NFL Team Previews: Chicago Bears
Team three out of four in the NFC North, the Chicago Bears, coached by John Fox and with Ryan Pace at the general manager position. It was a rebuilding year last season for the Bears, as a managerial change and coaching change brought about some significant turnover for the Bears. This time, after a great draft and a lot of quality free agent signings, it appears as though the Bears are on pace to one day, maybe even this season, challenge the Packers and Vikings for the NFC North.
DRAFT RECAP: With the 9th pick in the draft, the Bears took OLB Leonard Floyd, and although this guy is currently listed behind Lamarr Houston on the depth chart, don't expect that to stay that way too long. He is a boom or bust pick, but due to his natural ability and athleticism I'd be banking more on "boom". Outside of Floyd, I also like the second round pick of G Cody Whitehair, who should start immediately. DE Jonathan Bullard might have the biggest impact of them all, as he had 17.5 tackles for loss at Florida last season, and helps fill a defensive line with a lot of depth question marks. The Bears also provided Jeremy Langford insurance, by drafting RB Jordan Howard out of Indiana in the 5th round.
FREE AGENCY: The Bears are a big market, so as you'd expect they brought in quite a few players to be a quick fix to add with their great draft. They brought in Jay Cutler insurance in former Houston Texan QB Brian Hoyer, but that's not all they did. They brought in two inside linebackers in Jerrell Freeman (Colts) and Danny Trevathan (Broncos) who should start immediately. Both had over 100 tackles, which should be the main thing you look for at inside linebacker. They also brought in RT Bobby Massie from Arizona, who is in line to start as well. DE Akiem Hicks comes in from New England, and he should battle for a starting job as well with Mitch Unrein and the rookie Bullard. Then, there were a lot of shoring up the depth chart type of signings, and some of them probably will have an impact on the roster.
PLAYERS LOST: Outside of losing a couple of offensive linemen (who are replaced by equal or better linemen already), and letting ILB Shea McClellin go to the Patriots (ditto), the Bears biggest hit is probably letting RB Matt Forte go to the Jets and trading TE Martellus Bennett to the Patriots. Like I mentioned, they have some options at running back, and together they should be able to replace Forte, but you still lose the experience Forte has. And at TE, Zach Miller had a nice season, but I don't think he is a starting caliber tight end. So it leaves a pretty big hole as without WR Alshon Jeffery, the Bears have no proven, dynamic playmakers. Maybe it's Jeremy Langford, but we need to see a full season before we judge him.
STRONGEST POSITION: Outside linebacker. The Bears had three different guys at OLB record at least 6 sacks, and then they added OLB Leonard Floyd to the group, who is capable of putting this group over the top. I've seen a few Aldon Smith comparisons, and if you add him to the trio of Pernell McPhee, Willie Young, and Lamarr Houston, look out. Inside linebacker is also a strength now, assuming Freeman and Trevathan can mesh well together.
WEAKEST POSITION: I'll go with safety on this one, because the Bears are starting a fourth round draft pick in Deon Bush, along side second year player Adrian Amos. Both of these guys are nice players, but they are by no means great (yet), and have relative inexperience. The main backup at safety is Omar Bolden, who was brought in from Denver, but only had 5 tackles in 9 games.
FIVE MOST IMPORTANT PLAYERS TO THE BEARS SUCCESS: QB Jay Cutler, WR Alshon Jeffery, OG Kyle Long, CB Kyle Fuller, ILB's Jerrell Freeman and Danny Trevathan. I talked this much about the Bears and barely referred to Jay Cutler? The Bears success, whether their fans want to hear it or not, resides in Jay Cutler. If he has some of his "episodes", then he's going to struggle, causing the Bears offense to struggle. That's why he needs Alshon Jeffery, and why he needs the other offensive playmakers to step up and provide him some help. Kyle Long is the anchor on their improving line, and they also need a huge jump from Kyle Fuller to help make the secondary less of a weakness. I put down both ILB's for this, since they are both equally important to the Bears' success.
PREDICTION: Everybody always says, give a coach three offseasons to show you what he can do, so I'm going to predict that the Bears are one year away, especially with the Packers and Vikings in the division. If their lucky, they can get to 10-6 and sneak into the playoffs, but 7-9 to 9-7 is a lot more likely.
