Chicago
Bears hope to reach the NFL playoffs for the first time since 2020. Many people may have forgotten the name
Mitchell Trubisky who was the last QB to achieve such a feat
for the NFC North squad. Though it was
not a pretty sight to see losing 21-9 at the hands of Drew Brees and the New
Orleans Saints during the wild card round of the 2020 playoffs, still that was
the harsh reality for Chicago fans.
Trubisky spent 5 seasons as the Bears’ QB until the team,
town, and fans gave up on the North Carolina talent as he was then signed as
Josh Allen’s backup for the Buffalo Bills upon his expired rookie contract back
in 2021. Now that we have rekindled
their last taste of a somewhat successful season, let’s fast forward to just a
season ago. Justin Fields showed a ton of talent but also a lot of untapped potential. A real spark was shown between Fields and his
newly acquired wideout in D.J. Moore in 2023 when Moore caught 96 passes on 136
targets that went for 1,364 yards and 8 touchdowns. It is too bad that the rest of the team
wasn’t up to par because we will never know what Fields’ career would have
looked like long-term as the Bears’ QB.
What
if I told you the Chicago Bears could be a wildcard favorite in playoff
contention as soon as this upcoming season.
Now I know if you haven’t been following everything that
has gone on in the off-season this could sound just a little
absurd. I feel confident in what the
Bears may be able to achieve when you factor in what the Bears organization and
GM Ryan Poles have accumulated in terms of talent across the board after a good draft plus key additions in free agency.
Let us start with the most important position of any successful NFL
team. As you may have assumed, I’m talking about the QB. On April 25, 2024, the #1 overall
pick Caleb Williams was selected by “Da Bears” and ever since that day Caleb’s
name has been everywhere, and for good reason. His prolific collegiate career at USC had
everyone wishing their favorite NFL teams to be his destination on draft
day. Williams, once a freshman for
Oklahoma, then transferred to USC for his sophomore and junior seasons
before deciding to be drafted back in April.
Through a combined 3 seasons, Caleb has 35 starts at QB while completing
735 of 1099 attempts, a completion percentage of 66.9 while throwing for a
total of 10,082 yds, 93 TDs, only 14 INTs & posting a passer efficiency
rating of 169.3. It goes without saying, that Chicago and the entire state of Illinois have high expectations from their rookie
passer.
When
you draft a rookie QB, it goes without saying you want them to have every possible
chance to succeed. To do that, you have
to have a few things in place to give him a chance; especially when you are in
one of the toughest up-and-coming divisions such as the NFC North with the
likes of last year’s division champs, the Lions, plus the Packers, who made the
divisional round of the playoffs and lastly, the Vikings. I’ve previously told you about the Bears
striking gold by bringing in a 1,000-yard WR D.J. Moore before last season
began. Well, they did it again and in
doing so they could instantly have one of the best Wide Receiver tandems in the
National Football League this season.
Bears fans must be gleaming after GM Ryan Poles brought in long-time Chargers WR Keenan Allen, who has had quite the career with 904 REC, 10,530
REC YRDs, and 59 TDs. In fact, last year the
receiver was healthier than he had been in a few years. Allen may have missed 4 games but still
posted top-notch numbers with 108 REC, 1,243 YRDs, and 7 TDs. The Bears also brought in other talented
players such as running back D’Andre Swift, veteran tight end Gerald Everett, plus two rookie wideouts
in Rome Odunze and Collin Johnson.
Matt
Eberflus may have never had so much talent on a roster as a Head Coach. Offensively
they have undoubtedly upgraded every part of their offense from their O-line to
all of the skilled position rooms by adding veteran leadership. Another exciting part of this Bears team is
the defense that DC Eric Washington alongside HC Eberflus gets to coach. Ryan Poles traded for DE Montez Sweat during
the season last year to bring some stability to their D-line before eventually
drafting rookie DT Gervon Dexter Sr. to pair with Andrew Billings. It is no secret that Chicago has always been
stamped as a historically great defensive team and with their DBs Kyler Gordon,
Tyrique Stevenson, Jaquan Brisker, and newly signed veteran safety Kevin Byard
they look to get back to that old stifling defensive style of play. In fact, they have one of the top corners in
all of football in Jaylon Johnson who just inked a huge 4 year $76M deal, which
includes $20M as a signing bonus with $51.4M guaranteed and an APY salary of $19M.
No comments:
Post a Comment