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Free agency and the draft are over. Sure, there's another phase of free agency and pickups after cuts left. But it sure seems unlikely we'll make a move to snag Odell Beckham. Eric Fisher maybe?

In any case, we have a pretty decent idea what our team is going to look like this season. And we know that we have a bit easier schedule this time around. So it's prediction time. Answer the poll and explain your rationale.

My answer... 5
My logic...
Looking at the players, I just don't see how we're better than we were last year. We should be better at CB2 and SS on defense. But those are rookies. LB? Roquan is great, but after that it's kind of a mystery. Maybe we're a touch better. No guarantees. The DL lacks the 3T lynchpin, Quinn is highly unlikely to put up 18 sacks and otherwise, it's meh. On offense, Fields should be better, but his receiving corps is a joke compared to the rest of the NFL. And our OL seems clearly worse on the short term with a massive hole at RG, although the 2nd year guys certainly could make a positive move. It just seems to me we're not really better across the board.
The coaching staff is very inexperienced. Even the experienced guys like DC Williams don't have accomplishments to write home about. I hear the logic that it can't get any worse than Nagy, but it really can be worse than that. I'm not saying it is or it isn't. I don't know. But what to we really have to hang our hat one with Flus and co, given their new responsibilities?
The most certain thing we have is an easier schedule. But even then, things change, so you never quite know there either.

I hope beyond hope that I'm as wrong as wrong can be. But I'll need to see it to believe it. Besides, the way Poles is playing this certainly looks like he is being "patient". Another term for that is "development year", i.e. replacing a lot of age with youth and inexperience and if that nets you some quality 2023 draft picks, that's a perfectly fine complement to his 2022 approach. Thus, 5 sounds about right to me.

I voted nine.

The team isn't fully compiled yet. And most are undervaluing what they have already.

Furthermore, the NFC North will be a clusterfuck--the Lions will be better, the Packers will be worse--so the Bears will be in the hunt.

Meathead fan in me chose 9, as I hate to choose the Bears to lose. I think the Bears O will score more as the season progresses, particularly if they stick to their strength in the running game, and the Bears D will have a rough start but then generate some scoring themselves.

How much longer until week 1? oh yeah only 4 months ...

I was looking to bet on win some/lose some but that wasn't a choice. It's a safer bet but the payout is crappy.

In all honesty I don't really know. With so much re-tooling it's kind of a mixed bag of emotions as far as how much we've improved or declined. The defense is changing it's scheme from a 3-4 to a 4-3 and accumulating the DL talent to play a four man front. In theory losing Hicks and Mack should make us much worse but then with as many games as they missed in 2021 is that a realistic way to see it? How well Flus rotation works out will be a biggie and whether or not we have enough depth at the 3 tech DT spot to make it through 17 games. One question I keep asking is whether or not Ogunjobi may return once his foot has healed.

But I believe the secondary will be much better and I also believe we'll be better at LB. How much that can offset any question marks about the DL is hard to say right now but we also have LB and DB who can be schemed to blitz and that may help offset whatever we may lose in pressure from the front four. It's highly unlikely Quinn will get the number of sacks he got in 2021 so Flus will need to look to others across the board to pick up the slack. His plan to rotate his guys should help with that.

However, I can honestly say I believe the offense will be far better although beating a former offense who struggled to score more than 17 points per game isn't a high hurdle to clear. Most of whatever gains we expect will probably come from Getsy's creativity and Fields ascension in his scheme. I'm one who isn't as negative about our pass receivers as many others. Tyke Tolber is one hell of a WR coach and I also believe Getsy is much better prepared to use his players in ways that feature their strengths than Nagy ever was. Win or lose I believe it will be a far more exciting and efficient offense than we've seen under Nagy.

So I figure 8 wins/9 losses. Even with a much easier schedule with so many rookie and second year guys playing there are bound to be enough mistakes made to cost us a game or two we might have won without those mistakes. I'd be happy with 8 wins.

20 wins. I can’t help myself. Come kick off I always think the bears are going to win today. So by that logic they’re going to win every game.

Ditka’s dictaphone wrote: ↑Wed May 11, 2022 5:41 am 20 wins. I can’t help myself. Come kick off I always think the bears are going to win today. So by that logic they’re going to win every game.

That will be some trick considering there's only 17 games. :-p

Mikefive wrote: ↑Wed May 11, 2022 8:23 am

Ditka’s dictaphone wrote: ↑Wed May 11, 2022 5:41 am 20 wins. I can’t help myself. Come kick off I always think the bears are going to win today. So by that logic they’re going to win every game.

That will be some trick considering there's only 17 games. :-p

With a superbowl win, you'd have 20 wins on the season.

I'm going with 5. It's a rebuilding year, and there just isn't a lot of top-level talent on the roster right now (especially on the offensive side of the ball). On paper, it's one of the easier schedules in the league, but it's always a bit iffy trying to extrapolate from the previous year's results.

I think the front office has (rightly so) set themselves up for a strong 2023, and they'll have some great draft capital and cap room to make this team into a contender.

I went with 7. The Bears aren't running a complicated defense, so it shouldn't be too difficult of a transition.

As far as the offense goes...I think by simply not having Nagy, things will improve. But who knows. They could in 12 or they could win 2.

The schedule doesn't look too hard at this moment in time.

