Veteran minicamp raised as many questions as answers about Bears defense

Through the first two days of last week's Bears veteran minicamp, one thing was clear.

There is every reason to believe the Bears offense could be improved this season, perhaps significantly so, but it is hard to imagine anyone giving this team a chance to be serious contenders without a return to 2018 form from its defense.

Built around five starters with All Pro and/or Pro Bowl experience, there's no question the talent is there, and while the group isn't young anymore, as a whole it isn't old yet either.

But it isn't going to happen without a return to their all-star form from off or missed seasons by key starters Eddie Goldman, Robert Quinn and Eddie Jackson and a successful rookie debut from new defensive coordinator Sean Desai.

Head coach Matt Nagy talked about Desai and his troops after the first practice.

"We have a veteran defense of some guys that are ready to do some great things. But they know that there can be zero complacency

"It's easy to say, 2018 when we broke a lot of records and had a great defense and had all these numbers, and 2019 and 2020 we didn't have quite the numbers but we did have a good defense.

"But 2021 is gonna be about coach Desai and this defense."

Unfortunately, the minicamp raised a few questions about those three key contributors.

While Nagy dodged questions about Goldman's absence as best he could, he did acknowledge some disappointment.

"He wasn't out here, and again, for us, we're out here practicing and as everybody knows it's a mandatory minicamp and he's not here.

"But we did have a discussion with him (Monday) - obviously I'm going to keep that between us - but we do expect him to be at training camp, rocking and rolling there at training camp."

Pressed to confirm if his absence was excused Nagy was clear: "No. This is a mandatory minicamp for us. So I think that just excites us about all the guys that are here."

What was so surprising about Goldman's absence is it was less than two weeks ago that Nagy told us: "Eddie Goldman, I was fortunate enough to talk to Eddie. I saw Eddie, it was awesome to see him.

"He was here in the facility and looks really good and he's the same old Eddie. It was neat to see him. It definitely put a smile on my face."

Asked whether Goldman's return is in doubt Nagy said, "No, I don't think it's in doubt. I really feel confident that he is going to be here."

Either the team doesn't know what's going on with Goldman, or it seems far more likely there's something they're working fairly hard not to share?

As for Quinn, again it's way too early to form any conclusions. But as happened fairly often last season, he was present but didn't participate Tuesday, watching the full practice from the sidelines and at one point offering some pass rush pointers to Trevis Gipson, and he was nowhere to be seen Wednesday.

According to his head coach, "Robert just has a little lower back that we're just trying not to mess with too much.

"We're probably more conservative on that than anything."

There is no reason to doubt Nagy, but it's hard not to be a little disappointed Quinn's already nicked.

With Jackson, no new concerns have popped up, but after telling us a bit about what he was doing while missing all of the voluntary on field teamwork to date, he actually expressed slight regret he'd missed it.

"Yeah, just being able to do things more on your own, focus more on your body, mentally, just more individual things.

"Like, I'm honestly happy to be back. I can't say that I didn't miss it because I totally did miss it.

"I'm just happy to be back, honestly."

It's June, far too early to panic about any of this, but how are you supposed to ask a player why he's been so average the last year and a half or so after being an All Pro the year before and how will practicing less make you better?

One thing the minicamp exposed is there is still a lot left to learn before we have any idea what this defense is actually going to be.

• Twitter: @Hub_Arkush