NEWSLETTER
Peering into the crystal ball to predict the future can be a fool’s errand (especially when it comes to the NFL), but the pull can be irresistible.
So when Andy Benoit of The MMQB predicts various team records, league standings, playoff brackets, and even a Super Bowl matchup for 2018, it’s hard not to look. But to be blunt, Benoit doesn’t see confetti anywhere in the Chicago Bears’ immediate future.
According to Benoit, the Bears are on their way to a 7-9 record this season, which would leave them in last place of the NFC North for the fifth straight year.
Woohoo! Wait, excuse me. I didn’t have the sarcasm font toggled on:Â Woohoo.Â
The NFC North has three teams predicted to win 10+ games this season (one of which won’t make the playoffs) and 11 of the 16 games on the Bears’ schedule will feature opponents predicted to finish .500 or better. There are only five Bears opponents who Benoit predicts will finish with losing records, which is all a long way of saying this Bears team has its work cut out for them.
But let’s look at it this way: If the Bears were to beat the five teams predicted to finish 2018 with losing records, that means they would have to beat two teams predicted to go .500 or better to reach seven wins. That’s … like, something, right?
Even still … this probably isn’t what GM Ryan Pace had in mind as he enters his fourth season running the show in Chicago. And it’s definitely not what Matt Nagy has his team aiming for in his first season as a head coach. A seven-win season from the Bears wouldn’t be the worst-case scenario, but I think we’re all okay to *hope* for something better.
