Green light for Bears to start camp

Team set to officially report to Halas Hall on July 28

Full steam ahead. Football’s return could be drawing near.

The Chicago Bears are set to report to training camp as scheduled on July 28 with coaches and rookies potentially having the green light to convene at Halas Hall this Tuesday. Quarterbacks and injured players could be allowed at the facility beginning Thursday and the team’s first practice may come as early as July 29.

On Saturday morning, NFL head of football operations Troy Vincent sent a memo to all 32 teams advising them to proceed as planned with the opening of camps this month. The memo came after virtual league meetings on Friday and in a week during which the league emphasized the approval of doctors from the NFL and the NFLPA to start camp safely and on time, even in cities considered COVID-19 hot spots.

“The doctors (on Thursday) said, with a couple of reservations, that it was safe to open training camp,” NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said Friday. “They provided their medical reasons. The league has made the decision that they want to start training camp on time. The role of the union is to hold them accountable on how to make sure it’s safe.”

The green light for training camps to open still carries a long list of questions and logistical uncertainties as the league and the players union work to negotiate through COVID-19 testing procedures as well as guidelines and restrictions for practices, meetings and other activities at team facilities.

The union also has requested that all preseason games be canceled this summer and is seeking additional financial protections for players who come down with coronavirus and opt-out protections for those who feel unsafe playing under the current conditions.

The league has proposed a two-game preseason schedule.

In a call with media on Friday, the NFLPA openly expressed some of the concerns it still has in setting camps up in a safe manner.

NFLPA president J.C. Tretter, a center for the Cleveland Browns, stressed the players’ anxieties and questions about remaining safe in a full contact sport that, with full 90-man rosters, would have more than 2,800 players reporting to camp soon.

As an offensive lineman, Tretter knows the dynamics of his job will be riskier this year.

“At this time more than any, I have a very dangerous job,” he said. “This is going to be a battle of risk mitigation and providing opportunities for guys to make safe decisions.”

To reduce injury risks, players have asked for aid in creating a proper ramp-up period to get in optimal football shape after an offseason in which no one was able to train in a traditional fashion.

All 32 NFL teams are required to develop Infectious Disease Emergency Response (IDER) plans to act as a blueprint for handling their COVID-19 issues and solutions.