Bears 6.0 - Bear Witness to their 1st elite offense

[TheJordanRule]

David Kenyon, a journalist from Bleacher Report, thinks that we're one of the Top 3 most overrated teams in the NFL.

https://heavy.com/sports/nfl/chicago-bears/roster-overrated-williams-odunze-jones-ngakoue/

"The problem is Chicago must navigate a division with the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers. Taking on the NFC West likely won't help the Bears in wild-card tiebreakers, and last year's defensive surge coincided with playing four of the NFL's worst offenses."

We still need a C and edge rusher, but aside from that, what else can we complain about? The roster, aside from those two holes, is about as complete as its ever been.

I'm not sure how highly anyone rates the Bears this coming year.

I'm excited about having a franchise QB and stud WRs and a modern offense, and a continue building towards a great team. I'm not sure how many people expect that to all come together this year though. I don't expect them to make the playoffs this year.

The skepticism from being burned a hundred times by this stupid organization is completely understandable, but you and Fleet talked me into believing that a cerebral QB, with a team friendly playstyle, is a difference maker (unlike Fields). So I'm sorry, but going 8-9 with this roster would probably disprove your initial hypothesis.

[dougthonus]

The skepticism from being burned a hundred times by this stupid organization is completely understandable, but you and Fleet talked me into believing that a cerebral QB, with a team friendly playstyle, is a difference maker (unlike Fields). So I'm sorry, but going 8-9 with this roster would probably disprove your initial hypothesis.

To each his own, but I'm not going to care if they go 8-9 in Caleb's rookie year, this is mile 1 of a marathon, we don't have to be leading out the gates. I want to see signs of superstardom out of Caleb and Rome and then watch us build up the consistency over the next 2 years and shore up any weak areas.

If we are ahead of schedule and make the playoffs this year, then hell yeah, that's even more awesome.

[NecessaryEvil]

Read on Twitter

I said this before myself but that was just riding on the Caleb high during the combine.


*shrug*

[biggestbullsfan]

Read on Twitter

[Chi town]

Cool story bro alert…

Got our three CW18 jerseys (75%) off today for me and my two sons. We recorded a video with the SB Shuffle. Had to time stamp that for we get it done!!!

[Dresden]

FWIW, this site has the Bears O line ranked 10th: https://www.profootballnetwork.com/best-offensive-lines-nfl-rankings/

Lions come in at 2, Packers at 5, Vikes at 9.

A lot of good O lines in NFC North.

[Jimako10]

FWIW, this site has the Bears O line ranked 10th: https://www.profootballnetwork.com/best-offensive-lines-nfl-rankings/

Lions come in at 2, Packers at 5, Vikes at 9.

A lot of good O lines in NFC North.

A lot of good O-Lines and not a lot of good D-Lines means...

Shootouts.

The Bears offense has the biggest ceiling.

[Kurt Heimlich]

Wow I thought the bears were a shoo in for hard knocks. Guess the mccaskeys flexed some actual pull with their opposition to the show. Can't say the giants have much intrigue that I can see right now.

[NesimLE]

Wow I thought the bears were a shoo in for hard knocks. Guess the mccaskeys flexed some actual pull with their opposition to the show. Can't say the giants have much intrigue that I can see right now.

The Giants are for the new "offseason" version of Hard Knocks, the training camp edition is still TBD afaik.

[NecessaryEvil]

Read on Twitter

[nitetrain8603]

If Caleb lives up to the hype, I see 11-12 wins.

If Caleb has some growing pains, but overall is still pretty good, I see 9-10 wins.

If Caleb is an inconsistent turnover machine.....then the QB curse is real.

No amount of luck can overcome it.

Peyton led the league in turnovers IIRC his rookie year. He was turnover prone. Even the great ones struggle a bit. With that stated, I think 9 wins is my high, 7 wins as my low. There are a lot of folks who put them at 10 or 11 wins. To me, a rookie QB is still a rookie QB. And the Swift addition is going to be a bad move IMO, especially considering his line is nowhere as good.

[Jeffster81]

If Caleb lives up to the hype, I see 11-12 wins.

If Caleb has some growing pains, but overall is still pretty good, I see 9-10 wins.

If Caleb is an inconsistent turnover machine.....then the QB curse is real.

No amount of luck can overcome it.

Peyton led the league in turnovers IIRC his rookie year. He was turnover prone. Even the great ones struggle a bit. With that stated, I think 9 wins is my high, 7 wins as my low. There are a lot of folks who put them at 10 or 11 wins. To me, a rookie QB is still a rookie QB. And the Swift addition is going to be a bad move IMO, especially considering his line is nowhere as good.

The Bears should have won 10 games last year (3 horribly blown games for losses) and that is with Fields at QB. I won't guarantee 10 wins but if they don't reach 10, I would be disappointed.

I disagree with you on Swift. I think he'll prove to be the steal of free agency.

[Dresden]

I think rookie QB's today have a much easier time than they did 20 years ago, since these days the rules favor passing so much more, and teams just generally score more and throw the ball more. Put that together with what the Bears have put around Caleb, and I'd be surprised if he does't pass for at least 3,500 yards and have a favorable TD/INT ratio. I think 10-11 wins is possible if things go well.

[IliketheBullsNBearstoo]

10 wins in this watered down league.

[dice]

If Caleb lives up to the hype, I see 11-12 wins.

If Caleb has some growing pains, but overall is still pretty good, I see 9-10 wins.

