The Chicago Bears were an utterly reliable source of training camp storylines for the past several years. The roster was in upheaval, the coaching staff was battling for their jobs, and a near-constant battle seemed to take place in their efforts to mislead and misdirect. It undoubtedly was fun reading material for the wider NFL media and fans. This may explain why some of them are a bit put off by the fact Bears camp has suddenly become rather boring.
Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com, who has a reputation for criticizing the team at every opportunity, was the one who voiced a bit of that frustration. In his latest article, he listed various things that have been trending up and trending down during training camp season around the league. The Bears were unsurprisingly in his “trending down” section, but not for the reason one would think.
It appears Rosenthal put them there less out of concerns about their roster and more out of how boring they’ve been.
Hot topics in Chicago Bears camp: With nearly every starting job accounted for in Chicago, it feels like the local writers are struggling to come up with many sizzling storylines beyond the kicker battle and explaining why the offense consistently (and understandably) loses to the defense in practice.
Lack of Chicago Bears camp buzz is hardly a bad thing
Per usual, Rosenthal is off base. Most of the Bears local media are actually quite satisfied with the state of things. They can find plenty of interesting topics to write about. The buzz on the team may not be catching the nation by storm, but to Chicago fans, the excitement is reaching a fever pitch. The general feeling is a team of this talent level hasn’t been seen in over a decade. One that is capable of winning a Super Bowl if things fall into place.
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The defense was dominant in 2018 and should be again with nine of their 11 starters returning. Mitch Trubisky has managed to show signs of progress in practice despite having to go against them every day. His arsenal of weapons is deeper and more versatile than ever before. The offensive line is fully intact and healthy. Everybody is focused on the main goal of getting back to the playoffs and righting the wrong of last January.
This is why the kicker battle has been front and center since the beginning. Chicago may not have any juicy controversies to chew on, but that’s only because of the culture they’ve so carefully constructed.