5 seems right to me too. I just do not think everything will mesh quickly and the offense will be hanstrung by the line and WR rooms.

Took 6


I think the talent level has taken an unquestionable step backwards - with trades, FA walks, changes to fit new scheme. Plus just the learning of a new scheme.
Excitement from fresh regime, plus impossibility of being as inept as Nagy will provide some boost.

I'm figuring on it balancing out.

LacertineForest wrote: ↑Wed May 11, 2022 8:55 am

Mikefive wrote: ↑Wed May 11, 2022 8:23 am That will be some trick considering there's only 17 games. :-p

With a superbowl win, you'd have 20 wins on the season.

That’s my thinking

15+. 2 warm upl losses and all victories baby.

In all seriousness, I could care less about the record, as long as fields shows he can be the man.

I've been predicting 10 and I'll stick with that. Wins. Yeah - wins.

I figure we'll end up somewhere between 4-13 to 7-10.

Just enough wins to keep us away from a blue chip talent in the draft, as usual.

I just don't see that this team has a lot going for it. Fields is the wildcard in that if he takes a major leap, we might not finish last in the division, but my suspicion is Getsy is to Eberflus as Terry Shea was to Lovie Smith. I just don't love the idea of a first time OC with a QB who has yet to develop. We've seen this movie before and we need to learn that if you have a young QB, you get an established OC to guide him. And if you have an established QB who already knows how to play, it's probably OK to promote up an OC who hasn't done it before.

Both learning on the job? It's just not a recipe for success.

I feel like the defense is likely to be anywhere from decent to pretty good. The draft seems like it'll help out that side of the ball most and we have a real good linebacker. But we all know by now you can't win in the modern NFL on defense alone. The game has changed.



TLDR: Same old Bears.

I voted for 12 wins.

Losses to the Packers 2x, Cowboys, Patriots, and the Bills.

The defense will be in the top half of the league. The offense will be better.

With McNagy we were a .500 team that was effectively conceding the offensive side of the ball. All our offense has to do is show up and we'll win a lot more games.

I took 7. New regime, probably 80% turnover in the OL, moving to a 4-3 base D. If we win 7 I'll consider it a success.

I picked 8 games. Not quite enough to hit .500, but the team should start to jell and will win a couple they shouldn't and lose a few they shouldn't. 8-9 with the arrow pointing up is my Kool-Ade drenched forecast.

9 is my prediction.

This schedule isn’t as difficult as last year’s and the defense was good with Mack only playing 6 games and not being healthy before that. Even with rookies starting I can’t imagine them being worse than Vildor and Shelley—and poor play by the secondary cost them the Ravens and Steelers games.

On offense Robinson only had 38 catches for 410 yards. I don’t think that’s an especially high bar for the new acquisitions to replicate or exceed and so I think people are overrating the impact of losing him.

Mooney had over 1,000 yards in his second year and was Fields favorite target. They’ve been working together all off season. Presumably, both of them can improve.

David Montgomery is a really good running back, Herbert looked good when he took over and the scheme people believe we’re moving to better fits his skill set.

I think people are underrating the talent on the team and how competitive they were in some losses even without great coaching.

TheWorldBreaker wrote: ↑Fri May 13, 2022 2:11 pm On offense Robinson only had 38 catches for 410 yards. I don’t think that’s an especially high bar for the new acquisitions to replicate or exceed and so I think people are overrating the impact of losing him.

Four to six, max. First time HC and NFL OC, with limited playcalling experience, instilling a new offense is going to have some rough patches.

The defense should be fine, with Eberflus being a defensive coach and a former DC with actual experience. And with the new toys in secondary it will make the transition to the new schemes more fluid.

As long as Fields shows some improvement and passes the eyeball test I won't care about the losing record. Just give us something to show there's a long term plan and chance for future potential, to be realized.

6 wins, but they scrap. Packers split gives hope.

I have a hard time seeing our defense anywhere near dominant. I also see Fields struggling at times (maybe because Getsy gets out coached by the opposing D coordinator). 7 to 9 wins feels right based on what's happening on paper for us and the opponents. If we add another D line piece before the season, I think it'll push us into double digit wins and a playoff game.

UOK wrote: ↑Tue May 17, 2022 5:06 am 6 wins, but they scrap. Packers split gives hope.

I see the same thing - a scrappy team. I see them being close in games if they don't win, because of the new culture. Signs of better things to come, similar to '84.

But I guessed 10 wins because the schedule is easy and I do expect JF1 to break out quite a bit.

And I expect the D to be less experienced with fewer "big names" of course... and more mistake-prone - but also more ferocious and energetic and maybe taking over a few games unexpectedly. Like remember the first Vikes game last year where the Bears had 4-5 nobody DBs playing and everyone was predicting doom against Jefferson... but the Bears came out with Vildor and Graham, Tabor and Virgin sort of punched the other guys in the nose? That was awesome, even though JF1 had to run for his life that game and Zim had just completely diagnosed Nagy. In the new system with HITS, I fully expect surprises on the defense to the positive, relative to what people are assuming now.

I might stick my neck out and predict Flus as a COY candidate, based on the record vs league-wide expectations that we're hearing.

Nagy was COY so it’s certainly not out of the question

dplank wrote: ↑Tue May 17, 2022 12:58 pm Nagy was COY so it’s certainly not out of the question

He was the real McCOY.