New-Look Chicago Bears Announce Training Camp Schedule, Open Practices

CHICAGO — The Chicago Bears may have moved on from a leadership team that struggled to produce winning results, but by most accounts, coach Matt Eberflus and general manager Ryan Poles appear to have an uphill climb on their hands entering the new season.

Eberflus, who took over for Matt Nagy, who was fired in the offseason, enters his first training camp in Chicago with plenty of unanswered questions. Chief among them is whether second-year quarterback Justin Fields has enough protection around him to keep him out of harm’s way and if a new offensive scheme will play to his strengths more than Nagy’s offensive playbook did.

Coming out of off-season workouts, Eberflus stressed the importance of players reporting for training camp in shape and ready to work. Eberflus, a former assistant coach with the Indianapolis, has prioritized effort and insists that work ethic will play a major role in moving the Bears closer to being a team that contends for a playoff appearance.

"We want them to grow both mentally and physically, not just in football but in life during the course of the offseason," Eberflus told reporters last week. "The veterans have like 40 days before they come back. That's a good chunk of time to get better personally, get better physically and as a whole man to be able to do that in the offseason."

Eberflus said that he told players to come to training camp with their track shoes on — an indication that he plans to make high-intensity workouts and speed part of the equation of getting the Bears back on track.

"Training camp's not to get in shape," Eberflus told reporters. "You should already be in shape. You should be ready to go for training camp because we are blowing and going from Day 1."

The Bears, who are coming off a 6-11 season, aren’t expected to be inside the NFL’s playoff picture, open training camp in Lake Forest on July 26. The Bears’ camp, which will take place at Halas Hall, includes 11 practices that are open to the public, but that will require a free ticket, the team announced on Wednesday.

The team will also participate in the annual Family Fun Fest, which is scheduled for Aug. 9 at Soldier Field. Ticket information for the event will be released at a later time.

Free tickets for the public workouts in Lake Forest will be distributed beginning at 10 a.m. on July 7 and there will be a limit of four tickets per practice, the team said. Fans can secure free tickets by visiting the team's website. Free parking will be available at the Hawthorne Mall in Vernon Hills and there will be shuttles that take fans to Halas Hall.

“With the NFL’s COVID-19 protocols behind us, we’re looking forward to bringing back the tradition of player and fan interaction,” Bears President and CEO Ted Phillips said in a news release.

Open practice dates for the Bears include July 28, July 29, July 30, Aug. 2, Aug. 3, Aug. 5, Aug. 7, Aug. 10, Aug. 11, Aug. 15 and Aug. 20.

The Bears have one home preseason game against the Kansas City Chiefs, who hired Nagy as an assistant coach after he was fired by the Bears. That game will be played on Aug. 13 at Soldier Field. The Bears open their regular season slate of home games on Sept. 11 against the San Francisco 49ers.