Why starting fast has become major focus for Bears as Week 1 approaches

Why starting fast has become major focus for Bears as Week 1 approaches originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago

LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Expectations for the Bears this season are the highest they’ve been since 2019 when the team was coming off a 12-4 season, a division title and a playoff appearance. There’s talk that the defense could be one of the best in the NFL. There are more talented playmakers on offense since, ever? And potentially, hopefully, maybe, finally, they have a franchise quarterback who can put them over the top.

Yet the team seems to be laser focused on the present. Around the locker room, sights aren’t set too far along the horizon.

“We know what we want to do,” said nickel corner Kyler Gordon. “We know that starting fast is what we’re going to do. It’s imperative for us that we start fast.”

Starting fast is something the Bears haven’t done a lot of lately. Last year they began the season 0-4. In 2022 they got out to a 2-1 record, but quickly fell to 2-4. They went 3-7 over their first 10 games in 2021.

The last time the Bears had a seriously hot start was 2020, when they opened the season 5-1. That’s also the last year they made the playoffs, even though they went through a six-game skid in the middle of the season. That’s likely no coincidence.

“Just look at the numbers,” said head coach Matt Eberflus. “Look at who makes it to the postseason, they start fast.

“I showed that to the guys in the spring. They’re at least 2-2, most are 3-1 and a couple were 4-0, in the NFC. So we did talk about that. The guys understand how important it is to start fast.”

That starts by taking the Tennessee Titans seriously in Week 1. Read a handful of predictions from around the web and not many believe the Titans will leave Chicago with a victory this Sunday. At the time of publication, the Bears were 4.5-point favorites. That was tied with the 49ers for fourth-largest spread in opening week action, behind the Bengals over the Patriots (8.5 points), the Bills over the Cardinals (6.5) and the Seahawks over the Broncos (5.5).

It was a similar story last year, when the Bears were 3-point favorites over the Packers in Week 1. There was talk in the locker room about guys flying around, making a statement and playing dominant football. Things obviously didn’t play out that way, though. The team was beaten in practically every phase of the game and lost 38-20.

Gordon says the team hasn’t forgotten that, but they don’t talk about it much.

“We’ve already been making the changes.”

One of those changes has been a lower impact training camp. Last year, the Bears suffered many soft tissue injuries over the course of an intense summer. This year, they had an extra week due to the Hall of Fame game, so they ratcheted things down. There were more days dedicated to recovery. There was an emphasis on keeping players fresh.

“I feel like that paid off for a lot of people, myself included,” said left guard Teven Jenkins. “I’m feeling really good. This is probably the healthiest I’ve been going into Week 1.”

The challenge now becomes keeping their minds as sharp as their bodies. Bears starters didn’t play in the final preseason game this year, meaning they haven’t had live game reps since Aug. 17. That’s a lot of time to bridge until Week 1.

Eberflus was intentional about how he wanted his players to bridge that gap. There were more walkthroughs and focus on fundamentals to keep players’ heads in the game. They emphasized strength and conditioning to make sure their stamina was game-ready. Throughout it all, a reminder of the importance of winning early in the season.

“We do recognize the slow start that we did get off to and do realize that ok, yeah, we (finished) strong last year, but none of that matters because of the fact that we started out so slow,” said linebacker Jack Sanborn. “So you’ve got to have it from the start of the year all the way to the end of the year. I think that’s what guys understand.”

Going around the locker room, it’s clear that sentiment has sunk in from player to player.

“I like their mindset, I like their mentally, where it is,” said Eberflus. “We started the spring in shadow-boxing mode and then we moved into training camp, into the sparring mode, and now we’re into the bout, now we gotta fight.”

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