Chicago
Bears
2018 Record: (12-4) 1st NFC North
2018 Season Recap:
Offense
Points: 26.3 (9th)
Yards: 343.9 (21st)
Pass Yards: 222.8 (21st)
Rush Yards: 121.1 (11th)
Defense
Points: 17.7 (1st)
Yards: 299.7 (3rd)
Pass Yards: 219.7 (7th)
Rush Yards: 80.0 (1st)
After an abysmal 2017 season which saw the Bears
finish last in the NFC North, massive change over to the team occurred leaving
2018 expectations up in the air. While Bears ownership chose to move in a
direction guided by offseason output, Coach Matt Nagy surly had his work cut
out for him.
Matt Nagy was an aspiring up and comer who received
his offensive tutelage from a master in his own right (Andy Reid), and tasked
with propelling this Bears squad to another level behind second year quarterback
Mitchell Trubisky.
It was abundantly clear that if this Bears team would
have any ambitions to improve, adding talent to the offense would be the
primary objective. Signing a plethora of players to help this rebuild move
quicker, along with drafting more depth pieces with bright futures, Chicago hit
the nail on the head in almost all categories. Having secured Allen Robinson,
Taylor Gabriel, and Trey Burton from the open market while drafting rookie
Anthony Miller, expectations naturally rose given that this offense could form
into something explosive.
While most of the headlines rumbled around improving
this offense, Chicago added to one of the best defensive groups from a year
prior in both the draft and through a blockbuster trade. Drafting rookie Roquan
Smith in the first round of the 2018 draft was absolute genius to solidify a
line backing core that could rival the best in the league. Understanding that
this defense could carry this club late in the year, the Bears pulled off a
deal to obtain superstar Khalil Mack from the Raiders. With all pieces now in
place for Nagy’s first season as an NFL head coach, we ourselves became excited
for the prospects.
The Bears opened the season on the road to the
Packers, showing they were in fact a force, able to compete with the best in
their division, only to lose by one point. Regrouping and finding good fortune
while building chemistry, Chicago was able to string together three straight
victories before their bye in week 5.
After coming off a restful week, the Bears endured a
catastrophic loss to the Dolphins (lead by backup Brock Osweiler) and missing a
glorious opportunity to sneak by the Patriots, bringing their record to 3-3
entering the mid way point of the year. Having a lighter schedule upcoming,
coach Nagy corralled his troops to win the next five contests, some with great
distinction and domination. Seeing a sidestep in week 13 and dropping one to
the New York Giants, the Bears had perhaps the toughest test on their plate
facing the LA Rams the following week.
In our eyes, the game verse the high-flying Rams
really put on display what this Bears group was about. Witnessing their defense
stifle one of the best offensive units in the entire league (held to six
points), proved this Bears team could do some damage in the postseason. Riding
high off that week 14 win, the Bears closed out the season winning their last 3
contests and winning the division for the first time since 2010.
Extreme excitement filled the streets of Chicago as
the Bears hosted the Super Bowl Champs and Nick Foles on Wildcard weekend.
The first half started with both teams trading shots
down the field but surrendering to the perfection of both defensive groups. The
second half played much like the first until the later stages of the third quarter
where Foles found his tight end for the first touchdown of the game. As the
Bears came back and answered with a field goal, the defense tightened up
allowing Trubisky to more opportunity in the forth quarter to score a touchdown
putting the Bears up 15-10 late in the game.
With everything riding on this great Bears defense
holding the Eagles out of the endzone, Foles orchestrated another magical drive
ending with Golden Tate finding pay-dirt with less than one-minute remaining in
the contest. When all looked grim for Chicago, speedster Tarik Cohen busted a
huge return, followed by a handsome completion from Trubisky to Robinson
placing the Bears in field goal range to win the game. With 10 seconds on the
clock, the hopes of the Bears postseason rested on the right foot of Cody
Parkey, to which he failed the team by hitting the left upright.
A season filled with so much hope and promise fell in
disaster and dismay for all Bears faithful.
2019
Offseason WorkBook:
The
Coaching Staff
Normally when any squad has the success which the
Bears had in 2018, other teams begin to pilfer talented minds to run their
clubs.
While most of the Bears staff has remained the same
outside of speciality coaching changes, the biggest name to have found a new home
is defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. The Denver Broncos felt the need for a
change and believe that Fangio will be the perfect fit.
Trying to find a replacement for the leader of one of
the best defensive units in the NFL, the Bears chose to hire Chuck Pagano
formally the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. Pagano once held great
esteem in the league from his time with the Ravens but found himself out of
football last season after uneven showings with the Colts. He will have big
shoes to fill this season, but we feel this is a sound hire.
The
Offense
Coming into the 2018 season, we were intrigued with
the potential this group could produce with the added weapons and collection of
youth now on the roster.
Starting with Mitchell Trubisky, we had our
reservations that he would be able to develop properly but were greatly
encouraged when Nagy was chosen to provide that instruction. While Mitchell
hasn’t been able to complete a full sixteen game slate in his young career due
to injuries, he showed fantastic improvement in year two. Coach Nagy tailored
the offense in ways which would be conducive to his abilities with roll outs
and run options a plenty. Seeing his completion percentage shoot up to 66% was
a welcomed sight, and we feel further steps forward should transpire in year
three.
