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Rozner: New Bears just as inspiring as old Bears

To be generous, it has been an odd start to the Ryan Pace-John Fox regime.

Then again, these are the McCaskeys and this is the Chicago Bears.

After winning their respective introductory news conferences, they wasted all that goodwill on the unnecessary signing of Ray McDonald, after which they vouched for his character and George McCaskey tossed in some victim-blaming for good measure.

After moving past that disaster, they opened camp by putting the media on notice and letting the press know that there would be - essentially - no reporting during practice.

Some wondered why it was even worth the time being there, which is precisely what management wants. They'd love nothing more than for the media to disappear.

And in the Bears' defense, that's where the NFL is going anyway. Unlike most sports thirsty for coverage, the league doesn't need reporters of any kind. It also doesn't need fans.

The NFL has TV money and it gets ratings, because it has gamblers and fantasy players - which are really one and the same - and that's what drives the NFL.

The Bears completed the trifecta by deceiving the media from the first moments of camp regarding top pick Kevin White and his shin injury.

Twice in a matter of days the Bears called White "day-to-day" when they obviously knew he was month-to-month, and not until this week did they admit that he may not play in the preseason at all.

If they had offered that on the first day, it would have been a big story but only a one-day story. Instead, it dragged on for a couple weeks and made the new regime look silly in the process.

But again, this is the Bears.

That brings us to Thursday night's exhibition opener at Soldier Field, which always brings delusions of grandeur and pronouncements of greatness. In this regard, the Bears are also the same as every other NFL team.

Especially when there's a new head coach and coordinators, every player loves everything about the new boss and the new systems, and every player is headed for the Pro Bowl.

Not that it matters a bit on the field, but maybe most interesting so far is the attitude toward Jay Cutler, who at the moment is viewed not as the customary villain, but rather a pathetic figure generating sympathy because of how bad he's been since arriving in Chicago.

There are - officially - zero expectations for Cutler, but instead an acceptance that he will be what he has been, and anything more a minor miracle.

So Cutler's been a small story in camp, with fans understanding he's not the future and merely a necessary part of the present as the Bears look to rebuild over the next couple years.

As for this team, well, the new defense appears to be much different from the old defense in the way they're able to take time off the clock and keep the Bears' offense off the field.

The 2014 defense gave up points quickly and put Cutler back on the field fast, but there might be a new strategy in play. Out of the gate Thursday night, the defense took 8:01 off the clock while the Dolphins went on a 14-play, 85-yard touchdown drive to open the 2015 preseason.

Perhaps exhausted, that was it for the first-team defense.

As for the offense, they opened 2015 with a Jordan Mills false start and went three-and-out.

It was all so familiar and - in a disturbing sort of way - rather comfortable.

The second drive would have been another three-and-out, ending with Cutler getting pancaked by Cameron Wake, but offsetting penalties kept the drive alive and the Bears got a couple first downs before facing a fourth-and-2 from the Miami 25.

The Bears hurried to the line and this time new center Will Montgomery was flagged for the false start, ending the drive and leading to a 48-yard, Robbie Gould field goal, and that was it for Cutler and the first-team offense.

There was, of course, the assortment of penalties, drops, miscues lining up and receivers running bad routes, which is to be expected in a new offense. Then again, it was expected in the old offense.

In general and on both sides of the ball, the Bears looked slow and unprepared, but there was little meaning to any of it, except the unfortunate reminder that the Bears are coming off a 5-11 season and enter this one with a chance to be 5-11 again. If John Fox and his coordinators work some magic and get everything possible out of this team, it could conceivably approach .500, but this rebuild has a long way to go before the Bears will be taken seriously again.

You didn't need to be there Thursday night to know that.

brozner@dailyherald.com

• Listen to Barry Rozner from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on the Score's "Hit and Run" show at WSCR 670-AM.

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