Posted on August 31 2017
Expectations are not very high for the Bears this year. After a much maligned (to say the least) offseason which saw the front office overpay (in some people’s opinions) for Mike Glennon ($16M a year?!) and overcompensate the 49ers to move up just one place in the draft (a 3rd and 4th rounder this past draft plus an additional 3rd rounder next year), the hopes from the fan base are not at all-time highs either. However, there are still plenty of reasons to watch and lucky for you, there’s 10 of them right after this paragraph! Here we go!
In Trubisky We Trust
Obviously the #1 reason to watch this season is to see if Mitchell Trubisky can play at all, and as of the time of this writing (just after the 1st preseason game) the answer to that question is a resounding YES!!! There hasn’t been a rookie that has stolen the hearts of the city in this quick of a fashion, maybe ever! The last rookie we all fell in love with was Brian Urlacher and that took a few games before that happened (Note: I wanted the Bears to draft Plaxico Burress that year, separate side note: I’m dumb). Mitch has made the city go from booing him viciously when he appeared on the big screen at the Bulls game right after he was drafted to being everyone’s favorite player after 2 mins of playing time.
While many so called “experts” swear the Bears paid too much to get Trubisky, all of that will be forgotten when he proves that he’s a franchise quarterback. Now if he turns out to be a bum, then that trade starts to look ugly and our franchise is set back 5-10 years, nbd.Is Glennon an actual starting NFL QB or just another number in the footnote of Bears QBs
After the 1st Bears preseason game, many fans were saying “The GM who paid Glennon should be fired” but were also saying “The GM who drafted Trubisky needs a promotion” (note: It’s the same guy!). Now you can see what the fan base is going through. Fans shouldn’t get too high about Trubisky after one preseason game (FYI I already have him in the hall of fame) but we should also not get too down on Glennon either (even though he had an ugly INT on his second pass and was reminiscent of our beloved Jay Cutler). In the end, it would be great if Glennon is actually good but let’s be honest, we all just want to see Mitch play (and Glennon’s head is too weird to have to see on TV every Sunday, it looks like aliens grabbed him by the top of his head and stretched it out too far).
The Defense
Realistically, judging off of where they finished last year, it seemed that the defense had a long way to go to become respectable, however in total yards given up they were a respectable 15th in the league, however they did finish in the bottom third in points given up and takeaways. With that being said, the defense was addressed in the offseason and it looks like there will be some standouts on that side of the ball, most notably Leonard Floyd. Last season Floyd played 12 games and had 7 sacks, 1 forced fumble and 1 recovered fumble. He has the makings of being a special player.
We’re Bears Fans
Of course we’re going to watch, we’re Bears fans damnit! We ride or die with this team. Chicago loves football and it loves its Bears. “The game was made in Chicago, for Chicago by a Chicagoan” (Don Pierson, Chicago Tribune), that says everything that football means to Chicago. In a city that is constantly divided by silly things like “should” go on a hotdog (it’s not ketchup) and by very serious things like the gun violence, the Chicago Bears act as a uniting force, whether they are good or bad.
Jordan Howard – One Season Wonder?
History says that Jordan Howard will not have as good of a year as he did last year. There are too many occurances where a running back comes out of nowhere to have a great year and then defenses figure out how to play against him and they are never heard from again. While Howard had a very, very good year last year, something tells me he probably more like Anthony Thomas then he is like Matt Forte.
Will Kevin White be on the team next year?
One area of particular weakness is WR. The front office decided that it was not going to spend any resources on WR. They approached the WR position like they were shopping at the thrift store, (Markus Wheaton, Kendall Wright, and Victor Cruz’s corpse don’t exactly instill fear into opponents). Kevin White will have every opportunity to take the WR1 spot, as long as he can stay healthy, if not, we probably won’t see him in a Bears uniform again.
Over/under 5 wins
If gambling were legal in the great city of Chicago, and the over/under line for Bears wins was 5.5, I would put my hypothetical money on the over. I see them being a vastly improved team and winning 6 games next year should be in reach but they are going to need some luck. That’s probably not enough to save John Fox’s job but that’s another story.
Cutler can’t screw us anymore (Good luck Miami!)
Ha! Screw you Miami, he’s your problem now!
What else are we doing on Sunday?
Think about it, it’s probably cold out so you’re not going outside (unless it’s to tailgate, then it’s never too cold), what else are you going to do between 12-3:30 on a Sunday? Watch the game, even if they stink, even if you are hungover AF and can’t move, throw the game on and sink in and out of consciousness.
There’s always 3-4 teams that come out of nowhere to make the playoffs, can it be the Bears?
I don’t want everyone to get too optimistic but every year there are between 3 and 4 new playoff teams each year, so why can’t one of those teams be the Bears? They are going to need a lot of luck and either Glennon or Trubisky are going to have to have the season of their lives but stranger things have happened, right?
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