For the Bears to have drafted a "generational talent" on offense, provided drastic upgrades to the skill positions, and possess a very good defense, prognosticators sure aren't sold on them for some reason

Only 19th best on ESPN power rankings profile
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/402 ... yoff-draft

_________________

.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/555627 ... ions-2024/
.

_________________

.

The Celtic's champagne hasn't even reached room temperature yet, and LTG is already talking football. Love to see it.

_________________

Flim Flamming Frank right on my "Bumper" but those "in the know" claim he has "extensive experience" in such "areas"

_________________

.

I am hopeful that the Bears will win 10 games this season, but I'm certainly not confident. They have too many significant questions surrounding them:

1) Will Caleb Williams develop quickly? If so, the Bears should win a lot of games. But no one has a good sense of how "ready" for the NFL he will be in a few months--nor do we know how he will develop during the season.

2) Is the offensive line any good? We still have a major question mark at center, and Jenkins and Davis are typically available only sporadically during the course of a season. Let's hope Williams can play in rhythm rather than holding on to the ball forever like Fields did.

3) Is the defense really "elite"? People seem to take it for granted that the Bears will have a top 5 defense this season. Such a lofty achievement will be difficult to attain, though, without an elite pass rusher. Montez Sweat is good to very good, but he's not dominant--and the Bears have no other good pass rushers on the defensive line. The secondary and linebackers are terrific, though, so the defense should rank among the top 10 in the league.

_________________

The Bears won 7 games last year with a brutal start to the season and with blowing 4th quarter leads at a record pace. They could have won 9-10 last season with just competent QB play. Not good or even great, just barely mediocre QB play. Trenton Gill also sucked and failed to flip the field a number of times, so you have to figure Taylor should help out in that regard.

If all things stay the same (D, Oline, etc) and Williams is even adequate, 9 games is a floor. If he ends up having a really good year, then 11 or 12 becomes possible.

_________________

What does it mean to say the Bears won seven games last season behind their defense?

Was it not the excellent play of Justin Fields that got us to 7 wins?

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

The Bears defense excelled last season against some of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL and are unlikely to be so lucky in 2024. They looked fairly pedestrian or downright incompetent against above average quarterbacks such as Love. Even with Sweat, the pass rush is below average--and Eberflus' scheme remains a problem.

_________________

He's Brick and he's once again, "Just Asking Questions"

_________________

.

I don't disagree, TM. Bears definitely benefited from playing some bottom feeders later in the year. There are certainly question marks on defense. Especially the pass rush, outside of Sweat.

Given all that and even with the D struggling against some better QBs, had Fields managed to play just adequate football in Green Bay last season (score 20 points), that's a win. If he managed to just engineer a couple of first downs in Cleveland or Detroit, two more wins. If Fields had a better 4th quarter against Denver (100 yards of offense, fumble, INT), W.

I know, "ifs and buts", however I think the D is good enough to win right now. If the offense can put up some points, there is some real potential for this year.

_________________

They will have a 8 win season next year, thanks largely due to their punter.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

both lines are questionable. That is where you win games.

banking on a rookie qb to be immediately great is not usually a successful plan

that's why it's going to be so sweet when they beat the odds

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

_________________
2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

+

_________________

_________________

_________________

The Bears basically punted the first four weeks of the season because the hubris of their offseason plan. They looked like the worst Bears team ever for 3 weeks, that's how bad it was. Resting starters in preseason games when you were the worst team in the league the year before is not something a competent NFL coach would do. Either Eberflus figures out how to close games or he's gone. You could find a Matt Eberflus on the coaching staff of every NFL team, he is the embodiment of replacement level. His coordination magically got better when Sweat showed up and will magically get better if the Bears upgrade on the dline, but definitely isn't a coordinator that gives you a game planning advantage every week. Eberflus and the pass rush are their weakest areas in my opinion.

_________________

The Bears started to get better after Alan Williams was fired. He was an absolutely horrible DC.

Eberflus can't pick assistant coaches well is his current track record.

_________________

They couldn't have been worse after Alan Williams was fired so jury is still out if that was because of Montez Sweat or Eberflus. I think it was Sweat personally. I've seen enough from Eberflus to think that they could fire him at any point in time following the 2023 season and it would be justified.

_________________

I’ve got them around 9 wins. Still question marks on both lines and at Head Coach.


Not to mention a rookie QB which will absolutely have its ups and downs -it’s incredibly rare for it not to.

_________________
If the rule you followed lead you to this, of what use was the rule?

Yeah but those receivers should be so wide-open that even Justin Fields could hit them.

_________________
Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

They are still considered to be the 3rd best team in their own division. As much as everyone likes Caleb, he is still a rookie and, even if it does work, it may take time. The OL/DL are considered to be the biggest question marks on the team by most and if those don't perform up to what the Bears are expecting, that will obvious impacts on the rest of that side of the ball.

I think they have more upside than downside given the defense is probably in the top 10 if the defensive line performs. With the weapons around Caleb, if the OL is at least average, they should be able to score points, but that's assuming Caleb isn't any type of project.

They clearly weren't ready to start the season. I know they want to balance the injury risk vs. preparation, but they buried themselves last season. I'm assuming that they will make adjustments for this season especially with a rookie QB to make sure there's more chemistry when the regular season opens.

Balance is the key word there and they were at maybe 5% preparation last year. The Bears haven't been ready to start a season since they hired Nagy, they need to stop coaching/managing the roster scared. Injuries happen, you can't predict them or prevent all of them but you can absolutely prevent last year's abysmal start with real practices and pre-season game reps.

_________________

SI says the Bears will make the playoffs, replacing the Cowboys. Not quite the Cover Curse, but ugh nonetheless.

_________________
"I honestly don't see a good bet on the board here."

I haven't seen any evidence that the O-line is really good and I've seen evidence that Williams will extend plays much longer than they should be. This will be a learning year and I can't see them making the playoffs for that reason. That and they play in a really good division, although I think the Packers are due for a fallback season too.

_________________
Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

That Titans offense could be dangerous. Facing them in Week 1 could be a blessing

_________________
Be well

GO BEARS!!!

The Packers were 9-8 last season. I doubt they'll be worse than that in 2024.

_________________

Bears will be 8-9.
That gambling line of 8.5 wins is quite telling.

_________________