Can Chicago Bears compete to win the NFC North in 2018?
Chicago Bears (8-8), third place
As badly as I want to forfeit myself completely to Chicago Bears optimism in 2018, let’s try and stay as reasonable as we can for now.
Mitch Trubisky, for all his talent, is still a young quarterback that we need to learn more about. As much as I love the Matt Nagy hire and the coaching staff he’s put together, we still have to see it in action. And just in general, we have no idea how this offense will function just yet, for all the hype.
Also, as good as the defense was last season, they might still teeter on a scary edge at the linebacker position, particularly on the outside. They had a really solid draft and did add inside linebackers Roquan Smith and Joel Iyeigbuniwe and edge rusher Kyle Fitts, but given how crazy the injury situation has been at the position, you almost have to assume that their depth will be tested again.
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And is the corner combination of Kyle Fuller and Prince Amukamara really enough for the Bears? Will teams start to attack Adrian Amos more aggressively? We’ll see.
Bottom line: even the bright-looking future of this team can’t convince me to go past 8-8 for this year. We’ve been burned way too many times to start overselling this team now.
That said, rapid development from Trubisky is the wild card in all this. If he has a Carson Wentz-type second season, all bets are off. And one way or another, I do expect the Bears to be in playoff contention, no matter how minute, in the last two weeks of the season. If they can take just one game from the Packers in 2018, they may very well sneak in after all.
But for now, let’s not overdo it with the expectations yet. Besides, 8-8 would be a hugely positive step for this organization after 13 wins in three years.
Detroit Lions (6-10), fourth place
Is it disrespectful to have a 9-7 wild card team from 2017 finishing last in the division? Not if it’s the Detroit Lions.
Ultimately, I see it shaking out like this because, assuming health, everyone else in the division is already better/has improved enough to overtake the Lions.
For example, do you really think the Lions would’ve beaten Aaron Rodgers twice if he’d been on the field for Green Bay? Given that that’s never happened and knowing that he’s 13-3 lifetime against them, I’m gonna say no. So that would’ve probably knocked them down a peg.
More so than any other team in the division, they may suffer from the improvements around the NFC North.
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Matt Stafford has turned into a very good quarterback, but he’s not the kind of guy that can transcend a team’s deficiencies. Not yet, if he ever will be.
Whatever way the order shakes out, I think the Lions will end up back at the bottom of the division where they belong.