With the Bears’ season about to kick off, the Sun-Times’ experts predict how successful the team will be:
RICK MORRISSEY
10-6
The schedule is a rough one, which explains why the Bears will win two fewer games than 2018, when they went 12-4. The regular season should end the same way, though, with an NFC North title. It’s no secret that a lot of this is predicated on the Bears staying healthy and on quarterback Mitch Trubisky making a significant leap this season. The first is a roll of the dice. The second is still very much a question. The defense is good enough to get the team to seven or eight victories. Trubisky should be good enough to get the Bears to 10. Right? Right?
RICK TELANDER
11-5
This seems like a season for the Bears to go radically up or down. I’m putting my chips on up. It’s possible Vic Fangio’s departure has ruined the defense — but I think there’s simply too much talent on D, with Khalil Mack and the linebackers leading the way. Offense? Well, I’m rolling dice on third-year man Trubisky. We’ve hardly seen him or the first-team offense play this year. But Trubisky is the gamble that has to pay off. Otherwise, the Bears go back to the quarterback well and years of mediocrity. Or worse. Maybe this is just hope. But, I ask you — if not now, when?
PATRICK FINLEY
10-6
Only twice since the Bears fired Mike Ditka have they followed a winning season with another one: 1994-95 and then again in 2005-06, culminating in the team’s last Super Bowl berth. They’ll do it again this season. This year’s team would beat the 2018 squad — Trubisky has a better sense of the offense, while Mack and Roquan Smith should be first-team all-pros after a full offseason with the team. Still, circumstances will work against the Bears — their injury and turnover luck is bound to be worse. Their schedule is tougher. And the NFC North will be better than in 2018, when the second-best team went 8-7-1. Ten wins might not win the division, but it will be enough to make the playoffs.
JASON LIESER
12-4
Predicting a season record is different than predicting a season outcome. Losing some regular-season games to good teams isn’t necessarily indicative of how far the Bears will go in the playoffs. They visit the Rams for a prime-time game. They have a game in London, which is often a coin flip regardless of the matchup. They’ve gotta battle the Saints, Chargers, Cowboys and Chiefs. But as long as the Bears clean up the games they’re supposed to win, those sturdy opponents are the perfect preparation for a deep run in the playoffs.
MARK POTASH
10-6
Nagy has pushed most of the right buttons in the regular season so far as the Bears’ head coach, and if the Bears can avoid devastating injuries, all the pieces are in place for them to navigate a more difficult schedule in 2019. The early schedule, when they should be healthy, gives them a chance for a fast start. With little evidence, the David Montgomery better-fit-for-Nagy’s-offense seems like an offseason narrative that will come to fruition. If it does, Trubisky will only have to lead this team and not carry it. That could be a significant distinction.
