ORLANDO, Fla. — Chicago Bears leaders combined for hours of interviews with reporters over the last three days at the NFL owners meetings at the JW Marriott Orlando.
The Bears had plenty of topics to discuss — the No. 1 draft pick and the likelihood they will select USC quarterback Caleb Williams, the recent trade to send quarterback Justin Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers and an update on their plans for a potential Chicago lakefront stadium.
Over media sessions with Chairman George McCaskey, President Kevin Warren, general manager Ryan Poles and coach Matt Eberflus, here are 10 other things we heard about one of the busiest Bears offseasons in recent memory.
1. New Bears offensive coordinator Shane Waldron displayed his teaching skills in his introduction to Caleb Williams.
Bears coach Matt Eberflus hired Waldron in January to lead a retooled offensive coaching staff.
Waldron’s experience as a play caller and a coach who has worked with multiple quarterbacks over his NFL career with the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams was a major “separator” for Eberflus. Poles said Waldron’s background working with coaches such as Pete Carroll, Sean McVay and Bill Belichick was attractive because it meant he was exposed to many different ways of doing things and has “a ton of knowledge.”
Eberflus also said Waldron stood out because of “his ability to communicate and his ability to make things clear and concise in his presentation.”
The Bears noticed that communication ability as Waldron taught the offense to the Bears staff — and during his initial meetings with Williams and other prospects as the Bears tested their football knowledge and recall. Poles called his teaching ability “special,” and Eberflus agreed.
“You could feel him moving and meeting everybody where they were to really teach and to really make it stick and have them memorize and understand the offense,” Eberflus said. “Whether it was teaching it to me or whoever was in the room, it was a really easy way to communicate.”
2. The Bears hope new additions on offense can help their anticipated rookie quarterback.
Poles said acquiring six-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Keenan Allen earlier this month was a “really cool opportunity for where we’re headed.” And where the Bears are headed is toward a rookie quarterback, likely Williams.
“I thought it was an absolute perfect fit,” Poles said. “I don’t think there’s a better receiver in the league that can be better for a young quarterback in terms of understanding the NFL, timing, space, reading defenses.”
Eberflus said Allen — combined with other offensive playmakers like DJ Moore, Cole Kmet and Gerald Everett — will give a rookie a lot of options.
Likewise, Eberflus said he believes it’s important for a rookie quarterback to have an experienced center, and he believes Ryan Bates “fits that bill.” The Bears acquired Bates, a five-year NFL veteran, from the Buffalo Bills for a 2024 fifth-round pick in early March.
“To be able to call and make adjustments to the protections, to help and assist that way, we thought it was critical to get that piece,” Eberflus said. “(Bates) has been a pro a long time and he has moved along the line inside there at guard and center, so it’s good to have the position flexibility as well. That’s a critical piece, for sure.”
The Bears also signed center Coleman Shelton to create what Poles hopes is depth and versatility.
“It’s something that’s really bothered me for a long time, just in terms of the lack of flexibility (on the offensive line) we’ve had in the past,” Poles said. “It stresses you out from week to week. I feel like we have more versatility now, and competition.”
3. The Bears aren’t opening their minds to the idea of being a featured team on HBO’s “Hard Knocks.”
Chairman George McCaskey has been consistent with his resistance to HBO’s behind-the-curtain series over the years and annually uses the NFL’s spring meetings to offer a polite “no” to the idea of the Bears being chronicled on the show.
But with team president Kevin Warren now calling many of the shots, there was some curiosity as to whether the Bears might warm to the idea of showcasing some of what goes on inside Halas Hall at a time when the team itself is in the middle of some pretty compelling storylines.
When Warren was asked Tuesday whether there was interest in doing “Hard Knocks,” he chuckled. “That’s always interesting,” he said. “I have interests in making sure that the NFL stays strong and vibrant.”
That wasn’t a yes. But it certainly wasn’t a no. So you’re saying there’s a chance?
Later that same afternoon, McCaskey went in for the rejection. He offered a firm “no” when asked if his stance on the matter had changed.
