Predict the Bears record this season.

[JDRochholz]

14-2

[NZB2323]

10-6. I agree with 12-4, except I think that we'll lose two trap games this year.

[fleet]

I think the floor is 9 wins, the capability roof is 12 if everything comes together in a dreamy way. I'm not sold on the defense yet, so the highest I personally go is 10 wins. The offense should score enough points to win some games if the defense holds, but I wouldn't expect a pure top 7 scoring offense. But that is the rub now isn't it. Can special teams and defense score and also set them up for easy scores?

That D line looks iffy and thin to me, just one injury could domino into big problems, and the linebackers are a question mark depth wise with Urlacher's knee and meh backups. The safeties theoretically improve some with a year of experience, and I didn't think Major Wright was fatally flawed. But he did lose confidence and made mistakes, and the bears have question marks behind him as well. I expect Conte and Hardin to be good enough some day, but how soon is up in the air. The only part of the defense that seems solid are the cornerbacks, but in cover 2 thats no great shakes.

10-6. Or 11-5 at best. Cautious optimism. Guessing 12-4 or 13-3 you should be able to count on one side of the ball to be top 3 elite going in, and I don't see anything like that at the moment. 12 or 13 wins, thats way too giddy.

[Chewie]

I may look at it too simplistically but the Bears were 7-3 last year when Cutler got hurt and just about lost out to end the season with a POS QB that didn't belong in the league at the helm. With Cutler in there - there's no doubt in my mind - we would've ended up 12-4 and we're definitely a better team now. Urlacher/Briggs may be a year older but who did we lose exactly?? Corey Graham? Anthony Adams? I'll live.

Of course it's a different schedule now and it's flawed logic saying we're going to start off just as hot this year as we did last year. Still, though....you can see we're making obvious and distinct changes to cover up last year's weaknesses and it's not exactly a stacked lineup we're facing out of the division. I'm not shaking in my boots here.

Cutler is sufficiently backed up and so is Forte. Cutler is going to/supposed to get rid of the ball more quickly and will be rolling out whilst doing so a lot of the time. Less 7 step drops. More chips from the RB to help the line (and new acquisition Michael Bush is one of the best in doing that). Taller targets for Cutler. Depth in the secondary. A 1st round starting DE with a motor to complement Peppers. More involvement from the TE. A system our franchise QB is familiar with and actually likes and can audible with at the line. NO MARTZ.

This ain't no 10 win team, jack.

[fleet]

I was a little too confrontational, I didn't mean to come off like that but admittedly I tend to do that often so I must be like that.

I see playoffs, but I don't see elite playoffs. Too many questions. 12 or 13 14 wins, thats ultra elite NFL teams. Thats hard to predict imo. Those kinds of seasons are charmed. 10-11 wins is optimistic enough for me, reasonable.

However, we have Urlacher and other guys talking like this is the best Bears team they have seen, so I don't blame you.

[Chewie]

I was a little too confrontational, I didn't mean to come off like that but admittedly I tend to do that often so I must be like that.

I see playoffs, but I don't see elite playoffs. Too many questions. 12 or 13 14 wins, thats ultra elite NFL teams. Thats hard to predict imo. Those kinds of seasons are charmed. 10-11 wins is optimistic enough for me, reasonable.

However, we have Urlacher and other guys talking like this is the best Bears team they have seen, so I don't blame you.

Not confrontational at all - just talking wins and losses here! No worries.

I'm probably on the high end with 13 and I think 10 is def on the low end. 12 is probably more realistic to be honest and I don't think it will require a heck of a lot of luck to get it done. There's a lot to be said for continuity and we're changing like, what, - one or two starters - on a team that I really think should have won 12 last season? (stop me if you disagree on that).

Let yourself feel good about 2012. I don't think you're going to be disappointed.

[Air Poohdini]

11-5.

[Air Poohdini]

11-5.

[NLK]

Roof for the Regular Season victory, clearly 15 wins. Floor no less than 8.

IMO, They're playoff bound if the key components stay healthy or off the Injured Reserved.

If they sweep the Packers in the season - I'll boldly predict the BEARS will win the whole damn thing.

@IWannaGoHIGHER, I don't see the Eagles winning that many games in their season. In fact, I think they're an 11-win team max, 7-win team on the underachieving side. Andy Reid's teams are never well-disciplined enough to play out of its minds. Plus, protecting Vick has to be their #1 priority. If you look at it from a team-comparative standpoint - Vick played more games than Cutler last year, had more options and a better offensive line. So what killed the Eagles' last season? Themselves. And a lot of that is due to the internal structure and/or makeup their team. I guess what I'm getting at is - they're not a threat to challenge anyone in the NFC. Plus, they'll have to beat Giants (who are the champs and well coached, as surprising as it seems), Dallas is not going to be a pushover, and the RGIII is certainly going to impact the Redskins to win games they're not supposed to.

Overall, I see all the same teams making the playoffs as last year except the BEARS & Eagles are in, New Orleans and Detroit Out.

I think the BEARS take the whole thing down in New Orleans in February of 2013 if they stay healthy & disciplined. Sky's the limit with the team. The defense is on the downside of its peak, but if the offense comes around, they should more than make up for that decline.

[Cieyotawild]

I'll go 11-5. Seems realistic looking at the schedule although you never know who's gonna break out and who's gonna be really disappointing. I expect Green Bay to regress this year just because it's so hard to be that good, and Detroit will be Detroit and we should have swept them last year. I'll say the losses are @GB, @DAL, @SF (we never win there although I think the 9ers will disappoint this year), and throw in 2 weird losses like Seattle at home or Minnesota. Happens every year haha.

The Home Schedule is incredibly easy. Out of division we have Houston and Carolina, everyone else is projected to be bad like Indy, St Louis, Seattle maybe will be good but come on. I'm kind of worried about Indy week 1 though. They might be pretty good. We'll see.