Chicago Bears: Takeaways from the first day of OTAs

With rookie minicamp completed, the Chicago Bears have kicked off OTAs, another phase in their offseason program.

With veteran OTAs arriving, the real excitement can begin. Sure, it’s only May, but this is where it all starts. The offense is starting to learn the framework of the new offense, while the defense looks to get loose and build off of the success from last season.

According to new head coach Matt Nagy, that’s exactly what took place on Day 1:

"“Right now there’s a trust from one another , you know there’s that experience factor ,which is good. They believe in what they’ve got going on in Vic’s system. They just want to grow from any mistakes they made last year and different areas of the game they can improve on, and that’s what they’re doing.”"

Again, not enough praise can be made towards general manager Ryan Pace and Nagy on their commitment to retain defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. This is a top-10 defense that improved with the addition of linebacker Roquan Smith. The system continuity is going to continue to lead to less confusion on that side of the ball, as these guys know their assignments. For a rookie head coach like Nagy, I can’t stress enough how much that will help him this season.

Having Fangio will allow Nagy to turn most of his attention to the offense, because of the trust-level one can expect Fangio will have his guys ready to battle on game day. Look at the Los Angeles Rams and Sean McVay, who was a rookie head coach last season. Having defensive coordinator Wade Phillips helped him tremendously. I expect that same type of impact with the Chicago Bears.

Having an experienced defense will also help the offense grow on the practice field. Nagy said,

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"“My message to the team right now on the offensive side is just be patient and don’t get frustrated. They understand that they’re going to play a little faster than us right now, but we’ll have some growing pains but we’ll get back to square one in training camp.”"

Speaking of fast, Nagy also very complimentary of running back Tarik Cohen:

"“He’s actually the one kid on this team that I knew had a lot of talent, but he comes out here and runs every route the right way, catches most balls and he doesn’t make a lot of mistakes. He’s a player you get giddy about.”"

I think I feel almost as giddy as coach Nagy does. Can you imagine Cohen in this offense? I know Nagy is dying to unleash the player that was criminally underused last season.

Next: Chicago Bears: Diving into notable moves following rookie minicamp

OTAs run through June 1st, but the excitement won’t end there as mandatory minicamp begins June 5th. Things are looking up for the Chicago Bears and September can’t come soon enough!