Final cuts leave questions

For all the early excitement brought by the arrivals of rookies Mitch Trubisky and Tarik Cohen, it’s hard not to feel a bit let down after the Bears’ final cuts of the preseason this past weekend.

The quarterback position has been upgraded, if for no other reason than Trubisky is the man of the future the Bears have lacked for years, and Mike Glennon is an upgrade over Brian Hoyer and Matt Barkley.

Running back feels good with Jordan Howard ready to anchor the offense in his second season, and a change of pace option in Cohen provides the Bears an option they haven’t had in a while.

The tight end spot is better, too, with the arrival of free agent Dion Sims and return to health of Zach Miller, but it’s still not exciting – and second-round pick Adam Shaheen is a lot further away from contributing than we were led to believe.

After that...

Over the summer and early in Bourbonnais, veteran free agents Victor Cruz, Rueben Randle and Jaye Howard, undrafted rookie free agent Tanner Gentry, and a return to health from Lamarr Houston offered great promise.

Now all are gone.

Wide receiver is a big disappointment, with a lackluster performance from Kevin White, and season-ending injuries to Cameron Meredith and Randle. Markus Wheaton missed most of the action in training camp.

While the special teams contributions of Josh Bellamy and Deonte Thompson are easy to envision, keeping both of them over Gentry at receiver is disappointing.

Throughout the offseason, it looked like the offensive line would be one of the strengths of these Bears, but a much slower-than-hoped-for rehabilitation from offseason ankle surgery for Kyle Long and a season-ending injury to his backup Eric Kush has left the line in flux.

Journeyman tackle Tom Compton has been given time at Long’s left guard spot, as has Hroniss Grasu, and when neither impressed, Cody Whitehair slid over, with Grasu going in at center.

Unfortunately, Whitehair didn’t transition to guard nearly as well as he did to center last year, and Grasu didn’t impress over the ball either.

The most important question is when will we see Long, because when he is ready the O-line can still be a strength, albeit a dangerously thin one.

Until Long gets back, this group is only set at right guard and right tackle with Josh Sitton and Bobby Massie, and we hope at center with Whitehair.

The loss of long snapper Patrick Scales to an ACL injury is disappointing, and the peek at Roberto Aguayo was a waste of just under half a million bucks, leaving the uninspiring Connor Barth at placekicker.

The defensive front was looking much improved with the arrival of Jaye Howard, return to health of Eddie Goldman, and dramatic improvements from Johnathan Bullard and Roy Robertson-Harris.

But with Bullard and Mitch Unrein banged up the last couple of weeks, the release of Howard is a bit of a surprise, and Goldman has to show up a lot more than he has.

Linebacker is better because Leonard Floyd is much improved and Danny Trevathan will be back soon, but how much to expect from Pernell McPhee is a huge question. That makes the failure of Houston to make it all the way back that much more disappointing.

The talent in the secondary appears to be upgraded, and rookie safety Eddie Jackson shows promise, but Prince Amukamara and Marcus Cooper have both been wounded and limited at times, and Quintin Demps’ play has been uneven.

Kyle Fuller had the best training camp of any Bears defensive back, so how improved is this group?

With only five wide receivers – realistically only three you’d want on the field – and five tight ends plus a fullback currently, it’s clear there will be a few more changes to the team’s 53-man roster, most likely prior to the opener against Atlanta.

That’s a good thing. Because for the moment, this group leaves you feeling a little flat at best.