When healthy, Jeffery is Cutler's most-trusted target and is one of the top playmakers in the league. But if the injuries resurface, Jeffery will earn the dreaded injury-prone label. It also might affect his contract talks with the Bears.

So, consider it moderately alarming that Jeffery hasn't been training with the team during voluntary offseason workouts. And John Fox doesn't seem especially pleased with his absence.

"A lot of those soft tissue [injuries] I put on the players," said Jay Cutler. "You've got to take care of yourself when you leave [Halas]."

As Jeffery's own quarterback said last season, those injuries are typically the player's fault.

Remember: This is a team that faces Aaron Rodgers twice a year. And the secondary is their worst position group. The Bears recorded eight interceptions last year -- tied for the second-lowest total in the league.

The Bears had a great draft, using it to upgrade their lines on both sides of the ball, but they failed to solve their secondary problem. The Bears will be relying on third-year cornerback Kyle Fuller , who has been remarkably inconsistent in his career, and Tracy Porter , who experienced a bit of a bounce-back season in 2015, but will turn 30 this summer.

As for their tight end problem, the Bears are banking on Zach Miller to remain healthy. Miller caught five touchdowns last year, including this one-handed game winner, but he has a history of missing entire seasons with injuries. To replace Forte, the Bears tried to steal C.J. Anderson from the Broncos, but failed in that endeavor. So, they'll use a committee that likely includes Jeremy Langford and rookie Jordan Howard . Langford struggled with productivity last season, averaging a league-worst 2.7 yards per carry against base defenses, according to Pro Football Focus .

None of those losses were unexpected, but how the Bears will replace those three individuals is a bit of an unknown. Chicago promoted quarterbacks coach Dowell Loggains to offensive coordinator, which should help with continuity, but that doesn't guarantee success for Cutler sans Gase. Loggains' previous stint as an offensive coordinator with the Titans in 2013 didn't go particularly well, as the team finished 22nd in yards and 19th in points.

The Bears are on the rise, but they lost three key contributors on offense this offseason. Adam Gase, the coordinator who managed to bring out the best in Cutler, landed in Miami as a head coach. Martellus Bennett, one of the league's most complete tight ends, is now paired alongside Rob Gronkowski (which gives New England the scariest tight end combination in the league). Matt Forte rejoined Brandon Marshall with the Jets .

Cutler hasn't played in all 16 games since 2009 . So this was a real area of need for the Bears. Hoyer and his 82.2 passer rating is a solution to that problem.

The Bears have a funny history with backup quarterbacks -- Todd Collins was an actual thing, Caleb Hanie single-handedly ruined a playoff-bound season, and Josh McCown experienced so much success some fans wanted him to permanently replace Cutler. Brian Hoyer, who the Bears signed this offseason, should provide the team with some much needed stability in the event Cutler hits a snag.

This year, he'll insert Danny Trevathan and Jerrell Freeman into those spots. Trevathan led the Broncos in combined tackles last year and Freeman finished as Pro Football Focus' highest-graded linebacker against the run.

It took Pace one offseason to turn perhaps the worst inside linebacker group into arguably the best unit in the league. Last season, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio -- who brought over his 3-4 defense to replace the Bears' traditional 4-3 approach -- worked with converted linebacker Shea McClellin and Christian Jones .

And that means the Bears offensive line just got that much better. Last year, right guard was a position of weakness for the Bears (Vladimir Ducasse started 11 games). With Long back, right guard should become a position of strength again.

Because the Bears signed right tackle Bobby Massie , Long will be moving back to guard, which he announced on Twitter in a unique way.

For all the mistakes ex-GM Phil Emery made (see: Shea McClellin ), his decision to draft Kyle Long in the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft is sure helping his successor. Long immediately stepped in at guard as a rookie and flourished, using his athleticism and toughness to dominate in the running game. He was so good and flashed so much potential during his first two seasons that the new regime in town, led by GM Ryan Pace, moved him to right tackle. Long didn't flop as a tackle -- he experienced his ups and his downs -- but he wasn't dominant.

This isn't an issue that will expire at the end of the offseason. It'll last at least for another offseason.

So, that means the Lions are still stuck in quarterback purgatory, in the sense that Stafford is good enough to tempt them into re-signing him when his contract expires at the end of the 2017 season -- because no other viable options will exist on the open market -- but he's not good enough to carry his team.

With the NFC North getting significantly better this offseason and with the Lions losing the best playmaker in the division, I'd expect Stafford to take a step back.

This isn't intended to be a huge knock on Stafford -- he can thrive on a complete team that doesn't depend on him to carry the offense. But I'm concerned about the loss of Johnson, who served as Stafford's ideal target. Because Stafford is not a very accurate quarterback, in the sense that he's not precise with his ball placement, a big-bodied receiver like Johnson masked that flaw.

Stafford is the definition of mediocre. His career passer-rating sits a hair below 86.

And that brings us to Stafford, who I'm a bit worried about this year. Stafford is a high-volume passer whose stats often appear better than they are due to the fact that he has averaged close to 40 passes per game in his career. That's nuts -- for context, consider Aaron Rodgers averages 32 and Tom Brady averages roughly 35.

Jim Caldwell's career record as a head coach is 44-36. Without Peyton Manning as his starter, he's 20-28.

The team does, at least, still have Golden Tate to pair alongside Jones. But Tate isn't a true No. 1 option and, as much as I like Jones, he isn't either.

In Johnson's career, he racked up 731 receptions, 11,619 yards, and 83 touchdowns. I approved of the Marvin Jones signing, but he won't come anywhere close to actually replacing Johnson. Nobody can.

Yeah, so there's no way around this one. The Lions lost their best player and one of the greatest receivers in the game. Even worse, they lost him to an early and unexpected retirement.

Decker is durable (he started 42 straight games at Ohio State ) and features the size (6-foot-7, 310 pounds) to play at the next level. He should immediately fit in at right tackle.

So, it makes sense then that the Lions drafted Taylor Decker with the 16th overall pick.

Stafford hit the deck 44 times last year. The Lions offensive line also surrendered 103 quarterback hits -- the ninth-highest total in the league.

The Lions retained Cooter this offseason, giving them hope that their second-half run will continue in 2016.

One big reason for the turnaround was Jim Bob Cooter, who commandeered the offense when the team fired Joe Lombardi after the seventh game of the year. With Cooter at the helm, the Lions averaged just north of 24 points per game. With Lombardi, they averaged just under 20. The biggest impact Cooter had was limiting turnovers. In seven games with Lombardi, the Lions turned it over 18 times. In nine games with Cooter, they turned the ball over six times. As for his effect on Stafford, the Cooter offense resulted in a 20-4 touchdown-interception ratio and a 105.1 passer rating. Stafford posted a 12-9 ratio and an 86.8 rating under Lombardi.

The Lions started off the season with a 1-7 record. After their bye week, they went 6-2.

The team lost Calvin Johnson this offseason (more on this later), so wide receiver clearly was a position of need. The Lions signed arguably the best available wideout.

Marvin Jones should have got more money than he did this year. pic.twitter.com/cc6gD4SV18

This doesn't result in a completion, but it's an example of his skill set that should be used more frequently in Detroit:

The Lions signed him by throwing $20 million guaranteed at him. Some might say the Lions overpaid for him, but Jones is a really darn good player, even if he's not a No. 1 wideout.

Marvin Jones is a really good player, who's steadily improved every season. And the Lions signed him this offseason.