Chicago Bears spring storylines: ‘The No Excuses Tour’ for Justin Fields, Roschon Johnson’s ‘it’ factor and a big bet on Tremaine Edmunds

The 2023 Chicago Bears schedule was revealed Thursday and will reconvene as a full team for practices at organized team activities May 23. This is an important and exciting phase for a team with an infusion of new talent. The Bears must use the next month as a runway toward training camp.

As the offseason program continues, here’s the inside slant on three notable storylines

1. Calendar chatter

Save the dates. The NFL schedule is on the table with the Bears set to jump onto the prime-time stage four times, including twice on Amazon Prime’s Thursday night package.

The Bears will open against the rival Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field. And they’ll close with the Packers, too, in the Week 18 finale at Lambeau Field.

At first glance, with only five games against teams that qualified for the playoffs last season, the Bears should see a window of opportunity to accelerate their return to relevance.

And for starting quarterback Justin Fields, this fall now becomes “The No Excuses Tour.” Seventeen dates in 10 cities over 119 days. From Los Angeles to Maryland.

Get the buses loaded and the T-shirts printed.

This is Fields’ big moment on a big stage to again electrify Bears fans and, more importantly, convince his coaches and front-office decision makers that he is the standout starter they want to build around.

The Bears hope that’s the case and are optimistic it can happen. That’s why general manager Ryan Poles went about his offseason business the way he did, first trading the No. 1 pick and passing on the chance to handpick a quarterback from the 2023 draft class. Poles then used free agency and the draft to get Fields additional help on offense.

What’s that, you said? The Bears need better offensive line play? Well, Poles signed guard Nate Davis to a three-year, $30 million contract in the first wave of free agency in March, then followed six weeks later by making Tennessee tackle Darnell Wright the headliner of his draft class.

Fields needs more weaponry around him? How about a proven, top-tier receiver in DJ Moore, who had more than 5,000 receiving yards in five seasons with the Carolina Panthers and arrived at Halas Hall as part of the deal the Bears made for that No. 1 pick.

Moore will join a receiving corps that includes Darnell Mooney, Chase Claypool, Velus Jones and fifth-round pick Tyler Scott.

The Bears also added three running backs — D’Onta Foreman, Roschon Johnson and Travis Homer — and a quarterback-friendly tight end in Robert Tonyan.

It will be up to Fields to make the most of what he has been given, to take his game to new levels while elevating the play of everyone around him. He has more than enough support to fairly take this next big test with so much at stake.

In less than a year, the Bears will have to make a decision about whether to exercise the fifth-year option on Fields’ rookie contract, which figures to be a fully guaranteed investment in the ballpark of $25 million for the 2025 season. In a nutshell, the Bears quarterback will have these next 17 games to prove just how much he’s worth believing in.

Which brings us back to that schedule for “The No Excuses Tour.”

For those who were eagerly anticipating that stop in Frankfurt, Germany, against the Chiefs, stand down. Instead a date at Arrowhead Stadium against the reigning Super Bowl champions is locked in for Week 3.

The Bears will also make trips to Tampa, Fla., (Sept. 17), Washington (Oct. 5), Los Angeles (Oct. 29), New Orleans (Nov. 5) and Cleveland (TBA in Week 15) in addition to their annual visits across the NFC North.

This season’s Soldier Field dates include a Week 10 visit from the Panthers and their shiny new toy, quarterback Bryce Young, whom they selected with the No. 1 pick two weeks ago.

Rookie running back Bijan Robinson will also stop through town with the Atlanta Falcons on New Year’s Eve.

The Denver Broncos (Week 4), Las Vegas Raiders (Week 7) and Arizona Cardinals (Week 16) will head this way too.

For a Bears defense that struggled to stop anyone during a 10-game skid to end last season, the menu of opposing quarterbacks is imposing in spots, starting with Patrick Mahomes and continuing on through Russell Wilson, Justin Herbert and Deshaun Watson. Don’t sleep on division foes Kirk Cousins or Jared Goff either.

The Bears will play 10 games against teams with a starting quarterback who has been to the Pro Bowl. But for the first time since 2008 when he became the Packers starter, supervillain Aaron Rodgers is not on the schedule.

We repeat, Bears fans, AARON RODGERS IS NOT ON THE SCHEDULE!

In all, the Bears will play only five games against teams who qualified for the playoffs last season and six against opponents who finished with a winning record.

They will play against three teams with new head coaches.

All 17 contests, of course, will be played against opponents who finished with more victories last season. Everyone finished with more victories than the Bears.

And don’t forget the preseason, which this year is expected to include a five-day business trip for crossover practices with the Indianapolis Colts.

