KANSAS CITY, Mo. — You can’t put stock in preseason records, and trying to sift through statistics is a good way to go down a rabbit hole to nowhere. But you can get a bit of a feel for the attitude, and maybe the chemistry, of a group in preseason — and the Bears seem to be in a better spot than they’ve been in some time.

It doesn’t feel forced. It doesn’t come across as fake. They’re hungry and know they really haven’t accomplished a thing. They talk about changing the culture at Halas Hall, but until you start winning, your culture is just about as good as your record.

I’m not talking about what you see packaged for “Hard Knocks.” They are slick enough to sell anything, and really what’s interesting on the show is the stories that are told. It feels a little different this year, but a 4-0 record in preseason doesn’t mean a darn thing.

“I’ve always said that what you see in the games is what you see in practice,” coach Matt Eberflus said Thursday after a 34-21 win against the Chiefs in the preseason finale. “They’ve given tremendous effort. The locals that have been out there, I know you have seen that. We finish a lot, finish down the field. The reason we do that is because we are trying to get that mental and physical in elite condition.

“We are not there yet. We’re getting better and we’re getting close. That just shows you that at the back end of that roster, the guys bought into that. That’s what you saw tonight.”

Eberflus listed some pretty good individual performances. Velus Jones Jr. carried 13 times for 111 yards about three weeks after being shifted to running back. Tyler Scott caught six passes for 99 yards, and undrafted rookie Reddy Steward intercepted two passes, returning one 48 yards for a touchdown. Will those three make it through roster cuts Tuesday?

The third-year Bears coach and his staff are getting the young players to work hard, and it has been detailed how the roster has been upgraded.

None of it will matter if the Bears can’t get off to a decent start in the regular season. In no way am I saying Week 1 against the Titans is make-or-break; that would be nonsense. But the NFC North looks like one of the best divisions in the league, and the Lions and Packers are going to be too good to spot them an early lead.

The Bears have won their season opener only twice in the last 10 years. Eberflus won his debut against the 49ers in 2022 at Soldier Field, a 19-10 victory in some heavy rain. Boy, was that outcome not indicative of the direction each club was headed. The Bears also won 27-23 in Detroit to open the 2020 season. That’s it for Week 1 wins since 2013.

“We’re kind of having a new, revamped energy,” said cornerback Jaylon Johnson, one of the more veteran players in the locker room entering his fifth season. “Kind of building off what we started last year. I feel like there is a lot to be excited about. A lot to build on. Enjoying where we’re at, but we’ve got a long way to go. Really trying to make it fun and just enjoy it.

“We have to start fast Week 1 and continue to build from there. One week at a time. Continue to get guys get back healthy and then, shoot, start chipping away week by week. It’s going to be a long season. It’s going to have some ups and it’s going to have some downs. We have to stick together and continue to keep this energy no matter what is going on — wins, losses, adversity, success. We have to continue to bring the energy and know we’re going to have a true opportunity to do something special.”

We’ll see by mid-October, perhaps sooner, if the reads on the team over the summer are accurate. And if so, it could be an interesting season. Energy and effort and focus and all of that are great — but they have to be able to put it together on a consistent basis. That’s the challenge starting Sept. 8 against the Titans at Soldier Field.

The fullback question

Unless I missed one, the last fullback Shane Waldron worked with — at least a dedicated fullback for the full season — was Heath Evans in 2008 with the Patriots.

Waldron was an offensive quality control assistant that season — his first in the league — and was promoted to tight ends coach the next year.

It’s something I have been wondering about since Matt Eberflus hired him because Waldron didn’t have a fullback in his offense the past three seasons as the Seattle Seahawks coordinator. Before that, he worked for the Los Angeles Rams under Sean McVay, who went away from having a fullback on his roster. When McVay and Waldron were assistants for Washington in 2016 on Jay Gruden’s staff, there wasn’t a fullback (I’m not counting the time Waldron spent between stints when he was in the United Football League, at UMass and spent one season at the prep level.).