If Caleb is an inconsistent turnover machine.....then the QB curse is real.

No amount of luck can overcome it.

Peyton led the league in turnovers IIRC his rookie year. He was turnover prone. Even the great ones struggle a bit. With that stated, I think 9 wins is my high, 7 wins as my low. There are a lot of folks who put them at 10 or 11 wins. To me, a rookie QB is still a rookie QB. And the Swift addition is going to be a bad move IMO, especially considering his line is nowhere as good.

The Bears should have won 10 games last year (3 horribly blown games for losses) and that is with Fields at QB. I won't guarantee 10 wins but if they don't reach 10, I would be disappointed.

I disagree with you on Swift. I think he'll prove to be the steal of free agency.

swift and everett are minor upgrades at the expense of more significant defensive upgrades

i don't see any way this offense isn't good, with potential for great

the defense SHOULD be good, but it is thin with lots of question marks

staying w/ 11-6, hopefully drawing the falcons in the wildcard

[nomorezorro]

Peyton led the league in turnovers IIRC his rookie year. He was turnover prone. Even the great ones struggle a bit. With that stated, I think 9 wins is my high, 7 wins as my low. There are a lot of folks who put them at 10 or 11 wins. To me, a rookie QB is still a rookie QB. And the Swift addition is going to be a bad move IMO, especially considering his line is nowhere as good.

caleb could struggle as a rookie and it's not a damning sign regarding his long-term prospects, but at the same time, peyton manning isn't really the most relevant point of reference for a rookie QB anymore. not every good young QB is capable of a stroud-level rookie year, but for every trevor lawrence or josh allen, there's a justin herbert or dak prescott.

if you look at the best QBs who have come into the league since 2016 and started at least half of their first season, more of them have had decent-to-good rookie years than have been flops.

i'm personally looking at the other two lincoln riley QBs who went #1 overall as my baseline for what i hope caleb can do as a rookie:

baker mayfield: 3725 yards, 27 td/14 int, 64% completion, 93.7 qb rating
kyler murray: 3722 yards, 20 td/12 int, 64% completion, 87.4 qb rating

[sco]

If Caleb lives up to the hype, I see 11-12 wins.

If Caleb has some growing pains, but overall is still pretty good, I see 9-10 wins.

If Caleb is an inconsistent turnover machine.....then the QB curse is real.

No amount of luck can overcome it.

Peyton led the league in turnovers IIRC his rookie year. He was turnover prone. Even the great ones struggle a bit. With that stated, I think 9 wins is my high, 7 wins as my low. There are a lot of folks who put them at 10 or 11 wins. To me, a rookie QB is still a rookie QB. And the Swift addition is going to be a bad move IMO, especially considering his line is nowhere as good.

The Bears should have won 10 games last year (3 horribly blown games for losses) and that is with Fields at QB. I won't guarantee 10 wins but if they don't reach 10, I would be disappointed.

I disagree with you on Swift. I think he'll prove to be the steal of free agency.

Yeah, I'm in the Caleb will have a high number of TO's next season causing us the be below .500. I didn't realize he'll need to adjust from being 100% shotgun to under center a decent % of the time. I do think Swift will be an effective safety value for him. OLine improvement (or lack thereof) will make or break our season.

[Almost Retired]

Seldom has a rookie QB come into a situation like Caleb is being handed. Adequate O-Line. One of the 3 best WR groups in the league. Two good tight ends. A play caller with experience. The running game should be OK with Swift, Johnson and Herbert if they keep him. Swift is also a great safety valve for Caleb when his WRs and TEs aren't open. Barring a significant injury to a key player I think the Bears can end up going between 9-8 and 13-4. They get to build up momentum early with their favorable schedule. It's entirely within the realm of possibility that the Bears go 10-0 leading up to the first Green Bay game on Nov 17th. Now I don't think that will happen. But their first 10 opponents aren't exactly murderers row.

[TheJordanRule]

The skepticism from being burned a hundred times by this stupid organization is completely understandable, but you and Fleet talked me into believing that a cerebral QB, with a team friendly playstyle, is a difference maker (unlike Fields). So I'm sorry, but going 8-9 with this roster would probably disprove your initial hypothesis.

To each his own, but I'm not going to care if they go 8-9 in Caleb's rookie year, this is mile 1 of a marathon, we don't have to be leading out the gates. I want to see signs of superstardom out of Caleb and Rome and then watch us build up the consistency over the next 2 years and shore up any weak areas.

If we are ahead of schedule and make the playoffs this year, then hell yeah, that's even more awesome.

For what it's worth, the experts agree with you, Doug. Six hours ago DraftKings became the latest in a long line of sports news outlets to co-sign your assessment:

"DraftKings has released its projected win totals for the 2024 NFL season. Coming off a strong finish in a seven-win 2023 season, the Bears’ expected win total is greater in 2024. Here’s a look at the projected win totals for the Bears... 8.5 games"

https://bearswire.usatoday.com/lists/bears-2024-nfl-season-win-totals-betting-odds-over-under-opponents/

[Dresden]

It looks like their 4 toughest games will be @ 49'ers, @ DET, @ GB and @ HOU. Their 4 easiest look like v. NE, WAS, ARI, CAR. If they go 4-4 out of those 8, that leaves home games v. TEN, LAR, Jags, GB, MN, DET, and SEA. They should win 4-5 of those. And that leaves away games at MN and IND. They should win 1 or both of those.

That leaves them with 9-11 wins.