With Fields expected to see very little action in preseason games, those three days of work in the middle of August will provide valuable competition and learning experiences, serving as a measuring stick for where the Bears offense and their promising quarterback are at.

“The No Excuses Tour” is gearing up. The full itinerary crystallized Thursday.

2. ‘A pillar of this organization’

The glossy brochure for Roschon Johnson has been put together at Halas Hall and is ready for distribution.

In the past three weeks, the running back has gone from a Day 3 sleeper prospect in the draft to a rookie whom the Chicago Bears believe can become “a pillar of this organization.” Those are the bold, capital letters on the front of the flyer, lifted from the report of the team’s southwest area scout John Syty, who kicked off the Johnson lovefest on the Saturday of draft weekend.

“There’s a level of ‘it’ factor to this kid the second he walks into the room,” Syty said just minutes after the Bears selected Johnson with the No. 115 pick in the fourth round. “I have a feeling this guy is going to be with us for a really long time.”

Through his scouting, Syty identified Johnson as an “arrow up” back with an intense work ethic and high-level intelligence. Syty watched the way Johnson practiced at Texas. He saw him play against Alabama and Oklahoma. He interacted with him at the Senior Bowl in February and at his pro day the following month.

Yes, Texas had a much bigger star at the same position in Bijan Robinson, who was drafted at No. 8 by the Atlanta Falcons. Robinson is considered by many NFL talent evaluators to be a generational talent, perhaps on his way to superstardom. Yet every time Syty got to campus in Austin, the praise for Johnson was always flowing.

“They’ve got Bijan. You know what I mean?” Syty said. “His name is plastered everywhere. You read it in the headlines all summer long. Then you walk into that building and they’re talking about this kid (Johnson). Before I even go out to practice and see the kid — from the liaison to the strength coach to the trainer, across the board — everyone is singing the same message. ‘This is the hardest working kid in the building.’ ”

With every observation and each conversation, Syty became more convinced that Johnson was exactly the kind of player general manager Ryan Poles and Matt Eberflus had ordered him to go find.

“He fits everything Ryan and Matt are trying to accomplish,” Syty said. He’s a HITS-principle guy. He just emulates everything we want a Chicago Bear to be.”

It’s easy for a young scout to get attached to a prospect he loves and become overzealous tooting the horn as the hype train leaves the station. But Syty was not alone in his praise of Johnson or with his vision for what the 22-year-old running back can become with the Bears.

Poles emphasized his good fortune that Johnson was still available when the team went on the clock for the first time on the third day of the draft. Poles is impressed with Johnson’s combination of talent, versatility, drive and leadership. “He’s an unbelievable human being as well,” Poles said, “who is going to enhance our culture.”

Added Matt Eberflus: “He’s a guy who perseveres. You’re not going to be able to shake him. He’s going to take competition and thrive in that competition rather than back away from it.”

And here was running backs coach David Walker: “He’s a smart, conscientious kid. He works hard and he’s going to try to be the best version of himself every day. You can’t ask for much more than that.”

Even Johnson’s running backs coach at Texas, Tashard Choice, has admired the way Johnson climbed the staircase from team-first guy to great teammate to team leader.

“He works harder than anybody on the football team, but he also is a voice in the locker room that people respect,” Choice said. “He’s never overbearing. He never speaks out of place. For him, with his accountability, his leadership, he does all the little things to make sure the football team wins.”

OK. So now what?

Johnson has his opportunity, his window opening in a crowded running backs room in Lake Forest. He will take the practice field next week at organized team activities with veteran backs Khalil Herbert, D’Onta Foreman, Travis Homer and Trestan Ebner. Johnson will begin his NFL climb, looking for whatever role(s) he is best suited for.

Johnson eventually could emerge as a significant contributor in a backfield rotation. Or he might have to retain his patience and first carve out a niche as a four-phase special teams ace for coordinator Richard Hightower, who has already been pumping his fist about the chess piece he now has.

In the minutes after the Bears drafted Johnson, Hightower said, his smartphone began blowing up with texts popping in from other special teams coaches around the league, all expressing a similar sentiment.

Dang!

“And you say, ‘You know what? We made a great selection,’ ” Hightower said.

Hightower had his first chance to work with Johnson last weekend at rookie minicamp and took note of so many little things the kid can do. On Saturday morning, when Hightower hit players with a pop quiz on all the details and responsibilities they were supposed to learn for special teams, Johnson didn’t miss a thing.

Hightower also had seen on Johnson’s special teams video from Texas that he is “as violent as they come” as a tackler in addition to being such a skilled ball carrier.

