Emperor Jones' annual Bears prediction
Posted: Sun Sep 9, 2012 12:22 am
This has been a really tough prediction for me. A Month ago, I had the bears at 13-3. Unlike most people, I thought that the offensive line would not be a problem. Getting rid of Mike Martz in favor of Tice was a big step in the right direction, and add to that a full off-season for Webb and added depth to the line (no Frank OMG!), I know they'll be adequate. You don't have to have a great offensive line to be a contender. Just good. The O- line will be good.
So with the O-line behind me, I, like everyone else feel that this offense is explosive. The most explosive that I've seen in my 36 years as a Bears fan. The offense has been what's kept us from beating Green Bay. Lovie's defense has always kept us in games against the Packers. It's been our inept offense that has let us down game after game. Now with Marshall, Forte, Jeffries, Hester, Bennett, etc, I think this offense will put up an extra seven or more points per game from last year's 21. That gets you at least 10 wins. Add that to last year's defense, and I think you have an extra 2 to 3 wins.
Unfortunately I don't think we will have last year's defense. Injuries on the defensive side of the ball have me extremely worried. I seriously doubt that Urlacher plays 8 games this year. He has not been able to stay on the field for a week yet. I hope against hope, but my fear is we get three weeks into the season and he needs surgery which pushes him back to the last quarter of the season for a return. In addition, our typical injuries to the safeties routine has already begun. So I'm really worried about our back seven. Upfront, I remain concerned at our ability to stop the run. The only bright spot there is we brought Okoye back and Paea seems ready to go. One bright spot is here is neither the Packers or Lions have real threats at the running back position, and Adrian Peterson is basically done.
So I have two predictions in my head. 12-4 in the event Urlacher can play and 10 – 6 in the event he's out for an extended period.
Averaging that out means once again the Emperor would be predicting 11-5.....but
Screw that!....
Every year there's a team that seems to come out of nowhere and make a run. This year I'm convinced that team is the Bears. The team was set to be 10-6 at worst and 11-5 more likely prior to the injuries last year. Adding Marshall and Jeffreys to the offense and Shea to the D along with depth at so many other positions is going to make this the team that team that seemingly comes from nowhere to be a championship contender.
Book it. Bears will go 12 – 4 with two wins against the Packers and take the division and NFC title.
So with the O-line behind me, I, like everyone else feel that this offense is explosive. The most explosive that I've seen in my 36 years as a Bears fan. The offense has been what's kept us from beating Green Bay. Lovie's defense has always kept us in games against the Packers. It's been our inept offense that has let us down game after game. Now with Marshall, Forte, Jeffries, Hester, Bennett, etc, I think this offense will put up an extra seven or more points per game from last year's 21. That gets you at least 10 wins. Add that to last year's defense, and I think you have an extra 2 to 3 wins.
Unfortunately I don't think we will have last year's defense. Injuries on the defensive side of the ball have me extremely worried. I seriously doubt that Urlacher plays 8 games this year. He has not been able to stay on the field for a week yet. I hope against hope, but my fear is we get three weeks into the season and he needs surgery which pushes him back to the last quarter of the season for a return. In addition, our typical injuries to the safeties routine has already begun. So I'm really worried about our back seven. Upfront, I remain concerned at our ability to stop the run. The only bright spot there is we brought Okoye back and Paea seems ready to go. One bright spot is here is neither the Packers or Lions have real threats at the running back position, and Adrian Peterson is basically done.
So I have two predictions in my head. 12-4 in the event Urlacher can play and 10 – 6 in the event he's out for an extended period.
Averaging that out means once again the Emperor would be predicting 11-5.....but
Screw that!....
Every year there's a team that seems to come out of nowhere and make a run. This year I'm convinced that team is the Bears. The team was set to be 10-6 at worst and 11-5 more likely prior to the injuries last year. Adding Marshall and Jeffreys to the offense and Shea to the D along with depth at so many other positions is going to make this the team that team that seemingly comes from nowhere to be a championship contender.
Book it. Bears will go 12 – 4 with two wins against the Packers and take the division and NFC title.