The Chicago Bears finished the 2023 season with a 7-10 record and missed the playoffs for the third straight year. It was a disappointing season for the Bears as they were hoping former quarterback – and now current Steeler – Justin Fields would take a big step. And unfortunately that never happened as the Bears started out 0-4 – with 3 double digit losses before eventually falling to 2-7 through 9 games. But the Bears finished the year with a 5-3 record in their final 8 games and looked like a completely different team from the team that got killed by Green Bay in week 1, and the team that lost by 31 points to the Chiefs in week 3. In fact – they only allowed 93 total points over the final 6 games of the year – which equated to just 15.5 per game. And not only do they have that to build on entering 2024 – but through a trade they made with the Panthers prior to the 2023 draft – they were able to acquire USC quarterback Caleb Williams with the number one overall pick in the draft. And with their own first round pick – they selected Washington wide receiver Rome Odunze. And what has to be remembered about the Bears – is this team still won 7 games last year. They weren’t a 3-14 team. And due to all of this – along with acquiring 6 time pro bowl receiver Keenan Allen to help out their young quarterback – well it’s simple – the Chicago Bears hype is real. But how will they do in 2024? Well we’re going to break it down in today’s video. Now let’s begin
And we are starting today’s video by breaking down why the Chicago Bears hype is real and it’s not just Caleb, DJ, Keenan, and the rest of the offense. The defense has playmakers at every level and it starts up front. Montez Sweat is a very solid player and the push back the Bears received from this trade initially after it happened was always funny to me because of the fact they didn’t have a long term contract in place for him when the trade was made – and not only that – but that they were going to have to pay him to make the trade worth while. The Bears of course paid Montez shortly after the trade was made and like we’ve mentioned with other teams – most notably L’Jarius Sneed to the Titans – this idea that it’s a burden to pay good players has always been baffling to me – because at the end of the day – good players help make up championship rosters. And not only do the Bears have a good player in Montez Sweat to get after the quarterback – but they also have a pretty underrated player along the defensive line in DeMarcus Walker. Demarcus finished the 2023 season with 47 pressures which was only behind Montez of course – and he should be in for another good year. Or at least an another year where he routinely puts pressure on the quarterback. 2023 2nd round pick Gervon Dexter didn’t have the best rookie year by any means – but he showed flashes throughout his rookie season and I do expect him to take a step forward this year. We often talk about how it takes interior lineman on both sides of the trenches a year or two to develop and to get accustomed to the strength of the NFL level and I think Dexter will be a classic case of this. He still had 29 pressures as a rookie which again – for a rookie defensive tackle – is a good sign moving forward. Through the middle of the defense they are led by TJ Edwards and Tremaine Edmunds and all TJ did in his first year with the Bears was tally 155 tackles, 8 tackles for a loss, and even had 3 interceptions. And the Bears signing Edwards for a 3 year $19.5 million dollar contract last offseason proved to be one of the bigger steals from the 2023 free agent cycle. Tremaine Edmunds had a solid first year with the Bears as he had over 100 tackles and even had a pick 6 against the Browns – but they – along with Jack Sanborn – lead this linebacking corps. The secondary on the other hand is legitimately a no fly zone. They are of course led by Jaylon Johnson who is coming off of one hell of a year as he had an opposing passer rating of just 33.3 when targeted along with 4 interceptions – which included a pick 6 against the Raiders. And yes – they had to pay Jaylon this offseason but the Bears are in a very good situation at the moment – where – they have a lot of great players and they have a lot of talent on the roster – all with a quarterback on a rookie contract. The Bears forced 28 turnovers last year defensively which ranked 5th in the entire league and I don’t think that was by accident. They also finished just 12th in yards allowed as a defense and what has to be remembered for the 2023 Bears entering 2024 – is – they finished 20th in points allowed per game defensively – which I don’t think is a true ranking based on how their defense played if that makes sense
What I mean by this is Justin fields threw a pick 6 in week 1 against the Packers , he threw a pick 6 against the Bucs in week 2, he threw an interception against the Chief in week 3 that gave them the ball at the Chicago 26 to start their drive and you get the point. Also Khalil Herbert fumbled within the 41-10 Chiefs loss – which also gave KC the ball inside Chicago’s 30 to start a drive. And in the first 3 games of the 2023 season alone – Chicago’s offense either allowed a pick 6 or gave a Patrick Mahomes team the ball inside their 30 yard to start – which equates to 24 points right there. And those 24 points – which doesn’t include any other offensive touchdowns allowed – like a Jordan Hicks fumble return for a touchdown in week 6 that could make this 31 points – well those 31 points would have the Bears go from 20th in points allowed per game last year to 10th in points allowed per game. Those 31 points that we mentioned off of 5 plays – would probably have a much bigger impact on how people feel about the Bears heading into the season. A lot of people think it’s a projection with the Bears and I don’t think that’s the case. Now – do I think it’s a little over the top when people think Caleb Williams is automatically going to have a CJ Stroud type rookie year because he has a good supporting cast and because the defense is good – yes – but the signs point to the Bears being a solid team – and the hype being legitimate. Also lost within the Bears points allowed per game – is this is a defensive ranking – but what the points allowed per game doesn’t show is the defense being set up for failure – like they were countless times throughout the 2023 season. What I think is one of the more impressive things the Bears did defensively last year – was – only allowing 24 points to the Saints in a game where the offense turned the ball over 5 times. The Saints had 12 possessions in this game and 7 of them started in Chicago territory. And for the Bears to only allow 24 points – and hell for that matter – only lose this game by a touchdown while losing the turnover battle 5 to 0 – to me at least – speaks volumes about where this defense is and how they will play in 2024. They only lost one player from the defense from 2023 to 2024 and that’s defensive tackle Justin Jones as he signed with the Cardinals in free agency. Justin was a solid player for the Bears but his production isn’t exactly irreplaceable. And as long as the Bears offense doesn’t set them up to fail this year – like they did countless times throughout the 2023 season – they’re going to be just fine. One of my only concerns with the Bears entering the 2024 season is Matt Eberflus as a head coach. Not the defensive mind, or how his defense is going to play – but how he his as an in game head coach. That’s it. The Lions collapse in week 11 was atrocious as Detroit was hung out to dry – yet scored 17 points in the final 3 minutes of the game to come back and win. This was also in a game where Chicago had possession of the football for over 40 minutes, won the turnover battle 4 to 1, and ran for over 180 yards as a team. This was versus a team that’s great defensively agaisnt the run in Detroit. And that’s one of my few concerns with the Bears entering this year. But even within that – you can still convince yourself that the Bears had a great end to the year with the face they only allowed 93 points during those final 6 games. And if you want to be a true Bears hater – and say well they played Josh Dobbs for one of those games, or Desmond Ridder for another – guess what – they allowed 30 combined points against the Lions and Packers during those final 6 games – including a game against Detroit in which they held them to 267 yards of total offense – which was their only game all year under 330 yards of offense out of the 20 they played – playoffs included. So as long as Chicago doesn’t hand the game away – whether you are a Bears fan or not – I don’t know how you can’t think this is a much improved team heading into 2024. I’m not worried by the loss of Darnell Mooney in free agency when they replaced him with not one – but two better players in Keenan Allen and Rome Odunze. And really outside of the Chase Claypool trade a few years back – the Bears have done nearly everything right over the past few years.
