Questions Going into the Season
We are drawing ever closer to opening kickoff in what I believe will be a surprising season of Bears football.
If you have any kind of ear to the ground, you pretty much hear everything about the Bears being questioned this pre-season. The QB, the running game, the coaching staff, the offensive line, the receiving corp, and even the defense - all areas that are being put through the wringer. Seems only special teams and the tight ends are getting any slack. And while we've talked a bit about a few of these areas already, I truly believe there is only one unit that has a make-or-break your season aura hanging over its head. And that is the offensive line.
The defense is the sexy thing to worry about right now, but we have too many good players on the D for us to have a meltdown. Yes, there will be an injury or two. Perhaps a good player or two start to regress back to "normal player". But overall, the depth here is such that we will have something between relatively consistent good play (which is to say, a bad game or two but mostly effective), to really, really good.
Others have written off the playmakers on offense, as there is no one who leaps out as a superstar at first glance. We don't know that to be true, and we certainly have a couple of players with potentials for breakouts. But I'm conservative here. I think they'll be good enough to stay on the field awhile, get to the red zone, and put enough points on the board to win...
IF...
the offensive line holds up. This is the make-or-break. The team knew we needed help here, and used their 1st round pick to bring in reinforcements. But Chris Williams is injured and unpracticed. If he heals fast enough to help, he may still not have the kinds of reps and gameplay to be effective this season. Terrence Metcalf is no longer injured but still unpracticed. May be a few games til effectiveness. Dan Buenning is new, acquired in trade this week, and will get some playing time. But it's a new playbook, and may be awhile until he's acclimated to it.
So this is where the season rests. If we can get solid play from the returning healthy O-Line veterans, and some solid play from young guys early, then we stand a chance to surprise. By mid-season, we should have Metcalf and Buenning in full-ready mode and maybe even Williams looking to get in once in awhile. And if this happens, well...
The pundit world is picking the bears to be a 4-12 to 6-10 team. I am picking the bears to be an 8-8 to 10-6 team. My bet is an effective-enough O-Line early, and a solidly-effective O-Line late, along with a top-5 defense, the best special teams in the league, and a consistent offense - not a lot of big plays, but a whole lot of steady. It's a formula that adds up to a winning season.
But it all rests on that O-Line.
CHILI DAN
