Top Storylines for the Opening of Bears Training Camp

Caleb Williams' rookie success, Matt Eberflus future as coach and Ryan Poles' ability to find talent all come to a head with Friday's opening of 2024 Chicago Bears training camp.

Matt Eberflus sure looks a lot different than in the past but will he coach differently with his new-look roster. / David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

Training camp for Year 3 of the great rebuild arrives with Bears reporting Friday and finds them in a new situation, although not one new to long-suffering fans of the team.

It is a new offensive system, a new offensive coordinator and mostly a new group of coaches. It’s also a new starting quarterback and Caleb Williams becomes the immediate and indisputable center of attention for everything Bears.

This all happened under former coach Matt Nagy with the coordinator and with the quarterback. Nagy gets full credit for the system and its failures.

It happened under John Fox with coordinator, quarterback and the offense, although the system change from former coordinator Adam Gase to Dowell Loggains was less drastic and made over time.

Jay Cutler had the staying power of cockroaches and survived through two general managers and three head coaches, not to mention six offensive coordinators.

Total changeover, along with a new defensive coordinator, while keeping the same head coach is something new even for this franchise.

The Bears have reached Year 3 of the rebuild and after two years without a winning record there can be no doubt about their need to achieve one despite all of the changes. Yet, it almost seems they're still rebuilding in a year where they should expect to be competitive.

Here are the top storylines facing them as they filter into the building and get organized for Saturday's first practice.

WHICH ROOKIES WILL HAVE BIGGEST IMPACT IN NFL THIS SEASON?

Shane Waldron's Multiple Offense

All of the changes made in personnel during the offseason pointed to one thing for their new offense and that is an attack with versatlity.

So much of Luke Getsy's offense revolved around Justin Fields' mobility and it tied them down to a run-heavy approach. Waldron wants an attack like his mentor Sean McVay runs. He wants to be able to attack in any way necessary to reach the end zone after the Bears two years ago set football back almost two decades by running it a greater percentage of plays than any team since the 2004 Steelers.

How they are implementing this with all of their new weapons and the old ones will captivate fans, who might find an attack more pass-reliant to be a refreshing change.

Coaching Adjustment

There is half of a new coaching staff working with players now, and it will be an adjustment on all sides.

"There’s definitely a learning curve because you have new people coming together, so that relationship piece is always big, the chemistry of that, and then learning how to communicate effectively and efficiently together to get to the right answer, not necessarily your answer," Eberflus said. "So you’ve got to make sure you’re doing that well."

Could the HITS principle of Eberflus be altered by new coaches unfamiliar with how he applies it? They can't really afford drama with assistant coaches again after last year's changes, when they had to replace defensive coordintor Alan Williams and running backs coach David Walker.

"The chemistry’s strong," Eberflus said. "The new guys are coming in Year 3 and they understand how we do things. I had a bunch of meetings with the coaches to start the offseason, to kind of outline the standards and making sure they understand what and how we do things here. They bought into that and it’s been great."

Making the Three Amigos Sequel Work

With due respect to Vance Johnson, Mark Jackson, and Ricky Nattiel, who were the originals Three Amigos with Denver, the Bears now have their own version of triplets. Finding a way to work wide receiver targets DJ Moore, Keenan Allen and Rome Odunze into the new offense without having them step all over each other will make for a fascinating study.

Does this assumed mentor-student relationship of Moore and Allen with Odunze develop, or will veterans be consumed with their own situations?

The Bears are used to having one wide receiver or even none capable of elite production. Now they have three, and with the explosiveness comes the potential for an entirely new set of headaches.

Waddle and Silvy coming up!@peggykusinski is here, I promise!

Is Shane Waldron the most important person up at Halas not named Caleb Williams? Plus, a closest to the pin on when Caleb signs his contract.@RealMikeWilbon at 4:30

All up next at 2:30 on @ESPN1000 pic.twitter.com/EwVSQwQwBP

— Tom Waddle (@TWaddle87) July 16, 2024

The Starting Battle

There really is only one starting spot up for grabs as camp opens and that's at center. It's been a long time since they've seemed secure at this position, possibly since Olin Kreutz, although Cody Whitehair had a few excellent seasons there early on before Nagy began swapping out his positions to run a perfectly good situation.

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Is it Ryan Bates, who has played NFL center all of 203 snaps but guard for 1,057 plays, or is it former Rams starter Coleman Shelton, who has 1,771 career snaps and more plays at right guard than Bates does at center and started in L.A. for two seasons?

