Why slow starts by Chicago Bears rookies could have been expected

Blame game

It's easy to take shots at Poles after a few weeks of the season. That, too, is a small sample size.

The problem for Poles is fans can accept such starts if they see light at the end of the tunnel in the form of new players producing, especially rookies. Those are players fresh in everyone's mind from draft day and everyone sees their production as signs of things to come.

It’s the second- and third-year players who should be making impacts and they are. Witness Rome Odunze.

Daniels, Brock Bowers, Brian Thomas and Ladd McConkey all put up big NFL numbers as rookies and everyone expects or even demands this from Luther Burden and Colston Loveland. They expect sacks from Shemar Turner and for Ozzy Trapilo to be starting at tackle as a rookie at the very least, although only half of the offensive linemen drafted in the first two rounds of the last two drafts started as many as half the games as rookies.

The point is, it takes time for rookies to get traction. The NFL game is different.

Injuries impacted Bears rookies

"With Ozzy–it's with all these rookies–we're developing trust and so what do we do with Ozzy? We start him on the left side," Johnson said. "We made the decision that that wasn't the best spot for him and so we moved him back over on the right side.

"He's getting better every day. Just made a comment to the O-line coaches this morning about how much improved he looks in individual and some of the run stuff that we're doing on Wednesdays with pads."

As for Turner, there's a very good reason he hasn't had an impact.

"He was dinged up there during camp so we didn't get to get good eyes on him in terms of what he could do or compete for a role," Johnson said. "Now he's been healthy. He's had a few weeks to get his feet wet and we're developing more confidence in what he can do for us on the defensive side of the ball."

Turner missed almost all of training camp due to injury. It's a common theme for this Bears rookie class.

Offseason mattered

Johnson had already addressed what Loveland's issue was. He didn't expect to use the tight ends much as receivers in the first game plan against the Vikings. Last week they got behind so much very early that it became a game for wide receivers and Williams, although you'd think they could have targeted Loveland more than once.

Also here, people tend to forget Loveland wasn't even allowed to take part in any offseason work and got started a bit late in training camp or he might be a bit further along than he has been.

As for Burden, it's apparent he needs to catch himself up on the Bears offense but will get more of a chance, it seems. He also was out due to injuries, missing all offseason work after rookie camp and then getting involved more at camp in the second week.

"I think Luther's slowly gaining the trust as we go here," Johnson said. "We're trying to get him more packages as we're going. The way that we've talked about it as a coaching staff going into this week is we're going to have a lot more competition.

“I've alluded to it before, what these guys look like when the ball's not in their hands. That's a big deal for us. There were some plays there (Sunday) that we weren't quite as pleased with what that looked like on tape."

Seventh-round back Kyle Monangai was injured at the outset of the regular season and got carries last week. He now could play a bigger role this week with D'Andre Swift bothered by a quad injury.

“He's another guy that the more reps he gets, the more trust we gain in him, and he just has the tendency to do the right thing," Johnson said. "I think he's got a good understanding of what we're trying to accomplish. We always talk about the intent of the play, whether that's run game or pass game. He seems to be ahead of the curve in terms of young guys grasping that.”

Injuries affected all of these rookies early except Trapilo, and they're starting to get their feet wet and make impacts. Trapilo, Johnson promised, will be playing at some point this season. It almost sounded like he expects the Bears to trade Braxton Jones and move Darnell Wright to left tackle, but saying this is going to happen would be like trying to read minds.

Rookie commonality

Rookies need the time. They don't all immediately find circumstances conducive to contributing immediately. They all learn at different rates. Health is always a factor.

As good as McConkey was last year, he had only 10 catches in the first three games, Bowers just 11 in the first three games and Daniels had no touchdown passes after his first two games.

Right now, only seven players drafted in 2025 have scored touchdowns and only one has scored more than one.

Even if the Bears lose a third straight to start this season and the rookies still continue to do more learning than producing, it means little.  Things move quickly once the regular season starts. That’s why offseasons and training camps are so big for rookies. They can get left behind unless brought along properly.

Public angst really can be blamed, in part, on Johnson and Poles themselves for talking like they were going to compete in the NFC North in this first year. Poles is a GM who was looking for an extension and got it. He wasn't going to say they were rebuilding, which they essentially have through six new starters, three on the offensive line where continuity is king.

Retooling and competing in a division where everyone else has back most of their team doesn't happen overnight.

"There are a number of teams that have started the season not the way that they would like to, and yet they bounce back and they find a way to win. We’re going to be playing our best football in in December," Johnson said. "I know that to be certain."

When Johnson became the Lions offensive coordinator, they needed half a season to get to winning. The guess here is it will be the same thing, maybe longer if they're going to keep losing defensive players to injuries.

 Sadly, teams can't wait until midseason to start winning and expect to make the playoffs.

So, everything needs to be about the younger players developing and it's still possible they will because there is a lot of time for it to happen.

Until more of this season goes by without signs of rookie participation or talent, all impatience on the part of fans and/or media is entirely misguided.

In the future, Johnson and Poles might want to label things more accurately for the sake of fans who don't understand the developmental process, whether they want to hear this or not. After all, they can afford such talk now as both are in complete alignment in terms of contracts.