Wondering about a player, a past game or another issue involving the Bears? Senior writer Larry Mayer answers a variety of email questions from fans on ChicagoBears.com.
What does the offense look like under new head coach Marc Trestman?
From Tony on Twitter
The Bears defense outplayed the offense the first few days of training camp, which certainly was no surprise given that the defensive scheme and key players are generally the same as last season. But I've seen the offense steadily improve over the last couple of days. I was impressed with some of the big plays the unit produced in Wednesday's practice, including Jay Cutler's long touchdown pass to Earl Bennett and Cutler's three TD throws in a red-zone drill. It's really interesting watching first-year head coach Marc Trestman in practice. He's constantly coaching players up—even during plays—and is always urging the quarterbacks to get to the line of scrimmage and snap the ball quickly. He's always preaching about ball security, and if there's one thing that drives him crazy it's pre-snap penalties. Asked about the biggest challenge players face in learning the new offense, Trestman said: "Just to stay up with it every day, and they've done a fantastic job of doing that because each and every day we give them a lot of things to think about and we evaluate players. We've got guys with tremendous football intelligence. They're really smart guys, but they're also smart at football, and they're able to take on all the information and they like it."
Are injuries in Bears camp worse this year? How do the Bears compare to other teams health-wise?
From Darth H. on Twitter
Compared to what's been going on around the league, the Bears have been fortunate. They lost defensive end Turk McBride for the season with a ruptured Achilles' tendon, but injuries to left tackles Jermon Bushrod (calf) and Jonathan Scott (knee) are not believed to be serious. It seems that middle linebacker D.J. Williams (calf) could miss some time because the Bears described his status as week-to-week instead of day-to-day, but they've suffered very few injuries to this point. The injury news has been much worse around the league with Ravens tight end Dennis Pitta, Eagles receiver Jeremy Maclin, and Broncos center Dan Koppen all out for the season.
What are the chances that Fendi Onobun makes the Bears roster as the second tight end?
From Richie on Twitter
A college basketball player for four seasons at Arizona who only played one year of college football at Houston, Fendi Onobun is a very intriguing prospect who possesses excellent size and athleticism. To make the Bears roster, the 6-6, 260-pounder will probably have to beat out Kyle Adams as the third tight end behind Martellus Bennett and Steve Maneri, who is a Matt Spaeth-type in terms of being much more of a blocker than a receiving threat. Onobun, who went to high school with Bennett and defensive end Cheta Ozougwu in Houston, no doubt will have to contribute on special teams and show that he can produce on offense during the preseason.
