Lincicome: Bears training camp dawns with a mixture of wishing and wanting
With the opening of Bears' training camp everything is possible. Reality arrives soon enough. Misery comes later, as early as October, as late as December, probably earlier, November being to the Bears lately much as a pit bull is to a postman.
But that is then. The world in July is as encouraging as it can be because every question is unanswered, every answer is unquestioned.
This training camp opens with rickety optimism, there being so many unknowns, or to rely on mistrusted gibberish, there are known knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns, and three deep at some positions.
For all we know new linebacker Tremaine Edmunds could be all of them.
So unknown are the knowns that even the Bears don't know. Their first depth chart might as well be hanging on an optometrist's wall. Read that bottom line for me, the one without any vowels. s-z-m-y-t.
For the Bears it is, as usual, a mixture of wishing and wanting. Trying to put together a respectable NFL team this Bears training camp will be like trying to rearrange a junkyard full of used tires.
So, starting as these things inevitably do, at quarterback, the learning curve of Justin Fields gets a serious unknown. This could be the season that Fields takes command of the team and his own talent. Or not.
"I'm excited," Fields said after mini-camp. If not then, if not now, then when?
What is known is that Fields can run the ball like a kick returner and throw the ball like a … well, like a kick returner. Fields has promised that he will be the first Bears quarterback to throw for 4,000 yards, not including interception returns.
This is a bold projection, like Cool Hand Luke saying he could eat 50 eggs. Keep the bucket handy.
But never far from any result, good or bad, will be the lingering concern of what if, another unknown. What if, as so far indicated, Fields is a one trick pony, a very good trick, an all-time trick, but one tackle away from having no tricks at all.
Fields is no longer premature. This is the year he must validate foresight and confidence; otherwise, trades, stopgaps and wasted draft choices are next, the usual Bears quarterback solutions.
"No one has worked harder," said the coach, Matt Eberflus, meaning it as a compliment when it is a necessity.
Fields is one of those known unknowns, as is his foremost pass catcher, D.J. Moore, who was a known known elsewhere, somewhere in the Carolinas, the Bears of the South
Clearly the most unknown of the unknowns is the running game, which we all thought we knew. There was David Montgomery keeping tradition alive, now escaping to Detroit because the Bears had sucked the fun out of the game, his words but an echo of others.
Introducing D'Onta Foreman, another Carolina refugee and career practice squad fixture, known as a running back but that could just be a rumor.
The schedule is known because it is printed up and handed out. What is not known is how many wins are on it and how many losses. Know this. The only sure thing is Denver in Week 4, maybe Arizona in Week 16.
We do know something. The Bears were the most sacked team in the NFL (55) and the worst sacking team in the NFL (20). There should be a genuine concern over the pass rush, which consists mainly of dumb luck, and pass protection, consisting mainly of Fields running away from it.
Most unknown of all the unknowns is Eberflus, et. al., known as coaches because they wear the whistles, but otherwise without proof or portfolios. These are guys who are here to restore the glory Bears have been missing for nearly 40 years.
Do we know if this season is as disappointing as the recent ones whether it will be called rebuilding, restocking or retreating, all possible and all familiar?
These Bears are an uncertain, unfamiliar bunch, refitting the offensive line, introducing themselves at linebacker and shrugging their shoulders everywhere else.
The only thing we want to know is simple. Are the Bears better now than they were when they staggered out of last season?
Who knows?