Roster Battles

After seeing the fruits of his labors, GM Ryan Poles looked at what could be and said "It’s going to be hard to make this team."

Veteran wide receiver Velus Jones Jr. has reached the point where the team needs to see he no longer commits major gaffes, because this isn't the receiver corps with Byron Pringle, N'Keal Harry or Chase Claypool on it. There is enough talent to squeeze him off the roster even if he has been one of the better return men for average the last two years. The same goes for invisible edge rusher Dominique Robinson and his 12 pressures and two sacks in 28 games, although his competition is much less fierce for a roster spot.

Larry Borom, a valued tackle backup for three seasons, enters a contract year more concerned with keeping his roster spot than where next year's contract will come from because there is actual competition at backup tackle.

On the other side, undrafted players like Micah Baskerville and Keith Randolph Jr. could find the door shut to them because of the numbers game.

Hard Knocks

It's still hard to believe the Bears are involved with this, but then again it's hard to believe they're trying to step into the 21st century with a passing offense.

Any moths playing to the camera lights? Any hidden dramas unfolding? The HBO cameras are already there recording it for a premiere in August.

Caleb Williams working with DJ Moore, Keenan Allen, and Rome Odunze is gonna be special! Here’s an inside look at them growing together at OTAs. #DaBears pic.twitter.com/O84q4bEpfc

— Ben Devine (@Chicago_NFL) July 17, 2024

The Watch for Pass Rush Help

They've been talking all offseason about the need for another veteran edge rusher or even interior rush man without acting on it. The expectation is Gevon Dexter's advancement in Year 2 on the inside, and rookie Austin Booker's physical abilities will let them get by with enough complementary pressure to keep defenses from ganging up on Montez Sweat.

Poles seemed to think they had this situation under control last year until they had to go out and sign Yannick Ngakoue a week into camp, then eventually this wasn't enough. So they traded for Sweat.

Speculation centers around a potential return of Sweat or some other D-line signing but they have only $12.3 million left in cap space, according to Spotrac.com. It all becomes a matter of how much they think they can rely on young pass rushers to produce and how little any roster addition would be willing to take.

Ngakoue has been tweeting out workouts he has had all offseason as he comes back from last year's broken ankle. His latest said "He's back."

The question is whether he's back with the Bears.

He’s back🦍…#God pic.twitter.com/V3qkk2sBsM

— Yannick Ngakoue (@YannickNgakoue) July 8, 2024

Injury Outlook

Already they're starting with rookie third-round tackle Kiran Amegadjie unable to practice after his quad muscle surgery of last year. They left minicamp with assorted nicks and bumps to other players, like Cole Kmet and Nate Davis.

Does any of this carry over to the start of training camp?

Deodorizing Right Guard

Right guard was a problem spot last year, in part because veteran Nate Davis suffered through injuries and personal loss away from the field. Then he came back for offseason work and only got on the field a few plays.

The Bears have other options for a starter and although it's not desirable, they could explore these if Davis remains an injury problem.

The Coaching Clock

This one is going to be ticking in the background all year, unless there is a massive losing streak like they had last year, or even the exact opposite and they suddenly break through as a division leader.

Then you could either hear the rumbling about hot seats and which head coach will be fired first. Or if it goes the other way, you could hear talk about a contract extension for Matt Eberflus.

Two years with losing records is about the limit any rebuild is allowed in the NFL today.

Caleb Williams could have the easiest transition into an NFL star ever. He already acts like one if he can perform this season it’s game over

— Scrappy Opinions (@ScrappyOpinions) July 18, 2024

Caleb Williams Development

More than anything else, this season is all about how rapidly their college phenom QB picks up the offense and learns to attack NFL defenses.

All of the other issues rate well below this one because they're basing their offensive changeover on the passing quarterback. So he'd better be the passer they imagined.

Williams felt he did take some steps toward leading the team in the offseason work.

"I would say the biggest thing that I accomplished was one, building the connection with my teammates and those relationships," Williams said. "That's one of the biggest.

"And then also just gaining and building more confidence and trust throughout the Bears and everybody here but also myself within the offense, building that belief, that trust, that confidence and swagger to go out there and play."

It's going to take a lot more of all of that plus more before the Bears can feel they're on the right path at this position they can never seem to get right.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven