Chicago Bears: 5 Bold Predictions For The 2022 Season

All the talk about the Chicago Bears is over. This week they begin their 2022 season. Here are five bold predictions for the season.

It is here! The Chicago Bears begin their 2022 season this week. They host the San Francisco 49ers. All the talk about how good or bad they are is done. Now is the time we get to see what the final product is.

Week 1 is when hope springs eternal. Many teams feel they did enough this offseason to contend. It is no different for Chicago Bears Nation. Despite all the talk to the contrary, there are many fans who legitimately feel this team could win at least 11 games.

There are actually some naysayers who compare this team to the 2008 Detroit Lions. That team went winless. This team might not be a contender but winless? That is not right either.

Many people criticize the moves new general manager Ryan Poles made this offseason. We have to keep in mind, however, that he inherited a mess. The Bears had a bunch of bloated contracts and little salary cap space. They were one of the oldest teams in the NFL last year.

Poles did an incredible job of setting up Chicago’s future, though. He traded or cut many veterans and replaced them with younger, less expensive players. As a result, the Bears now have one of the youngest teams in the league. Additionally, they will enter the 2023 offseason with the most salary cap space in the league.

While Poles’ moves were great for the future, it doesn’t bode well for a winning 2022. The fans have to endure one more losing season before the true rebuild begins. Yes, a losing season, but not a historically losing season.

Here are five bold predictions for the Chicago Bears 2022 season.

The offensive line won’t be as bad as many fear

The biggest criticism that Poles received this offseason was how he assembled the offensive line. In 2021, the unit allowed a league-high 58 sacks. They lost James Daniels, a lineman many considered the best player on the line (he wasn’t).

Throughout the offseason, there were questions on who would start at three positions. The left and right tackles and the right guard were all open.

The final starting five consists of Riley Reiff at left tackle, Cody Whitehair at left guard, Lucas Patrick at center, Teven Jenkins at right guard, and Larry Borom at right tackle.

While this is not a unit that will be elite, it won’t be as bad as predicted. The reason for that is not only because of their abilities but also because of offensive coordinator Luke Getsy’s offensive system. Unlike what former head coach Matt Nagy did last season, Getsy has called rollouts. Additionally, he has plays in which quarterback Justin Fields gets rid of the ball quickly. Furthermore, the Bears’ offense will once again utilize the fullback to block.

The security guards around Justin gave him the best protection he’ll get on a field all season. pic.twitter.com/Wkso5FtjU5

— Annie Agar (@AnnieAgar) September 4, 2022

All these wrinkles will help the offensive line. Also, the Bears have young, athletic backups. They’ll get to develop and make bigger contributions later down the road. Again, it doesn’t mean a lot of elite play in 2022, but the point of this season is to see development. We will see that in 2022.

Prediction: The offensive line opens big holes and the Chicago Bears rush for 2,234 yards, good for the sixth in the league. They give up 40 sacks, good for 20th in the league.

Kmet has a breakout season

One of the criticisms of the offense last season was the tight ends play. Cole Kmet improved from his rookie campaign. He went from 243 yards to 612 yards receiving. Also, his yards per catch went from 8.7 to 10.2 yards.

Kmet still received some criticism, however. Many point out the fact that he did not find the end zone last season. In fact, he only has two career touchdowns.

It is imperative that the tight end become a safety net for a quarterback, especially a young one. The tight end gives the quarterback a big target.

Last season, the Chicago Bears offense did not utilize the tight end well. There were long stretches in which the tight end was not targeted. That will change this season. Fields will look for Kmet, especially in the red zone.

It helps that Kmet and Fields have worked out together in the offseason. They want to make sure they have a good rapport. That will help during the season.

Prediction: Kmet finishes with 937 receiving yards and 7 touchdowns.

Smith’s price skyrockets

One of the biggest storylines this offseason was the drama between linebacker Roquan Smith and Poles. Smith is in the final year of his rookie deal and wants to cash in on his successful career.

