Bears still have three big questions to answer in addition to kicking situation
Training camp, what training camp?
It seems like yesterday we were road tripping to Decatur to kick off the Bears 100th season, and now there are just 15 days left until the Bears open the NFL season against the Packers and there are still key questions demanding answers.
Beyond the obvious like young players needing to mature and improve, whether everyone is as healthy as possible for the marathon NFL season and Chuck Pagano getting fully settled in Vic Fangio's old office, there are at least three very serious questions yet to be answered.
1. Do these Bears have what it takes to get better at tight end and open up a whole new world of possibilities in 12 personnel to further unlock Matt Nagy's multiple offense?
We really don't know any more about what kind of professional tight end Adam Shaheen can and will be than when the Bears drafted him 51st overall roughly 28 months ago.
Shaheen is the only true Y tight end on the team, and if he can't stay healthy Nagy may have to throw a significant chunk of his playbook out the window again.
The Bears are trying to convert offensive tackle Bradley Sowell to the 'Y' spot with mixed results.
Nagy says, "I like where it's at. For us, if we don't have patience with him in this transition, and there's frustration with anything, we have to check ourselves as coaches. "So all that said, I really like where he's at, and I'm looking forward to more."
But Sowell is nowhere near there yet, and the truth is he still looks very much like a tackle trying to play tight end.
Trey Burton will be fine as the 'U' tight end, but undrafted free agents Ian Bunting and Dax Raymond still haven't shown nearly enough to be comfortable with either should Burton get hurt again, and Ben Braunecker hasn't proven he can make a difference in either spot on a regular basis.
The Bears could carry three, four or all five but will most likely carry four, and we're not going to know until several weeks into the season whether they've done enough to address the position.
2. What if Bobby Massie or Charles Leno gets hurt?
Going into camp the Bears appeared to wish strongly for Rashaad Coward to emerge as their backup swing tackle.
It's reasonable to assume the plan was to carry eight O-linemen - the five starters, Ted Larsen, rookie Alex Bars and Coward.
But with Coward having logged next to no time on the left side, and now dinged after the Giants exhibition game, they may have to carry nine - either T.J. Clemmings or fellow vet Cornelius Lucas - which would steal a spot at either tight end, receiver or running back.
Nagy has offered an extremely tepid endorsement of Lucas saying, "Lucas has done really … he's a big guy. He's done a good job with some of these defensive ends, so we like that.
"We know that's a position that we got to get right in that swing tackle area."
Does that inspire you as much as it doesn't me?
3. Have the Bears done enough to improve their middling ground game?
Nagy tells us, "You can't have one and two-yard gains. You've got to have some chunks so you can pick that up.
"We need to be better in the run game. That's a focus for us and our guys understand that."
Tarik Cohen is a dangerous weapon that will give you the chunks, but he's just to small to ask to do it more than a handful of times a game.
David Montgomery is promising in our as yet very small sample size.
Both Nagy and Ryan Pace continue to talk up Mike Davis but examples of what he can do to make a difference have been hard to find.
Kerrith Whyte and Ryan Nall are both promising but you can't pay your bills with promises.
Until at least one or two of these guys deliver in regular season games, thanks in large part to the tight ends and tackles in front of them, we will have no idea of how much better Nagy's offense can be, and if it isn't playoff wins may have to wait another year.
• Hub Arkush, the executive editor of Pro Football Weekly, can be reached at harkush@profootballweekly.com or on Twitter @Hub_Arkush.