The Chicago Bears struggled for wins with general manager Ryan Pace. This offseason, however, he made a series of moves to change all that. Was it enough?
The Chicago Bears struggled for wins in the three years under general manager Ryan Pace. Yes, they weren’t very good when he took over, but the turnaround hasn’t happened. This offseason, however, he tried to change all of that.
Just weeks after the last game played in 2017, Pace made a change of head coaches. Out went the dinosaur John Fox and in came the offensive-minded Matt Nagy. Nagy brought in Mark Heinrich to give the Bears a high-octane, pass-heavy offense.
Pace also surrounded second-year quarterback Mitch Trubisky with weapons. Through free agency, he added receivers Allen Robinson and Taylor Gabriel. Also, he added tight end Trey Burton. In addition, he signed Cody Parkey to help the field goal situation.
In the draft, Pace got linebacker Roquan Smith (though still unsigned), wide receiver Anthony Miller, and offensive lineman James Daniels in the first two rounds.
Pace didn’t forget about the defense. In addition to Smith, he drafted linebackers Joel Iyiegbuniwe and Kylie Fits, defensive lineman Bilal Nichols and another wide receiver, Javon Wims.
The question now is whether those moves were enough. Some think so, believing the Bears are now a playoff contender. Just hovering around eight wins is a good step forward, though.
This should be an interesting season for the Chicago Bears. Before it starts, here are three bold predictions for the 2018 season.
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I needed this laugh today, been a while I had one this good. For sure should have saved it for April fools!!
TO EARLY TO COMMENT ON TEAM PERFORMANCE – – LET’S TALK AFTER THE DENVER GAME.
Nasty old troll with a big cheesy head skulking around looking for mud to throw. Dylan named this kind of trash, “cares not to come up any higher, but rather get you down in the hole that he’s in”.
Wow … overall solid post, but you short hopped that Trubisky “bold” prediction. Don’t get me wrong. Those numbers for a year two QB look really solid and 3,876 passing yards would (sadly) be a new Bears single-season passing record (3,838 by Erik Kramer in … 1995!!), even if only by 38 yards. But if 3,876 leads arguably the best QB division in the league, it won’t be because of regression. It will be because Rodgers, Stafford and Cousins ALL suffered season ending injuries (not that I’m wishing that on anyone)! Combined, these three have only produced 2 seasons where the QB has started 12+ games and threw for less than 4,000 yards (Rodgers in 2010 [3,922] and 2015 [3,821]). Since becoming the full-time starter in WAS, Cousins has never thrown for less than 4,000 yards (3 straight seasons). And since overcoming his early career injury woes, Stafford has started every game for the last 7 years and has never thrown for less than 4,257 yards. A regression is both possible and likely (looking at you, Kirk), for any of these QBs. But ALL three? Highly improbable. So if 3,876 yards is good enough to lead the division, then catastrophe striking the NFC North is the only reasonable explanation.
The majority of GM’s have lousy drafts more than good. Look at the Browns. All their 1st rd picks from 2012-2017 are not on the roster. Even with Stafford the Lions are still mediocre. The Bills made the PO’s last year for the first time since Jim Kelly. Don’t know how tolerant the Bears are but Pace could be in trouble should the Bears fail to make the PO’s this season or next.
So 3,876 yards will lead the NFC North in passing? What a joke.