Sixteen years after Evans and Waldron were together in New England, will there be a fullback for the Bears offense?

That question will be answered as we move toward Tuesday’s roster cuts. I think there is a decent chance Khari Blasingame is on the team — a projected 53-man roster is below — but there are myriad factors to consider.

Blasingame is 28 and is due to earn a base salary of $1.55 million after collecting a $50,000 workout bonus for the offseason program. It’s not about money or cap space, it’s whether Waldron has use for the position and if the Bears deem Blasingame a good fit.

Waldron talked about adapting the system and playbook to the players and skill sets, and that’s what resonated most to me when we discussed fullbacks and how scarce they’ve been on the rosters he has worked with.

“We had the tight ends,” Waldron said of the last three seasons in Seattle. “Just the way the roster was built. We had the tight ends utilized in that fullback role. With KB as our fullback in that role, we’re always going to cross-train different tight ends. To me, that’s how a roster works out. Love to be able utilize who we have and we happen to have a good one here.”

It’s interesting because if you study the development and growth of McVay and San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, they’re very similar. A lot of material from their playbooks is similar. Shanahan over the last five seasons has utilized a fullback more than anyone else in the league; McVay hasn’t employed one.

“Sean got away from it,” Waldron said. “When we were in Washington together, we also used the tight ends because we had Niles Paul and Jordan Reed and Vernon Davis. Niles was able to be a little bit of a move tight end similar to what we did with Gerald Everett in Seattle. When you go back and look at the tape, those tight ends are lined up in some fullback spots and to me, that is a value of having versatile tight ends. They can line up fullback, in-line, spread out and that’s really the direction those three tight ends took us in Seattle.

“It’s an offensive structure but then the personnel you have each year shapes it. Going back to L.A. with Sean from the transition from Washington to L.A., you ended having Cooper Kupp, Robert Woods, Sammy Watkins. You wound up with some 11 personnel and we had some tight ends and we didn’t have a true fullback on that starting point roster. The offense sort of took shape to the players.

“Same as here. How the players play is how the offense can mold around them.”

That’s what all good coaches are going to say. Take your players and their skills and find ways to build and adapt within the structure. Some are better and more creative with that than others.

How much need is there for a fullback in this offense? Old-school fans will pound the table for the position. One play from preseason sticks in my mind. The Bears had third-and-1 from the Bills 9-yard line on the opening possession of that game two weeks ago. They went with 13 personnel — running back Khalil Herbert was in the game with three tight ends and a receiver. Herbert was stuffed by cornerback Rasul Douglas for a 3-yard loss; he tried to bounce it outside when he should have gone up the middle, where he probably would have got the first down. The play wasn’t blocked well, but it was good enough for him to move the chains. The point is on third-and-1 inside the 10-yard line, Waldron didn’t have the fullback in the game.

The Bears have three high-profile wide receivers and maybe more specific to this conversation, they have some good tight ends. If the Bears want to utilize more 12 personnel — one running back, two receivers and two tight ends — how much use would there be for a fullback? Everett adds a dimension, and Waldron sounds comfortable with him doing some of that stuff. I don’t think the team opted to pay Everett $6.5 million this season to be a backup or change-of-pace from Cole Kmet. I think it’s a signal they have more in mind with 12 personnel. Plus, there’s Marcedes Lewis in the tight ends room, and he’s as good of a run blocker as there is at the position.

Blasingame was on the field for 186 snaps (17%) last season, which was almost identical to his usage in 2022 (174 snaps, 18%). If the Bears figure they can involve a fullback 15% of the time or so, it would make sense given Blasingame has handled a few roles on special teams, where he got 210 snaps last season. Waldron seemed positive about Blasingame, and if the team wasn’t going to carry a fullback — had that been predetermined — they would have cut him loose long ago to allow him a chance to land somewhere else.

Blasingame played Thursday night. In fact, he started the game as the offense opened with an I-formation.