The 2018 Chicago Bears won 12 games, a division title, sent eight players to the Pro Bowl, and featured four first-team All-Pros. That team was good, to be sure. But the 2019 Bears who are running it back figure to be solid, too.
ESPN’s Insider and Pro Football Focus team up to grade each of the 32 NFL rosters, and things look good for the Bears. Chicago is ranked as the fifth-best roster in the league, which speaks volumes towards what GM Ryan Pace has done in his organizational rebuild. The Bears are young, deep, and skilled. And from an analytical perspective, they are one of the best groups in football. Kudos to the front office for putting the pieces in place, coaching staff for putting players in positions to succeed, and players for taking those extra lengths to be as good as they were last year.
Enjoy those good vibes while you can, because PFF warns things could go south if QB1 can’t get it done.
Quarterback Mitch Trubisky is viewed as a team weakness, with PFF saying the team will go only as far as its quarterback takes them in 2019. Trubisky checked in as the No. 31 quarterback by PFF’s grading scale, with a league-high 11 interceptions thrown from a clean pocket representing a major problem spot for Chicago’s signal caller.
After a rookie season in which PFF graded Trubisky as having better marks than Deshaun Watson, Trubisky bounced back in Year 2 and put up better raw numbers than he did as a rookie. And yet, Trubisky’s grades still took a tumble despite him looking better as a second-year player than he did as a rookie. Moving forward, what Trubisky does in Year 3 could dictate how far this team can go in 2019 — which is a far too familiar feeling for Bears fans.
As we learned last season, having a well-rounded team means Trubisky doesn’t have to put up pristine grades to make a positive impact. Between Trubisky’s rushing skills, playmaking ability, and intangibles, there are plenty of things the North Carolina product does to put himself (and his team) in a position to win games. If only there were PFF stats for intangibles…