It’s only the middle of May, but Bears fans can start celebrating their inevitable division title thanks to CBS Sports analyst Jason La Canfora. Alright, that may be a slight exaggeration, but when it comes to La Canfora and his predictions, specifically for the Bears, it’s almost certain the complete opposite comes to fruition.
La Canfora unveiled his 2019 division winners and playoff teams list on Friday and when it came to the NFC North, he isn’t a big believer in Matt Nagy’s squad. In fact, he predicts the Bears will regress mightily, similar to the 2018 Jacksonville Jaguars after they barely missed out on a Super Bowl berth in 2017.
Below is La Canfora’s summary of the NFC North, where he picks the Minnesota Vikings to come out on top:
NFC North
Minnesota. Kirk Cousins may not ever get them over the mountain, and he may not win huge games, but they will beat enough mediocre teams to win this division. They dealt with mental health and physical health issues on defense in 2018, but Mike Zimmer knows the bar must be set higher on that side of the ball this year, and I expect them to be more consistent and menacing. Give Cousins a few more leads and good things happen. I have serious concerns about the new power structure in Green Bay and the Aaron Rodgers/Matt Lafleur coupling could be perilous, and the Bears are the poster boys for 2019 regression to me (more on that next week).
It will be interesting to see his rationale come next week for the serious regression. The Bears did lose defensive coordinator Vic Fangio this offseason and a couple key contributors on the defense in safety Adrian Amos and slot CB Bryce Callahan, but the defensive core is intact and QB Mitchell Trubisky and the entire offense is expected to take a major step in year two of Nagy’s offense. Furthermore, Minnesota (and specifically Kirk Cousins) hasn’t shown the ability to win the big games in 2018. Is there reason to think that will change in 2019, even with the additions they made this offseason?
Finally, it’s well documented that La Canfora has missed on nearly every Bears-related prediction he’s made in recent memory:
- He reported the Bears would make trading for then-New England Patriots QB Jimmy Garoppolo their “offseason priority” in 2017.
- The Bears wanted to bring in then-ESPN NFL Broadcaster and former general manager Bill Polian in 2016. to their front office.
- Kyle Fuller would not be re-signed by the Bears in 2018.
- The Bears were questioning Trubisky’s ability to be a franchise QB in early 2018.
Bears fans know not to put too much weight into La Canfora’s reports or predictions at this point, but it sounds like he’ll have more reasoning on why he doesn’t believe in the Monsters of the Midway.
