Tomorrow night, we’ll finally flip the TV to NBC to watch real football that counts! As everyone that doesn’t live under a rock already knows, the Chicago Bears will host the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field to kick off the NFL’s and Bears’ franchise’s 100th seasons. Can’t think of a better venue or matchup to start things off.
This game comes after almost exactly eight months to the day that Cody Parkey’s final field goal attempt as a Bear clanged off the left upright and crossbar and bounced the Bears out of the playoffs against Philadelphia. The revenge tour starts tomorrow.
And with that, I’ll dive right into this week’s Bears Mailbag — which happens to be our Week 1 Bears Mailbag. It’s great to finally have these to do again during the season.
Follow me on Twitter @DhruvKoul to continue the conversation. And, as always, thank you to everyone who submitted questions!
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Q: What is your season record prediction? — Chris H.
When the schedule originally came out, I predicted 10-6. I’ve maintained that belief throughout the offseason, though I’ve wavered on which games the Bears will win and lose.
I think there will be an adjustment period with the defense playing much more aggressively, which makes them susceptible to giving up big plays. And while I do expect Mitch Trubisky to improve this season, I have a feeling he’ll still have some bouts with inconsistency that could cost the Bears in close games.
That said, here are my revised predictions for the season:
Home vs. Packers — W
Away vs. Broncos — L
Away vs. Washington — W
Home vs. Vikings — W
Away vs. Raiders — W
Home vs. Saints — W
Home vs. Chargers — L
Away vs. Eagles — L
Home vs. Lions — W
Away vs. Rams — L
Home vs. Giants — W
Away vs. Lions — W
Home vs. Cowboys — W
Away vs. Packers — L
Home vs. Chiefs — W
Away vs. Vikings — L
Final Record: 10-6. NFC North champions.
Q: What do you consider reasonable to expect from Mitch this season? — Vivian A.
I think the important thing to keep in mind here is that statistics, while fun, don’t tell the whole story. And in football especially, they tell nowhere close to the whole story.
Last season, Trubisky’s overall stat line was respectable, but watching the tape, it’s clear he had a season comprised of two entirely different halves and had high variability in his performances. His performances against Green Bay at Lambeau Field, Arizona, Minnesota at Soldier Field, and Los Angeles were disastrous. His performances against Tampa Bay, Detroit (at home), and Minnesota at U.S. Bank Stadium were fantastic. And his games against Seattle, Miami, New England, Buffalo and San Francisco were filled with great and terrible moments, as was his performance against Philadelphia in the playoffs.
The first order of business for Trubisky is to cut down on the variability of his performances and become more consistent. Doing better pre-snap, going through his progressions, making better reads and fixing his mechanics/footwork should help with this. If he becomes more consistent and can run the offense well enough, he should flourish in his second year under Matt Nagy’s tutelage. It’s not an unreasonable ask and it should be an expectation of Trubisky this season.
I sincerely feel if he can just be consistently decent, the Bears’ offense can be very good, given their playmakers. If he’s better than that, the Bears will be almost impossible to beat.
From a stat line perspective, though, here’s my prediction:
65% CMP, 4100 yards, 28 TD, 14 INT, 7.6 YPA.
Q: Do you think the Bears will have set captains this year and wear the ‘C’ on their jerseys, or do the weekly captains again? — Alec D.
My belief is the Bears will once again rotate their captains this season. It provides an opportunity for many members of the team to exhibit leadership and be honored for the role they play on the team. And given the Bears’ clearly excellent camaraderie last season (i.e. Club Dub), whatever Matt Nagy was doing with the locker room was working. Why mess with that formula?
For Week 1 against the Packers, though, I’d expect the captains to be some of the usual team suspects: Trubisky/Kyle Long, Khalil Mack/Akiem Hicks, and Sherrick McManis/Pat O’Donnell.