“We’re told there is some interest in other teams being on the program,” McCaskey said. “And we welcome that interest.”
4. Bears President Kevin Warren believes the team did right by Justin Fields.
Poles said last month at the NFL scouting combine that it was his goal to “do right by” Fields if the Bears were to trade their three-year starting quarterback. A few weeks later, Poles sent Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he will begin as a backup to Russell Wilson but will be able to compete for playing time.
Warren, who was the Big Ten Commissioner while Fields was at Ohio State, publicly called himself a Fields supporter, and he said Tuesday he was glad that the Bears sent him into a good situation.
“No different than building relationships with people from a stadium standpoint, if you do right by people, in the long term, those things come back to you in ways that you really hadn’t planned,” Warren said. “I’m glad that we were able to do right by him. That was another critical data point to show you who Ryan Poles is. That he’s going to build this with integrity and class and when he says he cares about people and players, it’s great.”
Chairman George McCaskey thanked Fields for his time with the Bears “both on and off the field and all he did for Bears fans.”
“He made some spectacular plays that people are still talking about,” McCaskey said. “He understood what it meant to be the starting quarterback of the Chicago Bears. He gave his time and his energy. I saw countless times after practice where he was talking to kids, spending time with kids. I remember one time in the Payton Center, he walked over to a kid wearing a No. 1 jersey and he said, ‘Hey, I like your jersey.’ And you could see the kid light up. He did a great job for us. Gave everything he had to the Bears, to the city. And we’re very grateful. We need to make sure that whoever it is and whatever position it is (that we pick No. 1) that we have the right structures in place and the right people in place to give them the best chance to succeed.”
5. With the Bears selected to play in the Hall of Fame game, Matt Eberflus will be making revisions to his team’s schedule.
The Bears will face the Houston Texans in the NFL’s preseason curtain-lifter Aug. 1 in Canton, Ohio, a game that opens the door for its participants to report to training camp earlier than other teams. That means the Bears will return to Halas Hall the week of July 15 to begin camp with a rookie reporting date tentatively set for July 17 and the first camp practice scheduled for July 20.
That also means the Bears will now be scheduled to play four preseason games in August — and three on the road — in the lead-up to Week 1.
Eberflus noted Tuesday that he will revise his offseason program schedule to allow veterans ample time off over the summer, indicating he would hold the team’s mandatory mini-camp June 4-6, sandwiched between the Bears’ second and third weeks of organized team activities, which are voluntary.
The final stack of OTAs, Eberflus said, would then take place June 10-12.
Eberflus expressed excitement for the additional time tacked on to the start of training camp.
“It’s a great time for us to be able to get some conditioning in and obviously (some) football in there and use that time as a performance-based thing so we can really see where guys are leading into training camp,” Eberflus said.
6. Look for the Bears to explore another session of crossover practices this preseason.
Bears wide receiver Dante Pettis drops a pass in front of Colts safety Michael Tutsie during a joint practice in Westfield, Ind., on Aug. 16, 2023.
In 2023, the Bears traveled to Westfield, Ind., for two days of joint on-field work with the Indianapolis Colts, sessions Eberflus and Poles valued for the amount of controlled competitive reps they were able to get for their team. Those two practices were viewed by Bears coaches as a valuable substitute for preseason game action.
The Bears are pushing to get in similar work this August and will feel out the possibility of hosting this summer’s crossover practices at Halas Hall. Keep an eye on the Atlanta Falcons as a potential partner, which would also position the two teams to play against each other in the preseason.
7. Bears safety Jaquan Brisker is organizing a meeting of the secondary in California as they welcome veteran safety Kevin Byard.
Eberflus said Brisker and Byard are getting a jumpstart on their new relationship.
The Bears signed Byard, an eight-year veteran and two-time All-Pro, to a two-year, $15 million deal in free agency to replace safety Eddie Jackson.
Poles said they expect Byard, who has 28 career interceptions, to bring communication and leadership and said he still has speed and ball skills as he approaches 31 years old. Eberflus said the addition is important to fill the void left by the Bears cutting Jackson.
