{"id":134441,"date":"2022-07-30T15:06:38","date_gmt":"2022-07-30T19:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=134441"},"modified":"2022-07-30T15:06:38","modified_gmt":"2022-07-30T19:06:38","slug":"biggest-takeaway-from-week-1-of-chicago-bears-training-camp-they-not-ready","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2022\/07\/30\/biggest-takeaway-from-week-1-of-chicago-bears-training-camp-they-not-ready\/","title":{"rendered":"Biggest Takeaway from Week 1 of Chicago Bears Training Camp: &#8216;They Not Ready&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Chicago Bears simply would not be ready to compete in an NFL game today. If forced, the outcome would likely be very ugly judging from the sights and sounds after the opening week of work. Despite that, and some early bumps and bruises, there have been several silver linings that signal not all hope is lost.<\/p>\n<p>As they get set to put on pads for the first time this summer on Monday, who or what has been the biggest surprises and disappointments so far?<\/p>\n<h2>Bears Defense Sends Strong Message to Offense in Week 1 of Training Camp<\/h2>\n<h3>Spraying to all Fields<\/h3>\n<p>The Bears\u2019 quarterbacks haven\u2019t been too impressive to this point. Some of that is due to the very limited duties coaches have placed upon them through four practices. Still, 7-on-7s and individual drills against air should favor the offensive side of the ball. Even if you account for the experimentation that usually happens at this time, the offense has not been good.<\/p>\n<p>Thursday\u2019s practice delivered the line that best describes how things have gone so far.<\/p>\n<p>After making a play, third-year cornerback <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/J\/JohnJa13.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jaylon Johnson<\/a> shouted out to the offense, \u201cthey not ready, coach\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>He was right.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"I1resGNtWY\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2022\/07\/28\/chicago-bears-darnell-mooney-cole-kmet-biggest-difference-justin-fields\/\" target=\"_self\">Chicago Bears Players Sound Off on Biggest Difference in Justin Fields<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Chicago Bears Players Sound Off on Biggest Difference in Justin Fields&#8221; &#8212; Last Word on Pro Football\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2022\/07\/28\/chicago-bears-darnell-mooney-cole-kmet-biggest-difference-justin-fields\/embed\/#?secret=hmTUHgHZNu#?secret=I1resGNtWY\" data-secret=\"I1resGNtWY\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>There have also been several drops as well as off-target passes for the offense. Enough that it would be a concern if the Bears were further along in the process. It also keeps the question of whether or not the Bears have done enough to put weapons around Fields going.<\/p>\n<p>Fields is working with an entirely new group of pass-catcher save for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/M\/MoonDa00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Darnell Mooney<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/N\/NewsDa00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dazz Newsome<\/a> the latter of which has been quiet thus far. Not only are there new faces, but none of the Bears&#8217; offseason additions have come highly touted or with lofty expectations. That can be both a blessing and a curse.<\/p>\n<h3>Leg Up on the Competition<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/S\/St.BEq00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Equanimeous St. Brown<\/a> comes to the Bears after spending the first four years of his career with the rival Green Bay Packers. That means he is very familiar with the scheme new offensive coordinator Luke Getsy is installing. Per Getsy, St. Brown stands to benefit from that institutional knowledge this summer with the coordinator saying the player probably had a slight \u201cleg up\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Getsy also described watching St. Brown ascend as a player while in Green Bay.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe way that his training camp went last year, where he didn\u2019t make the team right away and a couple of games into the season he did\u2026I saw him go through that adversity and the way he handled all that stuff, that\u2019s what these guys are all leaning on. That leadership and that experience that he went through, that\u2019s super for us. We\u2019re gonna lean on that.\u201d (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcsports.com\/chicago\/bears\/how-bears-equanimeous-st-brown-first-caught-luke-getsys-eye\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">h\/t Alex Shapiro\/NBC Sports Chicago<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>[pickup_prop id=&#8221;24173&#8243;]<\/p>\n<p>A sixth-round pick out of Notre Dame, St. Brown called that experience a \u201cbump in the road\u201d but admitted that he feels a sense of urgency to establish himself in the league.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019ve got to make the most of your time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Coming in with 98 grabs and 598 receiving yards in his career, the time for St. Brown is now. But on a Bears team with nothing settled after top option Darnell Mooney, the opportunity is there.<\/p>\n<p>And it\u2019s not like the others in the group that includes former Kansas City Chiefs wideout <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/P\/PrinBy00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Byron Pringle<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2022\/07\/27\/chicago-bears-nkeal-harry-huge-chip-on-my-shoulder\/\" target=\"_self\">N\u2019Keal Harry<\/a> who was acquired via trade from the New England Patriots.<\/p>\n<h3>A Defensive Theme<\/h3>\n<p>A better way to look at this first week is that the defense is already flying around the field and causing chaos. It is impossible to judge the pass rush or blocking without pads on, as offensive coordinator Luke Getsy said. But the revamped secondary looks like it has the makeup of a good group led by a reinvigorated <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=JackEd01,JackEd20&amp;search=Eddie+Jackson&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Eddie Jackson<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Jackson said this past offseason was a \u201cwake-up call\u201d for him as he saw many of the faces that brought him in and that he came to know get shown the door. That lit a fire under him and the six-year pro has been sharing his knowledge with his young teammates.<\/p>\n<p>He and rookie safety <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/B\/BrisJa01.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jaquan Brisker<\/a> studied film together at Jackson\u2019s house and the veteran praised rookie <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/G\/GordKy00.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kyler Gordon<\/a>\u2019s ability to soak up information among other things.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Bears?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Bears<\/a> DC Alan Williams on rookie Kyler Gordon:<\/p>\n<p>&quot;He&#39;s always around the football and when he&#39;s around the football, he turns it over.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Gordon has drawn rave reviews all week<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Josh Buckhalter (@JoshGBuck) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JoshGBuck\/status\/1553426802491662338?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 30, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s a freak athlete, man. If you could see him, some of the plays that he makes, it\u2019s not even his man, he\u2019s coming off his man, making plays on the ball. And just seeing how very instinctive he is. And he\u2019s smart. He\u2019s willing to learn. He talks less, he takes everything in. So, when you\u2019ve got a guy like that, you know he\u2019s going to be special.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As for Brisker, Jackson says that he \u201casks a lot of questions, and a lot of the right questions\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Bears Not Ready, Don&#8217;t Have to be&#8230;Yet<\/h3>\n<p>The good news is that there is still plenty of time for the offense to jell more and for the defense to build upon what they already have going. It\u2019s also good for the coaching staff to see these kinds of shortcomings now so that they can properly address them now with personnel or scheme.<\/p>\n<p>Things are expected to ramp up when the pads come on, as both Getsy and defensive coordinator Alan Williams mentioned. Williams noted that chippiness has already begun.<\/p>\n<p>The entire operation should look better by the time they play their first preseason game against former head coach Matt Nagy\u2019s Chiefs in two weeks on Aug 13. And they should be even better still by the regular season opener against the San Francisco 49ers on September 11.<\/p>\n<p>For now, though, they remain a \u201cwork in progress\u201d as many of the players and coaches said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Chicago Bears simply would not be ready to compete in an NFL game today and, if forced, the outcome would likely be very ugly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2879,"featured_media":134444,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[54,23],"tags":[7657,7544,2328,3609,9084,9108],"class_list":["post-134441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorials","category-bears","tag-bears-featured","tag-chicago-bears-roster","tag-eddie-jackson","tag-equanimeous-st-brown","tag-jaquan-brisker","tag-kyler-gordon"],"modified_by":"Josh Buckhalter","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2879"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}