ARE YOU BULLISH ON BEARS? TAKE OUR TEST
Yearly test gives fans opportunity to rate what they think of Bears’ chances
It’s make-or-break time for the Bears. A year ago, they were at a typical crossroads for an upstart NFL team. Coming off a rejuvenating 12-4 playoff season, would they be the Rams, who took the next step after ending a long playoff drought and reached the Super Bowl? Or the Jaguars, who were exposed as fool’s gold and plummeted to 5-11 in 2018 after nearly beating the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game the previous season?
As it turned out, the Bears were neither the Rams nor the Jaguars. They finished right in the middle at 8-8 — closer to the Jaguars as a non-playoff team, but not exactly back to square one.
Today, the Bears’ arrow is pointing neither up nor down but straight at coach Matt Nagy. He inherited an elite defense when the Bears hired him in 2018, and now it’s time for him to hold up his end of the bargain by nurturing a quarterback, developing an offense and winning the game-day chess match against opposing defensive coordinators. Culture is great in the NFL, but Sundays are defining.
And this is a defining season for Nagy. His offense not only ranked 29th in the NFL last season, but it didn’t show many signs of hope because the Bears were substandard everywhere — from the quarterback to the running game to the play-calling.
But Nagy has a chance for a huge payoff if he can turn that around. The Bears’ defense, even without nose tackle Eddie Goldman, figures to be better in 2020 than it was in 2019. If Nagy revitalizes the offense — even to a top-15 level — the Bears suddenly will become a legitimate threat in the NFC North. And if Nagy takes it to another level, the Bears’ prospects increase exponentially.
The buzz on the Bears indicates there’s not much faith in that rosy outlook. They are 40-1 in Las Vegas to win the Super Bowl, tied for 17th in the NFL. Their predicted victory total is anywhere from 7.5 to 8.5. They are 21st in ESPN’s power rankings. USA Today has them 27th.
But the Bears are tough to figure. Two years ago, ESPN’s NFL beat writers had the Bears going 0-16 in their preseason game-by-game predictions; the Bears went 12-4. Last year, they had them going 11-5; the Bears went 8-8. This year, they have the Bears going 6-10.
With that in mind, here is our annual test of Bears fans’ optimism/pessimism for the upcoming season. Rate these categories, with 10 points for an optimistic vote, minus-10 for a pessimistic vote and zero for a neutral vote.