season.

Or sometimes a player has been released already and quickly signs elsewhere, the way Muhsin Muhammad did in 2005 when he came up to GM Jerry Angelo's hotel suite for an impromptu press conference after agreeing to terms, before helping the Bears to two straight playoff berths and a Super Bowl. Then he coined the phrase "Chicago is where wide receivers go to die."

Over the years, less and less actually happens in Indianapolis. There's no point. There are no deadlines then. Those come a few weeks later.

Many players who will be cut for cap purposes won't be until just before the deadline March 12. While still under contract, they remain cards in a hand that could still be played or used for bluff by GMs who are the ultimate poker players.

The Bears did this the classy way by releasing DeMarcus Walker, Gerald Everett, Cody Whitehair and Eddie Jackson well in advance of combines so they'd have three weeks to get a head start on the market.

The combine is a gathering of guys whose secrets have secrets and they have a lot of them. Then they lie about it all for better or worse. The late Mark Hatley told Chicago reporters at the 1998 combine that Randy Moss was a "generational talent" exciting everyone. Then he drafted Curtis Enis.

The combine is all more of a big show with fun sights and sounds, like when Hall of Fame tackle Orlando Pace was at the airport in 1997 and the combine sent a car to get him. A Ford Escort returned—for a 6-foot-8, 325-pound tackle. It was painful watching his massive body uncoil and climb out of the vehicle, one writer commenting loudly, "Why didn't you get the poor guy a real car?"

Above all else it's about interviews–players talking to teams and not players talking to media. No really wants to do that, although they do seem much more polite with reporters at this stage of their careers. Brian Urlacher talked to a small group of Chicago reporters in 2000 and repeatedly used the word "sir" when addressing us.  

We kept turning to see if our fathers were standing behind us. So respectful.

Occasionally players not yet unencumbered by contracts will reveal interesting items about themselves to reporters at the combine, like offensive lineman Ben Bartch confirming the ingredients of his wholesome protein shakes: six eggs, cottage cheese, quick grits, peanut butter, a banana and Gatorade all mixed in blender.

The real interviews are the ones teams have with players and they are allowed up to 45 of those with prospects. They can last as long as 18 minutes. So considering these limits, there is significance to who they talk to but there is even more importance tied to who they invite to Halas Hall for "top 30" visits or even their pro day visits.

It's all one big convention—steak at St. Elmo's, beer at O'Reilly's Irish Pub or a wild night at Ike and Jonesy's—and not much athletic beyond who could challenge Xavier Worthy's new 40-yard record  (Hint, no one this year). If the workouts meant that much, then former Bears second-round lineman
Stephen Paea would have been a Hall of Famer after 49 reps in the bench press.

In fact, for a long time they didn't even let reporters watch the workouts and then they started letting in a privileged few.

Now it's all televised and everyone quickly found out they were much better off merely listening to the generalized, vague interviews and not seeing repetitive, boring workouts.

Here is the schedule for those workouts and proceedings. Those interested in seeing workouts by the offensive linemen the Bears are expecting to peruse will have a long wait, until Sunday.

Those interested in what the Bears really think of these players will find out April 24 and Round 1 of the 2025 NFL Draft.

2025 NFL Combine

Interviews

Ryan Poles speaks at 9 a.m. Tuesday and Ben Johnson at noon, among the many NFL coaches and GMs who are in Indianapolis.

Workouts

Thursday: Defensive linemen and linebackers, 2 p.m.-7 p.m.

Friday: Defensive backs and tight ends, 2 p.m.-8 p.m.

Saturday: Quarterbacks, wide receivers, running backs, noon-8 p.m.

Sunday: Offensive linemen, noon-4 p.m.

The work: 40-yard dash, bench press, vertical leap, broad jump, three-cone drill, 20-yard shuttle, 60-yard shuttle. Not every player does all the workouts and most skip several. Also, players participate in position-specific drills.

TV: NFL Network has 50 hours of coverage scheduled. In addition to showing some of the interviews, they'll show the workouts daily in the afternoon starting Thursday. They'll do an abbreviated replay  of workouts Sunday at 9 a.m., 5 p.m., 9 p.m. and Monday at 1 a.m.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.

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