PALM BEACH, Fla. — The NFL owners meetings, or the annual meeting as it’s formally called, doesn’t rank high among the league’s tentpole events.

There are no championships decided. Veterans aren’t getting offered eight-figure checks. Draft prospects aren’t being tested or selected.

If we’re being technical, NFL owners get together a few times per year, but the spring is where the relative action resides. Most every owner, president, general manager and head coach shows up for this event, where they mix and mingle and vote on stuff.

It’s still a fascinating get together.

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There’s always the possibility of a trade coming out of a period when powerful people get together and talk football, but it’s mostly voting on new rules and long-term decisions for the good of the game.

That sounds like a snooze fest if you’re solely interested in the Bears. Fret not, because the NFL owners meetings access is great. Bears updates will be flowing in.

Chairman George McCaskey and president Kevin Warren could well speak on the record, as most NFL power brokers do. General manager Ryan Poles could hold court with the press. And in my favorite hour of the offseason Ben Johnson (along with every other head coach) will have an on-the-record breakfast with NFL media.

There will be plenty to come from all that. Don’t expect trade secrets given away this close to the draft – this is, after all, NFL liar’s month – but we should emerge with a proper understanding of where the Bears stand at this point in the spring. The offseason program comes next, when coaches and players can truly start working together and Johnson will start building the Bears foundation in earnest.

We should get a stadium update from Warren now that he’s focusing less on football operations and more on the business side. McCaskey doesn’t speak often, so his thoughts on the state of the franchise and his opinion on those running its day-to-day operations is always important.

And, of course, there are the possible rules changes to be voted upon during the three-day meeting. You can read about them all, including the possible elimination of the Tush Push, right here.

Here’s some info about how a new rule is created, for those following closely.

We’ll have a better picture of what comes next for the Bears as they progress through a pivotal offseason. The Bears have spent tons of cap space. Now they’ll use draft capital for another shot at improvement. Then it’s up to the organization to coach, develop and foster talent that fits the organizational philosophy. They hope all that’s good enough to start winning a lot more games.

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