4 things that can make or break the Chicago Bears 2023 season

The Chicago Bears 2023 regular season schedule has been released.

The Bears kick off their season at home against the Green Bay Packers. The hope is quarterback Jordan Love does not take over ownership of the Bears from the recently traded Aaron Rodgers.

The Bears will also close the season against the Packers when they travel to Lambeau Field.

Other highlights include traveling to face the Super Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs. The Bears play on Thursday Night Football against the Washington Commanders and the Carolina Panthers. They have a Sunday Night Football matchup with the Los Angeles Chargers and Monday Night Football game at Minnesota.

Before you predict the Chicago Bears to win the NFC North, consider that this is a team that went 3-14 last year. The Bears are currently on a 10-game losing streak. You have to go back to October 24th, 2022 for the last time Chicago won a football game.

General manager Ryan Poles has made enough roster upgrades that the Chicago Bears should avoid directly contending for the No. 1 overall pick. The season will have to play out to see if his improvements are enough to get the Bears into the playoffs.

Also, before you make your bold projections, these four things should be considered…

Justin Fields takes the next step as a passing quarterback.

Fields established that he is a terrific runner and a dynamic playmaker last season.

Justin Fields showed enough to Ryan Poles that he is worth being the quarterback of the future. That does not mean Poles wants to see improvement from Fields before committing to him as the quarterback for say the next decade.

Poles is doing his part to improve the talent around Fields to make sure he can succeed. He overhauled the right side of the offensive line when he signed veteran guard Nate Davis and drafted tackle Darnell Wright with the No. 10 pick in the first round.

He traded the No. 1 overall pick to the Carolina Panthers for wide receiver C.J. Moore and a ton of draft capital. Moore joins Darnell Mooney and Chase Claypool to form a dangerous receiver trio.

Poles also drafted speedy wide receiver, Tyler Scott. Some draft experts felt Ryan Poles got a steal in Scott when he took him in the fourth round.

Tight end Robert Tonyan and running back D’Onta Foreman were also added in free agency. Cole Kmet and Tonyan are a really good tight-end combination. Foreman joining Khalil Herbert along with rookie Roschon Johnson greatly improves a run game that was already one area the offense was good at.

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All that is left is Fields getting better in the pocket. He must improve getting the ball out of his hand quicker. He needs to be able to complete passes to his check downs better. Finally, he needs to do a better job of reading defenses.

Oh, and he needs to start winning.

Fields has been putting in the work this offseason to get better. Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy thinks Justin Fields is already light-years ahead of where he was last year.

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If Fields can take that leap, he could boost the Bears to the playoffs. Although, a regression might mean the win total only goes up by a few games.