Then there was a small moment after a meeting last Friday that really resonated with Hightower. Several players had left the room without tidying up, leaving behind a collection of empty and half-drank water bottles. Johnson, after asking one last question, turned back to the desks, grabbed all the bottles and dropped them in the recycling bin.

“That just shows you he wants things the way he wants them,” Hightower said.

The Bears, of course, more desperately need playmakers than they do custodial help. But there is something about Johnson’s wiring that has so many folks inside the building eager to see his professional ascent. And to aid it.

For four seasons at Texas, Johnson handled himself with purpose and grace, working in the shadow of Robinson, who chewed up 2,707 yards on the ground while scoring 29 touchdowns in 2021 and 2022 combined. Johnson had a lesser role in Steve Sarkisian’s offense, rushing for 554 yards and five TDs during his final season.

Still, rarely was there a day when he wasn’t locked in, pushing himself and everyone around him.

“It just comes from my passion for the game, honestly,” Johnson said. “It’s being able to enjoy the game, knowing what to expect from it and knowing what it takes to win.”

Even Robinson, whom the Atlanta Falcons drafted with the No. 8 pick, lights up when he talks about Johnson, praising his toughness and heart.

“Roschon is the best teammate I’ve ever had,” Robinson said at the combine. “He brings out so much in a player and the team with how he goes about being a leader.”

At the next level, Johnson understands he will have to earn his opportunities to lead.

“I can’t just come in here and try to command things and be a leader already,” he said. “It’s something I am going to have to grow into. Ultimately my peers will let me lead.”

To be truthful, Johnson is only half-looking forward to the next couple of months of non-padded, limited-contact practices. The whole setup stifles what he’s all about as a runner.

“Can’t use my body as a weapon,” he said.

Walker, though, isn’t concerned that the Bears won’t get a true picture of who Johnson is as a runner until preseason games start in August. “I don’t need to see him in pads to know what it’s going to look like when the pads come on,” Walker said. “Because I saw it all over Texas’ film.”

That’s not all the Bears saw in Johnson, either, as has been detailed in that attention-grabbing brochure.

Syty called him a “special, special human being” who is “wired differently.”

“You guys are going to see it,” he said. “The more time you spend around him, the more you realize you are probably the one who has things you need to work on, not him. He’s that kind of guy.”

3. ‘The next great linebacker’

As the Bears continue piecing together their defensive line, working to establish their rotation on the interior while still, perhaps, seeking outside help at defensive end, the organization has made a big bet on its linebacking corps, making Tremaine Edmunds and T.J. Edwards priority targets in free agency in March, then drafting Oregon’s Noah Sewell in Round 5 two weeks ago.

Edmunds is the lead dog, a two-time Pro Bowl selection who will play middle linebacker in Eberflus’ defense and whose combination of size, speed and length has the Bears coaching staff excited.

Defensive coordinator Alan Williams looks at Edmunds’ 6-foot-5, 250-pound frame, his long arms and speed and can’t wait to start molding him into the Bears system.

“He looks like a million bucks,” Williams said.

To that end, the Bears guaranteed Edmunds $50 million bucks on a four-year, $72-million deal because they believe he can become an every-week impact playmaker in the middle of the defense, not only piling up tackles but working to create game-changing splash plays — as a blitzer, as a pass defender, as a hitter who can jar the football loose.

One of the knocks on Edmunds coming out of Buffalo is that those big moments didn’t come often enough. In five seasons with the Bills, he had only 6½ sacks, five interceptions, two forced fumbles and no fumble recoveries.

The Bears need to bring more out of Edmunds to get the return on investment they envision, particularly after trading away Roquan Smith last fall, in part, because Eberflus was not fully satisfied with Smith’s production at weak-side linebacker.

“We always base things on numbers and production,” Eberflus said two days after the Smith trade, “and to us, we covet ball production.”

So why does Eberflus believe Edmunds can have a major breakthrough in that department? It starts with Bears coaches’ belief that their emphasis on taking the ball away will create a nastier and more opportunistic mindset.

“When you put it on a player’s mind and really start to train a player to take the ball away and then he has that physical attributes that (Edmunds) has — the length and the size and the range — that’s going to come for him,” Eberflus said. “That’s what makes those guys special. The ability to take the ball away is what takes you from a B player to an A-plus player.”

The challenge has been issued with the Bears making a bold bet on Edmunds’ continued climb and the 25-year-old linebacker vowing to reciprocate by being receptive to coaching and ready to become a devoted disciple of Eberflus’ effort-based culture.

“I’m trying to be great,” Edmunds said. “And I want to be coached by people who coach great players. And I obviously want to be in a system and a program that has had legends. The Chicago Bears are known for their linebackers, and I want to be able to write my story and be that next great linebacker here.”