Bears, Justin Fields set to start first minicamp under new regime

Like the other new bosses, Bears head coach Matt Eberflus needs extra field work to install the basics of his system. For quarterback Justin Fields, that means beginning to work on offensive coordinator Luke Getsy’s playbook.

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While championships aren’t won in April, Justin Fields’ first minicamp in the Bears’ new system will be important nonetheless.

While championships aren’t won in April, Justin Fields’ first minicamp in the Bears’ new system will be important nonetheless.

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Shortly after he was hired as the Bears’ play-caller, offensive coordinator Luke Getsy tried to explain how he would craft their playbook during the offseason. He wasn’t going to think about a call sheet at first.

‘‘I just have probably a different mindset of what that means . . . what you guys are trying to portray as the playbook,’’ he said in February. ‘‘We’re gonna establish a culture. We’re gonna have an offensive philosophy that we’re gonna have an approach that we’re gonna attack these guys and teach them conceptually to start.’’

That teaching takes its next major step Tuesday, when the Bears hold the first practice of a three-day voluntary minicamp at Halas Hall. By NFL rules, the camp is granted only to teams with new head coaches.

Like the other new bosses, Bears coach Matt Eberflus needs extra field work to install the basics of his system. For quarterback Justin Fields, that means beginning to work on Getsy’s playbook — or philosophy or attack plan or whatever you want to call it — in a practice setting for the first time. For the last two weeks, only strength-and-conditioning coaches were allowed on the field with players.

‘‘When you say the word ‘playbook,’ yes, there’s gonna be conceptual learning that’s gonna happen, that we’re gonna put together,’’ Getsy said after he was hired. ‘‘And then as we get into the players and get to know them and they get to know us and we figure out what we do well, then we’ll start diving into more specifically, as you would say, ‘playbook’ type of plays.’’

Getsy, whose scheme figures to be a combination of Mike Shanahan-inspired outside zone runs and Joe Moorhead-style vertical passing, has promised a ‘‘quarterback-driven offense.’’ While championships aren’t won in April, Fields’ first minicamp in the new system will be important nonetheless. At this time last year, he was awaiting the NFL Draft. Once the Bears chose him, it took months — until the week leading into the Bears’ third regular-season game — for Fields to be the centerpiece of a single offensive practice.

Now everything is about Fields, starting with how the offense is structured — and even installed — this offseason.

The Bears think Fields can make a major leap in his second season. He’ll have to for them to show any sort of offensive progress because new general manager Ryan Poles hasn’t surrounded Fields with any significant upgrades in skill-position players.

Out are receivers Allen Robinson, Damiere Byrd, Marquise Goodwin and Jakeem Grant, running backs Damien Williams and Tarik Cohen and tight ends Jimmy Graham and Jesse James.

To replace them, Poles signed receivers Byron Pringle and Equanimeous St. Brown to one-year deals. He’ll add more receivers in the draft this month, in ongoing free agency or both. The Bears have six under contract and will need almost twice as many to operate a functional training camp in the summer.

On Monday, Poles signed former Jaguars tight end James O’Shaughnessy — an Illinois State and Naperville North alum — to a one-year deal. Poles was part of the Chiefs’ front office that drafted O’Shaughnessy in the fifth round seven years ago.

O’Shaughnessy, 30, appeared in seven games last season after being slowed by hip and ankle problems. He has caught 112 passes for 1,108 yards in his career and figures to compete with Ryan Griffin — another tight end signed to a one-year deal this month — for the backup job behind Cole Kmet.

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