A full training camp — with fans? And a packed Soldier Field for games? The Chicago Bears have the green light for a return toward normal in 2021.

Let’s face it. The “Bear Raid” siren was never going to be quite enough on its own. Staley Da Bear hamming it up for a sea of empty blue seats? It just wasn’t the same.

Football at Soldier Field during the pandemic-disrupted 2020 season was sorely lacking. The buzz for Chicago Bears home games was minimal at best. As one of 13 NFL teams that didn’t allow fans into the stands at any point last season, the Bears pushed to make the best of things. But from the start, it was clear the atmosphere would be far too still and lifeless.

That surreal stagnancy remained from September through December.

Now, though, with optimism growing that teams across the NFL will again be able to fill their stadiums in 2021, game days by Lake Michigan should soon feel familiar.

On Wednesday afternoon, at the conclusion of two days of virtual spring meetings, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell reported that 30 of 32 teams had gained clearance from the league to have their stadiums filled to capacity, starting with preseason games in August. The two teams which haven’t yet gotten that green light — the Denver Broncos and Indianapolis Colts — figure to gain permission over the next few months.

That’s encouraging news for football fans and certainly for the Bears, who went 3-5 at Soldier Field last season with no home-field advantage.

There are still wrinkles to iron out and details to smooth over as the league and the NFL Players Association work toward amended protocols for the 2021 season. In addition, guidelines from state and local authorities will factor into the equation for the Bears and the other 31 teams in the league. Still, the arrow seems to be pointing in the right direction.

“We do expect full stadiums,” Goodell said. “It’s very possible that some, particularly non-vaccinated personnel, may need to have a mask on. But those are the things we will continue to follow closely to make sure that we’re doing in accordance with all laws and regulations. (We want) to make sure we provide our fans the best possible experience as we come into the season.”

The NFL also expects training camps for most teams to open on time in the final week of July with a hope that fans will be permitted to attend camps in most — if not all — cities. The Bears, who moved their training camp back to Halas Hall after an 18-year stretch of holding camp in Bourbonnais, have yet to announce what their plans are for allowing spectators on their grounds in Lake Forest for camp practices. It also remains to be seen what new guidelines and restrictions will be put into place by either government authorities or agreements between the league and the NFLPA to establish capacity limits as well as potential masking guidelines and vaccination requirements for fans.

The NFL continues to encourage players to get vaccinated and has worked with the NFLPA to begin establishing a framework for lifting restrictions for those who are. (Specifics of those proposed changes have not yet been made public.)

Goodell also acknowledged Wednesday that the league is continuing its push to educate players and other personnel who might be hesitant to get vaccinated.

“We’ll continue to stay on top of that with a priority to keep our players safe,” Goodell said. “The union joins us in encouraging all players to get vaccinated. We know for a fact that this is the one step that everyone can take that makes them safer and not just themselves but also their families and others they may be in contact with.”

He emphasized the league’s pro-vaccine stance as a catalyst to pushing things back toward normal.

“We do think that players and all personnel are safer if they’re vaccinated,” he said. “I think that is true throughout our country and throughout our world. I don’t know of a single medical source that is respected that doesn’t believe that and doesn’t believe that vaccines not only work and are effective but are also safe.”

With preseason games returning to the docket in 2021, the Bears will host the Miami Dolphins at Soldier Field on Aug. 14 and the Buffalo Bills a week later. Both games will kickoff at noon on Saturday afternoons. The team will close the preseason with an Aug. 28 night game against the Tennessee Titans in Nashville.

The expectation is stadiums will again have large crowds for those games in the lead up to the regular season. The Bears head to Los Angeles to play the Rams on “Sunday Night Football” in Week 1 on Sept. 12 and will host their home opener on Sept. 19 against the Cincinnati Bengals.

NFL executive vice president Peter O’Reilly said Wednesday that he expected mobile ticketing to be utilized near 100% across the league in 2021 and beyond. O’Reilly also couldn’t say for certain whether some teams and cities might require vaccination for fans to gain entry into games, something the Buffalo Bills have reportedly considered.

“We will work, in that case, with state officials and follow their lead,” O’Reilly said. “We sit here in May. So there’s a lot of time between now and the preseason for things to evolve. But we, in this case, will really depend on and defer to local and state authorities when it comes to things like that.”

The Chicago Bears’ 2021 schedule is out. Here are our game-by-game predictions.

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