Chicago Bears: Bold predictions for 2018 (Part 1)

4. Leonard Floyd will top 10 sacks

Yes, I am aware that we all thought he would do this last season and it didn’t happen.

I know that, for the season straight year, Floyd didn’t play a complete season due to injury. Thankfully (if you want to put it that way), his not playing the end of the season may have been more precautionary than anything. And he didn’t suffer more concussions (that we know of), so count that as a small win.

Also, yes, Floyd didn’t always dominate when we expected him to, such as against the beleaguered Green Bay Packers offensive line on multiple occasions.

That, and the Chicago Bears don’t simply deploy Floyd as a pass-rusher all the time. He drops into coverage a lot and performs many different tasks due to his speed and versatility.

In token of that, he only had 4.5 sacks last year in 12 starts after posting seven sacks as a rookie.

Still, Floyd has double-digit sack potential. And with the Bears slowly shaping into a formidable defensive unit, I think he realizes it this year.

Another year into his career, Floyd will continue to hone his technical skill as a rusher and improve his functional strength. Last year, we saw him start to overwhelm people every once in a while. And sometimes, we’d see him do the sorts of freakish things we all imagined when the Bears took him ninth overall in 2016.

As mentioned with Hicks, the supporting cast around him has to play well in order for him to get there. Specifically, Lynch and the rookies they bring in have to impact the game from Day 1. He’s not going to get home all the time if people don’t have to worry about stopping his teammates.

If he gets that support and plays 14 or more games in 2018, I think Floyd finally goes full monster-mode. Yes, he is a versatile defensive weapon for Vic Fangio, but his main power remains his pass rush ability.

Watch for them to turn him loose a few more times than they did last season. And look for him to be more efficient with the opportunities the Bears give him to get after the quarterback.