Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2017 8:57:15 GMT -6
Mike FLorio of NBC Sports ProFootballTalk Blog is rolling out his annual Power Rankings. They're a joke - Florio knows they're a joke, but they do provide him and everyone else who does them/reads them to consider ranking the teams best on their offseason moves. Not much stood out in Florio's run down of why the Bears are so horrible (you can read his report here), but one piece did and it's something we've discussed a lot: Injuries. Read this tid bit from his report:
Looking at the Football Outsider's report you can see that not only were the Bears devastated with injuries last year BUT the previous year they had the 6th most significant injuries in the NFL too. The past few years have truly been a cluster of injuries. There is a hope in the data though: Last year's most injured team - the New York Giants - were one of the leagues least injured teams in 2016. Same with the New England Patriots. That gives hope that we can turn it around (though teams like Washington show it's easy to continue the trend).
Regardless, the Bears have a LOT to prove. I think Florio's ranking of the Bears at this stage of the game is spot on. We are one of the worst teams in the NFL on paper and we have a lot to prove this year. Let's hope we can get it done.
Biggest positive change: The Bears will be healthier this year. How do we know that? Because they had so many injuries last year that they simply have to be healthier this year. FootballOutsiders.com uses a statistic called Adjusted Games Lost that factors in not just how many players missed games but how important those players were (so a starter missing time hurts more than a backup missing time), and how many players were ineffective because they were playing through injuries that had them listed as questionable on the injury report. Football Outsiders injury data goes back to 2000, and in that time no team was hit worse by injuries than the 2016 Bears. Regression toward the mean suggests that the Bears will be much healthier in 2017.
Regardless, the Bears have a LOT to prove. I think Florio's ranking of the Bears at this stage of the game is spot on. We are one of the worst teams in the NFL on paper and we have a lot to prove this year. Let's hope we can get it done.
LOL