If any team needs rookies to contribute right away, it’s the Bears. Based on the initial, unofficial, pay-no-attention-to-it-but-please-pay-attention-to-it depth chart issued by the Bears, it looks like the coaching staff of a team that went 3-13 last year isn’t counting on them very much.
The initial depth chart shows no rookie in the starting lineup. Only one, fullback Freddie Stevenson, is a second-stringer. (Then again, the Bears list only two fullbacks.)
Rookie quarterback Mitchell Trubisky, the player for whom the Bears traded up from No. 3 to No. 2 to acquire, appears at No. 3 on the depth chart, behind the man who looks like Napoleon Dynamite and the guy who gave the word the term “Butt Fumble.”
It’s hard not to view this as an effort by the Bears to remind all rookies of their status, and to force them to earn their stripes. If it isn’t, then the Bears need to get used to winning three games per year.