LINK Well, the Bears were 8-8 last season, so expecting oddsmakers to establish a number far off that figure would be a mistake. They won only eight games with the defense you’re referring to. Nick Foles doesn’t move the needle for oddsmakers the way I believe he does for the Bears. If you look at BetOnline.ag, the Bears are favorites for only six games: Week 2 versus the Giants, Week 4 versus the Colts, Week 5 versus the Buccaneers, Week 6 at the Panthers, Week 13 versus the Lions and Week 14 versus the Texans. They’re a pick ’em for home games against the Vikings and Packers, and they’re underdogs at home against the Saints and in seven road games: at the Lions, Falcons, Rams, Titans, Packers, Vikings and Jaguars. Those lines will move before the games are played, some of them considerably, but that gives you a general overview of how an oddsmaker — who is seeking to attract the same amount of money bet on both sides — looks at the Bears right now. Some readers believe the Bears will far exceed oddsmakers’ current expectations. Those staking money to their beliefs stand to be rewarded if the Bears have a fine season.
Looking at the schedule, the thing that strikes me is that we play the Lions in game #1 and then no other divisional opponents until game #10 or #11. Right?
I suppose that is designed to keep as many teams in contention as long as possible, but I would rather play more divisional games earlier in the season when the defense is still close to 100% healthy. What do you think?
Looking at the schedule, the thing that strikes me is that we play the Lions in game #1 and then no other divisional opponents until game #10 or #11. Right?
I suppose that is designed to keep as many teams in contention as long as possible, but I would rather play more divisional games earlier in the season when the defense is still close to 100% healthy. What do you think?
It's going to be interesting for sure. Health (good or bad) is a key to team's success or failure. I remember so many years where the Bears would have a team in September that was legit powerful, but by November the injuries just took a heavy toll and made them into a significantly weaker team and the season tanked. They weren't the same team. A season is such a long journey.
I think the season may rest on health and if Nagy can produce a much improved offense to go with this good defense. If the offense sucks again then it's just another crappy Bears season coming up. If the offense is solid then this could be a great season with a division championship AND a deep playoff run. But you can't do that with 1/2 a team (defense alone). Gotta have a good offense too. I keep remembering that we had the #2 offense in the NFL to go with our solid defense in 1985. Championship year. The next year, 1986 I thought we had an even better defense than 1985 (call me crazy but I believe that) but without a QB we failed to repeat. You just can't be weak with 1/2 a game (no offense) and expect to win a SB. At least I don't see it as an easy task and certainly sustained winning isn't going to happen. Pace and Nagy have to figure it out somehow.
It was really hard to watch the Bears last year. They were that bad. Painful to watch football played that badly.
They sure are. And they are affected by recency bias. Bears disappointed expectations in 2019 and their offense was awful--people tend to assume that will be the same when it SHOULD be better.
I think this team can win 10 games with a reasonably decent O and maybe 12 if the O if the O surprises a little to the upside. The defense should be damn good IMO.
Looking at the schedule, the thing that strikes me is that we play the Lions in game #1 and then no other divisional opponents until game #10 or #11. Right?
I suppose that is designed to keep as many teams in contention as long as possible, but I would rather play more divisional games earlier in the season when the defense is still close to 100% healthy. What do you think?
It's going to be interesting for sure. Health (good or bad) is a key to team's success or failure. I remember so many years where the Bears would have a team in September that was legit powerful, but by November the injuries just took a heavy toll and made them into a significantly weaker team and the season tanked. They weren't the same team. A season is such a long journey.
I think the season may rest on health and if Nagy can produce a much improved offense to go with this good defense. If the offense sucks again then it's just another crappy Bears season coming up. If the offense is solid then this could be a great season with a division championship AND a deep playoff run. But you can't do that with 1/2 a team (defense alone). Gotta have a good offense too. I keep remembering that we had the #2 offense in the NFL to go with our solid defense in 1985. Championship year. The next year, 1986 I thought we had an even better defense than 1985 (call me crazy but I believe that) but without a QB we failed to repeat. You just can't be weak with 1/2 a game (no offense) and expect to win a SB. At least I don't see it as an easy task and certainly sustained winning isn't going to happen. Pace and Nagy have to figure it out somehow.
It was really hard to watch the Bears last year. They were that bad. Painful to watch football played that badly.
====== OK, I agree with most of this. But I think it depends (regarding offense) how you define words "sucks" and "solid." I think there are some other degrees somewhere between these two, and that's about what I am expecting until we see how these unproven new guys perform. If the defense is nearly 100% and the offense is a LITTLE less than "solid", we should be contenders for the divisional title at least. As I said, though, my fear is that by the time we get to all those divisional games against Packers and Vikings at the back end of the schedule, the defense will be dinged up and so the offense will not be about to take up the slack. I would much rather play this schedule in the reverse direction!