Chicago Bears will have a new look at training camp

The Bears team that reports this week to Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais for the start of training camp will look vastly different from the one that limped home 5-11 last season, which isn't surprising.

Forty-seven of the 90 players on the roster at the June 16-18 minicamp were not on the 53-man roster at any time during the 2014 season. The Bears left last year's camp thinking playoffs but missed the postseason for the seventh time in eight years, losing five straight games to end the season.

That spelled the end for general manager Phil Emery and his hand-picked head coach, Marc Trestman.

But it's not just new general manager Ryan Pace and his personnel team, new scouts and an almost entirely new coaching staff led by John Fox that will give the Bears a different look.

The turnover in player personnel is greater this season than in most. Gone are two-time Pro Bowl cornerback Charles Tillman (to the Panthers) and seven-time Pro Bowl linebacker Lance Briggs (as yet unsigned), two of the top players in franchise history.

Gone, too, is five-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Brandon Marshall, who was practically given away to the New York Jets because his propensity for distractions had begun to outweigh his production.

Roberto Garza was released after playing 10 of his 14-year career with the Bears, staring at center the last four years and at guard before that.

Defensive tackle Stephen Paea, the 2011 second-round pick who started 40 games the last three years, was allowed to leave for Washington in free agency.

Safety Chris Conte, taken a round later in the same draft as Paea, escaped to Tampa after being unfairly singled out the last two years for criticism that could have gone to just about everyone else on back-to-back defensive units that were among the NFL's worst.

This year's opening day lineup should have at least 10 different starters from opening day 2014, and even the returning players will be operating in different schemes.

New coordinator Adam Gase's offense is expected to place more emphasis on running the football, and Fox, who won the last four NFC West titles with the Denver Broncos, is an advocate of a power run game. Those are concepts that fell by the wayside in the pass-happy offense of Trestman and coordinator Aaron Kromer.

Gase's offenses in Denver racked up huge numbers the last two seasons. But instead of future first-ballot Hall of Famer Peyton Manning running his offense, Gase now has Jay Cutler, the NFL leader in turnovers last season.

“Obviously I feel good about Adam Gase's ability; we hired him,” Fox said. “He's an outstanding coach. I've seen him operate before, as a coach and a play caller on game day. I think he'll help Jay but you've still got to perform.”

What's new with Cutler? Well, he'll be working under a new coordinator and operating a new offense, a common theme during his Bears career. Gase is Cutler's fifth coordinator as he enters his seventh season in Chicago.

“You've got to try to forget the last (offense) as quickly as possible and just wipe the slate clean,” Cutler said. “Maybe I've gotten better at that over the years; maybe not.”

Cutler and Co. have to learn a new offense, but they have the advantage of familiarity. Marshall and Garza are the only two significant departures.

“I don't have to worry about getting to know certain guys, how they like the ball, what they're good at and what they're not,” Cutler said. “I know these guys, and we can concentrate on the offense and getting the terminology down and going.”

The defensive transition will be more difficult. A roster built to play a 4-3 scheme will be asked to work out of a base 3-4, a scheme the Bears have never before played.

There are only so many square pegs that a successful defensive coordinator such as Vic Fangio can pound into round holes, which is why the starting lineup will see so much turnover. But Fangio's track record is impressive. His 49ers defenses the last four seasons were always among the top five in the league.

At the conclusion of the mid-June minicamp, Fox expressed satisfaction with his first off-season in Chicago, but his enthusiasm was tempered.

“We've made progress, (but) we're by no means there yet,” Fox said. “We've made a lot of changes; upstairs, downstairs, throughout the building. The guys have responded well. Guys have bought in and worked hard and that's all I can ask.”

Fox knows his team has a long way to get back to respectability. But he has an exceptional record with reclamation projects. He took over a 1-15 Carolina Panthers team and went 7-9 his first year and made it to the Super Bowl the following season. Fox got the Broncos to those four straight postseasons after inheriting a team that was 12-20 in the two seasons before he arrived.

There's only so much any coach can learn about a new team in the off-season, when they practice in shorts or what Fox refers to as “underwear football.” He'll get a better idea of what he has in Bourbonnais.

“Once you get into pads and play real football — not underwear football, you get a better feel for that,” he said. “That's part of coaching, putting guys in position to have success, and hopefully we get that figured out.”

Next up: What to look for on offense and on defense when training camp practices begin on July 30.

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Here are the key dates for Bears training camp. Practices generally will last two hours. All times and dates are subject to change, so visit chicagobears.com for the latest updates.Wednesday: Players report, but no practiceThursday: 9:35 a.m. practice

Bring on the Bears