After finally moving on from an overstayed Matt Nagy, the Chicago Bears turned over a new leaf this offseason, refreshing their coaching staff. By bringing in former Chiefs front-office member Ryan Poles as GM and former Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus and his chosen coaching staff, all signs are pointing up to this team finally being competitive again, which is music to the ears of Justin Fields.

The Ohio State rookie QB experienced quite the up and down season in 2021, having fought for playing time over both Andy Dalton and Nick Foles – as Fields enters the ‘22 season already pronounced as the starter, personnel moves are being treated with more respect, something that will carry over into free agency.

*Watch NFL games LIVE with fuboTV (click for free trial)*

3 Major Fixes for the Bears this offseason

3. Improve the offensive line

If first-time offensive coordinator Luke Getsy wants to create the best situation imaginable for Fields and the Bears, that success has to start at the ground up with the offensive line.

Of this unit’s starters from this past season (Jason Peters, Cody Whitehair, Sam Mustipher, James Daniels, Germain Ifedi), only Whitehair is currently under contract for next season, signifying a perfect opportunity for this OL to revamp. Teven Jenkins and Larry Borom are two young options waiting in the wings to likely take over this offseason, but both still have a lot of growth they need to accomplish to help make this unit better.

This unit finished near the bottom of PFF’s OL final rankings for last year, so a lot of improvements need to be made to help make this offense more successful.

2. Address key defensive elements for scheme shift

With Eberflus now in the fold for the Bears, the defense will be shifting to a 4-3 scheme, putting some players in a bind positionally.

With guys like Khalil Mack and Robert Quinn likely moving back to rush-first roles and franchise mainstay Akiem Hicks potentially squeezed out due to scheme fit, this defense will have some holes that need plugging this offseason.

As Alan Williams assumes the role of leading this defense, it will be key that Poles and the front office tackles any gaps early on in free agency or the draft – they have been burned in the past by not having the right guys in the right roles on the defense, and if things are to change for this team, then that needs to start with the defense.

1. Give Fields the keys to the offense – with a caveat

Fields was held back in his rookie year by Nagy’s play-calling and schemes that were not tailored enough to their young QB, a fault that hopefully can be corrected in Year 2. With Getsy getting his first chance at calling plays on offense, it will be imperative that they let Fields loose right out of the gate to see what he can/cannot do.

But giving Fields full reign of things needs to come with a caveat – reliance on proven players must remain a focal aspect of this offense if it is to succeed. Pretty easy to understand on the surface, but there’s more to it than that for Chicago.

David Montgomery has been and will continue to be the bell cow for this team’s backfield, and his growth in the passing game only cemented that last year. His familiarity with Fields and his style of play seemed to mesh well at times, and relying on that will be important to help not only support a two-pronged offensive attack but give Fields reasons to not have to do everything himself.

A surprising pillar of this offense last season was Darnell Mooney, who ascended into a faux-#1 role with Allen Robinson’s disappearing act in the passing game. As Mooney and Fields developed their relationship over the season, it was important to see that things came easy to each of them in certain situations, even if there were the missed opportunities sprinkled in as well.

This Bears offense is not looked at as one of the league’s best (and it shouldn’t be), but things can quickly turn around if Getsy puts heavy reliance on the strongest elements already in place. Things won’t change overnight, but starting down the right path on day one is key for this Bears team that is hungry for sustained success.