“Smart,” Eberflus said. “Experienced. Very good communicator. And ball hawk. To me, those things are what you’re looking for. He’s got great range. He’s still got really good speed.”
8. Matt Eberflus’ recent style makeover continues to be a fun topic of conversation.
The Bears coach emerged this offseason with a new hairstyle plus a well-manicured beard and has leaned into his new look while giving credit where credit is due. His wife, Kelly, he said, was “the major influence” behind the glow-up with daughters Grace and Giada providing an assist.
“I just do what they tell me,” Eberflus said Tuesday.
Lawrence Funk, the Bears team barber, has also had his hand in the coach’s new look.
Kelly Eberflus’ continued suggestion for her husband to grow a beard landed despite initial resistance. “I’ve always said no,” Eberflus said. “She said, ‘Hey, let’s just try it this offseason.’ And I said OK. After a week, I said, ‘It really itches. I’m shaving it.’ She goes, ‘Please don’t.’ I kept it and then it didn’t itch anymore, so I was OK with it.”
9. Eberflus isn’t expecting a major challenge in coaching players through a new league rule that will penalize the hip-drop tackle.
On Monday, teams voted to approve a playing rule proposal that will penalize any defender 15 yards for a tackle in which he wraps up a ball carrier with both hands or two arms and “unweights himself by swiveling and dropping his hips and/or lower body, landing on and trapping the runner’s leg at or below the knee.”
The measure was proposed by the competition committee and the health and safety advisory committee as an aim to reduce serious injuries that have occurred from that tackling method.
Eberflus, who was in favor of the rules change, detailed tackling technique research performed at the University of Toledo in 1995 when he was an assistant coach working under Gary Pinkel.
“Coach Pinkel talked to us, ‘Hey, how do we take guys and knock them sideways or backward so they don’t fall forward?’” Eberflus said. “We did a study. We pulled all the tape we could from the NFL, the college game, high school tape, all that. We came up with parameters and we came up with his thing called the hamstring tackle. I’ve been using that since ’95. To me, it’s pretty easy. I don’t have to change or adjust (my coaching). We’ve never taught that type of (now illegal hip-drop) tackle.”
Eberflus also isn’t concerned about the gray area within the new rule, which may make it hard for it to be officiated consistently.
“I think when you see it, you know it,” Eberflus said. “It’s like, OK, that was it. Because it’s the grab and swivel and then the weight release of the legs to drop on the lower extremities.
“I think you can clearly see it. And I think the league is going to do a good job of officiating it while making sure they’re not going overboard.”
10. The Bears were one of 29 teams to vote for the new kickoff rule.
NFL owners approved a major change in kickoff rules that had been in the works for years. The new rule, implemented on a one-year trial basis in 2024, uses some elements of XFL returns and is meant to safely encourage more returns.
The ball will be kicked from the 35-yard line, and 10 players on the kicking team line up on the opposing 40. Nine players on the kick receiving team line up in the setup zone between the 30-35, and two returners can line up inside the 20. None of the players except for the kicker and returners can move until the ball has hit a player or the ground in the landing zone.
Any kick that hits the landing zone and rolls into the end zone can be returned or downed for a touchback at the 20. Kicks that hit the end zone and are downed or roll out of bounds out of the back of the end zone are touchbacks at the 30.
Fair catches and surprise onside kicks are eliminated.
“It’s a safety rule, No. 1,” Chairman George McCaskey said. “They’re trying to reduce speed and space. We had to do something to make the play safer. … (And) the touchback is the most anticlimactic play in our great game. They did a lot of research. They involved special teams coordinators. The competition committee was very much in favor of it. We’ll try it out.”
Eberflus said he was excited to get with special teams coordinator Richard Hightower to discuss it.
“It does take the speed out and the collisions out,” Eberflus said. “It’s going to be really interesting to see how it gets schemed up. … I think there’s a lot of things that can happen there and I’m excited about looking at all those options.”
