Gabriel: What A Difference A Year Makes For The Bears

By Greg Gabriel--

(CBS) What a difference a year makes.

The 2014 Chicago Bears were a disorganized group of players with no leadership. This year's team, while obviously not the most talented group in the NFL, always comes to play, and if the breaks go right, they have a chance in nearly every game.

I have always felt that the NFL is a coach's league. Except for the quarterback position, there isn't that much of a gap between the best and worst teams. It's coaching and injuries that separate the best from the worst.

The Bears (2-3) have not only one of the more experienced coaching staffs in the league, they also have one of the best. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio is recognized as one of the best in the business. This is an important year for offensive guru Adam Gase as well, because this is his first year as a coordinator without Peyton Manning as his quarterback. In Denver, the offense Gase ran was similar to the offense Manning ran in Indianapolis. The thinking was "don't change a good thing."

Now with Jay Cutler as his quarterback, Gase can run the offense exactly the way he wants. What has been impressive so far is that he has done an outstanding job designing this offense around the players' strengths. He's not asking them to do something they can't, and the results have been exceptional.

Gase has an outstanding group of coaches under him on the offensive side. Dave Magazu is recognized as one of the better offensive line coaches in football. While in Denver, he had to deal with numerous injuries to key players, yet the line always performed. We have seen similar results here in Chicago. After struggling in the preseason, Bears tackle Charles Leno has played winning football the last two weeks. His play has been so solid recently that he may legitimately be the left tackle of the future for this franchise.

While this is running back coach Stan Drayton's first NFL job, he came here with an outstanding reputation as a college coach. Wide receiver coach Mike Groh will likely be a coordinator in the future and is also well thought of.

On the defensive side, coaches like Jay Rodgers, Ed Donatell and Glenn Pires all have reputations as being quality teachers who know and understand the game as well as any.

In the NFL, the key to success for any coaching staff is to get the players to buy into the plan. When the players are on board as to what the plan is, they will always give top effort. Players want to be coached and want to be held accountable. Football isn't socialism; it's a dictatorship, and the coaches are the dictators. When players know and understand what the coaches want, they will follow and do what's expected of them. That's exactly what we have seen this season here in Chicago.

Coming into OTAs and training camp, many of the defensive players hadn't played in a 3-4 scheme. Not only were they asked to learn a new scheme, they were asked to play football a different way. The techniques and reads in a 3-4 were often far different than the 4-3 scheme the Bears had been playing.

This wasn't something that was going to come together overnight. It was going to be a work in progress. In the past two games, we have the results of that work -- but in all honesty, the defense still isn't where the coaches eventually want it to be. They still need good players at all positions that fit the scheme and will compete.

The same can be said for the Bears offense. While we have seen production from the unit, it still isn't anywhere near how good it can be. The best part of what we have seen to date is the transformation of Cutler, who's playing his best football since he has been a Bear. He has cut down in his mistakes and is playing smart football.

When players like Alshon Jeffery and Kevin White are back from injury and as the young offensive linemen like Leno and center Hroniss Grasu mature, this offense can be special.

The word for Bears fans is "patience." While this team may not be quite ready to contend just yet, it will be in the near future.

You can thank a strong coaching staff for that.

Greg Gabriel is a former NFL talent evaluator who is an on-air contributor for 670 The Score. Follow him on Twitter @greggabe.