Talks broke down to the point that Smith requested a trade. He felt Poles did not negotiate in good faith and that the relationship was too far off to repair. He even asked that Chicago Bears Chairman of the Board George McCaskey to intervene.

Then, a few weeks after the saga went public, Smith ended all talks. He claimed he wanted to bet on himself and let his play do the talking.

Well, that is exactly what Smith will do in 2022. He will ball out and have his best season yet. The change in his position will do wonders for him.

The Bears’ defense is moving back to a 4-3 standard scheme. Head coach Matt Eberflus will bring his defense from the Indianapolis Colts. He has Alan Williams running things now. Williams does not want to reinvent the wheel so he’ll follow Eberflus’ system. He’ll just add his own wrinkles.

One thing to know is that Smith will now be the weakside linebacker. He will have many more opportunities to make plays. It is the same position that Shaquille Leonard plays. Eberflus’ system turned him into arguably the best linebacker in the league.

The same is about to happen to Smith. He will shine in this system. Eyes around the league will open and see how great Smith really is. In turn, his price for a long-term deal will skyrocket.

Of course, Poles still has the franchise tag in his arsenal. He can slap it on Smith and keep him for another season. However, it is just an expensive bandage. Eventually, he’ll have to offer Smith a deal or trade him. Smith might not be agreeable to a new deal and whoever trades for him won’t give up much. It will be interesting to see how this turns out.

Prediction: Smith records 196 tackles, tops in the NFL. He will have 18 tackles for loss, good for 5th. He will force 4 fumbles and intercept 2 passes.

Fields shows progress

When the Chicago Bears drafted Fields, there were a lot of high hopes. Some of that was tempered, however, when Nagy failed to utilize him effectively. Nagy had his offensive system set up for an immobile quarterback like Andy Dalton. When Fields became the starter, Nagy did not adjust his system. Instead of adjusting for the player, he expected the player to adjust for him.

Now, with Luke Getsy calling plays, the opposite is true. Getsy will utilize all of Fields’ skills. He will move Fields around to buy time. Also, Getsy will call more running plays for Fields.

Fields will continue to wow people with some of his incredible passes. He made some incredible passes last season that inspired hope. Fields looks like he has a good handle on the new system and we’ll see some great plays from him.

Because of that, Fields will take steps. He won’t have the greatest numbers but we will see his development. He will show that the Bears made the right choice drafting him.

Prediction: Fields completes 64.3 percent of his passes for 3,317 yards, adding 712 rushing yards. He throws 21 touchdowns and 12 interceptions and has 5 rushing touchdowns.

The Bears finish with seven wins

Aside from some people comparing the Bears to a winless team, there are many analysts who don’t project them to win more than three wins.

Again, this is not a team that will contend for the playoffs. They won’t win more games than they lose. The roster still has some work to do, of course. However, it is not as bad as these so-called “experts” predict.

It is a funny running joke that this will be a horrible team. That won’t be the case. They will lose their fair share of games, but the important matter this season is the development of the young team. Nearly half of the roster is filled with players in their first or second season. There will be some growing pains, but they will get their snaps in and will improve as the season progresses.

The Chicago Bears won six games last season despite being an absolute mess. Nagy was absolutely stubborn by not trying to adjust his system. Additionally, the discipline on the team became almost nonexistent. We saw some very bad play and very bad penalties committed on both sides of the ball. By the middle of the season, it seemed as if Nagy himself gave up and stopped coaching. He showed that he was a better coach than what he was doing in his final season. Also, the Bears had one of the tougher schedules in the league.

This season, we will at least see the coaches do their job throughout the season. They will be pushing their players hard all season long. Furthermore, they have an easier schedule. Yes, this is the same thing other teams are thinking when they see the Bears on the schedule, but a lot of these games will be winnable.

Because of this, the Bears will win seven games. It’s still a losing record but they’ll be competitive in most of their games.

They might not be contenders but the Chicago Bears will be fun to watch.