Tuesday, February 17, 2009

An Early Look at the 2009 NFL North: Chicago Bears


Offense:
The Bears livelihood does not revolve around their offense and it never has. However, over the last couple of seasons, the notorious Bears D has gotten a little older, and a lot less dominant than they were when they made it to the Super Bowl. And recently, their offense has been coming together slowly and has shown that they can produce.

The Bears have a three pronged offense with Devin Hester, Greg Olson, and Matt Forte. Devin Hester is a dangerous player whenever he gets his hand on the ball, Olson really emerged as the top target for Kyle Orton this season, Matt Forte is a great young talent who makes the Bear's offense more dangerous. However, the one bright spot for the rest of the defenses in the NFC North is the hole at the quarterback position. Yes, Kyle Orton did have a decent season in 2008, but he is not a good quarterback. There is a lot of speculation this offseason as to whether or not the Bears will go after a QB in free agency or the draft, and with Rex Grossman potentially leaving as a free agent, the Bears have a big bench space to fill. Sorry, I can't even type that with a straight face.

Defense:
The Bear's defense is definately not what it used to be. Urlacher is on his way out, their secondary has holes that have become more and more evident, and they dont strike the fear into their opponents like they used to. Just like all of the other teams in the league, the Bears are going to address their concerns in free agency and the draft.

2009 Prediction:
I expect the Bears to struggle this season on offense if their offensive success rests on the arm of Kyle Orton. I think that the Bears will pick up some quality players on defense this offseason, but when it comes down to it, I believe their offense will not be strong enough to carry them to the top of the North. The Bears finish somewhere in the middle of the conference this season. I'm not going to say where I think the Packers will finish, but I will say that I expect the Bears to finish behind the Vikings in the conference in 2009

No comments:

Post a Comment