The Bears
running attack behind Jordan Howard left something to be desired this past
season as he wasn’t able to hit the 1000-yard mark for the first time in his
short career. It was clear when reviewing the statistics, Howard lost touches
to both Cohen and Trubisky, but shouldn’t have seen the drop off in yards per
carry like we witnessed. Housing a 3.7 average per carry is quite baffling
given the increased options in the pass game. We fully believe Howard should
see a return to better numbers this season as the Bears get more comfortable
with the Nagy system.
While
Chicago does possess a great deal of talent at the wide receiver position,
understanding how to appropriately utilize them all will be the greater
challenge. Perhaps the greatest downfall to this group was the over usage of
Tarik Cohen in the pass game as he led all players in catches this past season.
Allen Robinson again missed time to injuries, but if he can remain healthy, he
should have no problem taking the next step in year two with the Bears. Getting
Anthony Miller to become a bigger part of this offense would be our first
recommendation, one which we know coach Nagy will undoubtedly already be
working on.
This Bears
offense has the potential to become a high-powered group in year two of this
offensive installation, and behind a sound offensive line, sky is literally the
limit.
The
Defense
What can we say about this defensive group that the
Bears employ? Describing them with words like fantastic, phenomenal, elite, is
quite fitting in our eyes.
When Khalil Mack became a member of this team, the
final important piece of the puzzle was in place for this unit to grow into the
best in the league. There is no question that teams can always improve, and
like the rest, Chicago has room to get better.
The defensive line led the way in the sack department
with Mack and Hicks producing 20 sacks between the two of them with the rest of
the group piling up a whopping 50 on the campaign. Getting to the quarterback
wasn’t an issue for this defense and should get stronger with a solid draft
class.
As we mentioned above, adding line backer Roquan Smith
to the fold lifted this core to another level as the rookie was able to become
the team leader in tackles for 2018 with 121. Teamed with Danny Trevathan also
securing 102 tackles for the year, clogging up the middle of the field while
adding heavy run support drove this defense and allowed the line to find
opposing quarterbacks. Not even speaking about star Leonard Floyd leaves us
licking our chops at how great this group will be in the new year.
Feeling as though we are only singing the praises of
the defense, it continues with the play of the secondary. Led by Eddie Jackson
and Kyle Fuller - who were responsible for stealing the ball a healthy 13 times
alone, the rest played well enough to keep this unit rolling. Though we have
never been great supporters of Prince Amukamara, he impressed us with his
ability to make tackles in key situations while holding the 4th spot
in tackles on the team, very impressive. With Adrian Amos and Bryce Callahan
rounding out the rest of this group, adding depth should be on the menu while
pushing the starters.
This Bears defense might take a slight sidestep with a
new coordinator calling the shots, but we have no doubt that they will again
find a way to lead the league in many categories.
Team
Free Agents / Team Salary Cap
General Manager Ryan Pace has done a solid job in
building this team, especially on the defensive side of the ball. But with
great success will come grave headaches when trying to keep such a talented bunch
together for the long term. Already the Bears find themselves in salary cap
trouble only housing a meek 11 million (+$11,613,601) in free space. Finding
ways to get creative will be the challenge Pace will have from day one of this
offseason.
Chicago currently has 21 players looking for new
contracts this offseason - starting with priority player Adrian Amos. He will
without question be the club’s top choice to resign but may find it incredibly
difficult to meet his asking price. Bryce Callahan also finds himself on the
outside looking in and may choose to find another team willing to overpay for
his services come March 13th. Outside of those two players, the list
is arguably filled with interchangeable pieces that can be gathered and
replenished in the draft.
Though its hard to argue that money spent was a bad
choice when the team has success, reviewing the books this season does leave
little wiggle room for this team to improve outside of the NFL draft. The Bears
did grossly overpay for certain players this past offseason which may come back
to bite them even as close as next season. Our goal is to attempt finding ways
secure more funds off the books in favorable contracts, but in the Bears case,
we don’t see great return on cutting to find funds.
As of today, Akiem Hicks, Charles Leno, Kyle Long,
Danny Tervathan offer the most benefit to cut with cap savings applied, but
releasing any of these players off this roster would be an exercise in
stupidity, as replacing their productivity would be near impossible. At this
point the Bears should stay the course with their cap troubles and add talent
in the draft, while ignoring free agency all together.
The
NFL Draft
While we thought Chicago had issues with their cap,
having little to work with in the draft will pose to be a gigantic issue for
this club in 2019.
Currently the Bears house only 5 picks in the 2019
draft, including having no selections in the first two rounds. Chicago will
have their chance to pick with the 87th overall choice all the way
in the third round.
The Bears also are missing their sixth-round pick
while adding an extra 7th rounder to the books will go marginally
unnoticed. Even though we are great supporters of what the Bears have in place,
mortgaging the future while mismanaging the salary cap is always prime for
future disaster.
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