Chicago Bears defense can only make offense better

BOURBONNAIS - It would be a big mistake to make too much of anything that happens on the practice field at Chicago Bears training camp.

Coaches are teaching more than coaching. Players are learning as much as they're playing. Rarely, if ever, do they go full speed after initial contact - unless there is a specifically designated live drill, which are few and far between no tackling - and for the most part, it really doesn't resemble actual NFL football.

But all of that said, it also would be foolish to ignore the obvious, and the most obvious thing we saw Sunday, Day 3 of camp, is that the Bears' defense is so loaded it's going to be very difficult to get a sense of how much the offense might be improving until exhibition games get underway.

And the way head coach Matt Nagy played his vets in those practice games last year …

Nagy seemed to acknowledge as much, telling us after practice Sunday, "Without giving away too much information, I'll just say this: I like what we're doing on defense.

"There are some different looks. That's great for our guys, and it's different. It's going to make us better on offense. Overall, the message to the team after practice was: Every day is different. They're not all the same. We focused on, hey, teaching them next-play mentality."

What has been jumping out at everybody in Bourbonnais during this first weekend of open practices is just how many playmakers there are on defense.

Everybody knows about Khalil Mack - and he was a one-man wrecking crew Saturday.

Sunday, at one time or another, Eddie Jackson, Prince Amukamara, Roquan Smith and Leonard Floyd all flashed their special abilities, with plays that made the Bears' offense look shaky.

Jackson won the understatement of the day award Sunday when asked what kind of day it was for his group: "Yeah, we had a good day, overall, as a team. We're trying to work."

Mack seemed to be anticipating bigger things to come when he arrived at camp Thursday and, among other things, told us he thought both inside linebackers, Smith and Danny Trevathan, just might be all-pros this year.

When asked what they thought about that possibility, Smith said, "That's high praise, but I'm just trying to be the best version of myself, whether that's all-pro or not.

"So just come out each and every day and attack my weaknesses. If I get that, I'll get that. But that's not my main focus."

Though the second-year linebacker out of Georgia appears to still be slightly wet behind the ears, running mate Trevathan has never heard a question he can't embellish on.

Asked the same about Mack's proclamation, Trevathan offered his million-dollar grin - and it is a keeper - and said, "I'm not worried about that stuff, I'm worried about getting my team better and getting my guys better. That stuff will happen.

"Khalil knows what he's talking about. He's been to the Pro Bowl, so if he said that, I know that for sure."

This is Smith's first Bourbonnais tour after missing camp last year in his contract holdout, and Nagy talked about the impact the linebacker's presence is having this year on Smith, Trevathan and the defense.

"Sure. It's big," he said. "They both know each other now, their strengths and weaknesses. And they're both different. You've got one savvy vet; you've got a young guy coming in that is so hungry to be the greatest ever to play the position. So they mix well together."

None of this is to say the offense has been bad through the first couple of practices. It has had its moments, and wide receivers Allen Robinson and Anthony Miller have been particularly impressive.

But it really has seemed as if every time the offense has made a play or two and started to get a little juice, one of the defense's multiple game-changers has stepped up and done exactly that: change things.

The bottom line Sunday was things looked a bit shaky for quarterback Mitch Trubisky and Co. But the NFL's No. 1 defense is going to do that to a lot of units, and if it's true that iron sharpens iron, there is reason to believe everything is going to be just fine.

• Hub Arkush, the executive editor of Pro Football Weekly, can be reached at harkush@profootballweekly.com or on Twitter @Hub_Arkush.