The Chicago Bears found every possible way to lose on Thursday night to a bad Washington Commanders team. It was the first true indication that this 2022 group isn’t very good. They lack talent in so many places, and their overly abundant youth isn’t helping. At 2-4 and losers of three straight, this team is trending in the wrong direction. In fact, it doesn’t feel out of place to say they’re one of the worst in the NFL.
They’re 32nd in passing. Justin Fields is by far the most pressured quarterback in football. The defense is 29th against the run. It is a bad combination that haunted them in their losses this year. Now expectations have shifted. Fans aren’t thinking about a possible playoff push anymore. They’re starting to wonder if the Bears will end up with a top five draft pick. There are reasons to believe they should think bigger. It is a serious possibility that Chicago may land #1 overall.
Let’s start with their remaining schedule.
- @ Patriots – Coached by Bill Belichick with a defense that has 17 sacks.
- @ Cowboys – Defense is 8th in the league against the pass with 20 sacks.
- vs. Dolphins – Will get Tua Tagovailoa back and a blitz-happy defense.
- vs. Lions – 3rd-highest scoring offense in the NFL.
- @ Falcons – Won 3 of 4 with an offense that has scored at least 23 in those games.
- @ Jets – They are 4-2 with the 10th-best defense in the league.
- vs. Packers – It’s Aaron Rodgers.
- vs. Eagles – #1 seed in the NFC.
- vs. Bills – #1 seed in the AFC.
- @ Lions – 3rd-highest scoring offense on the road.
- vs. Vikings – They are 5-1 and more talented.
Looking at that slate, how many wins do you realistically see the Bears getting? Two? Maybe three? It doesn’t look anything like the third-easiest schedule it was supposed to be.
Three teams are battling the Chicago Bears for the top pick.
The current favorites are the Carolina Panthers. They’re now 1-5 and utterly dysfunctional after firing their head coach Matt Rhule after five games. Another is the Houston Texans, who are 1-3-1 and have already lost to the Bears. So that makes a tiebreaker scenario problematic. Then there is Detroit. Despite having a prolific offense, their defense is giving up the most points in the NFL. Las Vegas is also 1-4, but that team is too talented not to win at least a few more games this year.
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Now, this is not to say the Chicago Bears will intentionally tank. Matt Eberflus is not the kind of head coach that would embrace something like that. Even so, the reality is this team can’t match up well with most of the remaining opponents on the schedule. It would not be a surprise if they lost most, if not all, of those games. Typically three or fewer wins are the requirement to be in the #1 pick conversation. We’ll see how things unfold.
