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The Bernstein Brief: Bears Lose Benefit Of Injury Doubts

By Dan Bernstein--
CBSChicago.com senior columnist

(CBS) There's a fine line between precaution and panic, and as it so often is with the Bears, we have no clear way of knowing just where it is. They are allergic to providing information on their constantly evolving spate of injuries and have at times been proved liars when they do.

We have learned to scour the social media feeds of affected players, looking for clues and pictures that give clearer indication of their respective readiness or state of recovery than is provided by the team. The current news from OTA practices this week is that they're as hurt as ever, with most of the starters cut down last season still being held out of the light action at Halas Hall.

Coach John Fox still grumbles that it's all fine, and he's right to the extent that not much of this activity matters right now.

The Bears admitted that their health struggles prompted them to take a top-down look at how they handle their medical, training and conditioning systems, but we have yet to know any conclusions reached or significant changes made that would suggest that they made any substantive determinations of what's causing their problems.

So it makes us wonder what's worse -- a team that's merely engaged in public obfuscation because it thinks it provides some competitive advantage in May or one that still isn't sure why key players keep getting hurt or how to help them get better?

We also have to consider that it might be both.

Dan Bernstein is a co-host of 670 The Score's "Bernstein and Goff Show" in afternoon drive. You can follow him on Twitter  @dan_bernstein and read more of his columns here.

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