Chicago Bears forced to cancel Tuesday’s OTA practice as punishment for violating the NFL’s offseason practice rules

The Chicago Bears were forced to cancel their organized team activities practice for Tuesday at Halas Hall after violating the offseason rules of the collective bargaining agreement, according to a league source.

The Bears, according to the source, had live contact during practices in May, which is prohibited during this phase of the offseason program.

That qualifies as a misstep by new coach Matt Eberflus, who was hired to replace Matt Nagy in January. The Bears will suffer a minor punishment as a result.

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According to the league source, the Bears were warned for having practices featuring too much contact last month with requests made that they alter their practice activity to adjust. Eventually, when proper adjustments weren’t made, the NFL Players Association was asked to get involved and the NFL stepped in, deciding that the team was in violation of league rules. As a result, the Bears were required to forfeit one of their OTA practices.

The Bears sent an email to reporters Monday night saying the team had made an OTA schedule change and that Tuesday’s open OTA practice and media availability was being moved to Wednesday. There was no indication in that update of why the change became necessary.

The Bears are scheduled to return to practice Wednesday at 11:45 a.m. in Lake Forest during their final week of OTAs. Eberflus is slated to meet with reporters after that practice on Wednesday afternoon.