The Chicago Bears are about to start their 2023 season. Before that, here are five bold predictions.
The 2023 season is finally here! The Chicago Bears are now preparing for Week 1 against the hated Green Bay Packers. All the talk, all the hope, and all the guesses now have to be put in the past. Now is when the team either rewards the fans for their hope or they sink and have another frustrating season.
General manager Ryan Poles did an incredible job of overhauling the roster. He added a lot more talent and depth throughout the roster. This team looks markedly different than the one that ended the 2022 season.
Now most of Poles’ job is done. If the team needs to acquire another player he can do that. However, the heavy lifting is over. It is now up to head coach Matt Eberflus and his staff to put the players in a position to succeed. Also, it is up to the players to do their job.
On paper, this team looks stronger. Is it a title contender? No, not at the moment. However, if they play well and are in a lot of games it will show that they are on the right track. Remember, they have two first-round picks next year. They also have six picks in the first four rounds. They can definitely add to the roster and take an even bigger step next season.
For now, however, let us focus on 2023. Here are five bold predictions for the 2023 season.
Kmet will be a Pro Bowl tight end
One of the things Poles did over the offseason was give tight end Cole Kmet a new contract. He was about the start the final season of his rookie deal.
Poles and Kmet agreed to a new four-year, $50 million contract, with $32 million guaranteed. Now the Bears have their TE1 wrapped up for four more seasons.
Kmet led the team in catches and yards last season. That is not saying a lot since the Chicago Bears struggled to throw the ball. However, he did also have seven touchdowns.
Kmet is primed to have a breakout season. He has his contract situation settled so that is one thing he does not have to worry about now. He can go out and continue to take the steps to get even better. As a result, he will end up having a Pro Bowl season.
Prediction: 71 catches for 823 receiving yards, 6 touchdowns
Jackson builds on last season’s success
With a new regime at Halas Hall, there were some concerns about safety Eddie Jackson. He answered the bell once the season started, however. He went back to his ball-hawking ways, recording 4 interceptions.
Jackson and rookie Jaquan Brisker made a very good team. They fed off of each other well. They complemented each other, making a great duo.
Jackson suffered a Lisfranc injury, however. It ended his season after just 12 games.
Now Jackson is healthy again and ready to build on last season. Brisker has the experience from last season as well so both should be even stronger.
Prediction: Jackson records 6 interceptions and runs two of them for touchdowns. He forces two fumbles.
The Chicago Bears’ pass rush is much improved
One of Poles’ priorities this offseason was strengthening the defensive line. Last season, the Bears struggled both against the pass and the run.
Many people point to the lack of sacks the defense had but the way opponents gashed the middle of the line was also alarming. As a result, Poles brought in Yannick Ngakoue, DeMarcus Walker, Rasheem Green, and Andrew Billings via free agency. Additionally, he has rookies Gervon Dexter and Zacch Pickens along the line.
The hope is that if the line is strong up the middle it will create opportunities for the defensive ends. That way, the run is shut down and it makes the opposing quarterback one-dimensional. With better defensive ends, they should rush the quarterback better.
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Ngakoue is the key for the defensive ends. In his seven seasons, he has not recorded less than eight sacks. Last season, Brisker led the Bears in sacks with four.
Ngakoue recorded 9.5 sacks last season and 19.5 in the last two seasons. With him hounding the quarterback opponents could double-team him.
That means Walker should have more one-on-one opportunities. He had a career-high seven sacks last season. He hopes to build on that and record even more this season.
Also, Walker has been a vocal leader for the team. His teammates say he has no trouble holding them accountable for their performance. That seemed to be something missing from the team in recent years.
With an improved defensive line, the pass rush for the Chicago Bears could be light-years better than it was in 2022.
Prediction: The Bears record 43 sacks and raise their quarterback knockdown percentage from 4.2 percent to 8.7 percent.
Moore transforms the wide receiver corps
The biggest move Poles made this offseason was to trade the number one overall pick in the draft. He swapped first-round picks and acquired a few additional draft picks.
Also included in the deal was wide receiver D.J. Moore. Moore is one of the top receivers in the NFL. He had three consecutive seasons with over 1,100 yards before recording 888 yards last season.
Having Moore in the offense settles the receiver unit. Darnell Mooney is a good player but isn’t a WR1. He can settle in as the WR2 and not have to worry about carrying the unit. Throw in Chase Claypool with a full offseason to learn the offense, and rookie speedster Tyler Scott and the receivers will perform better.
Moore and Fields will connect for some explosive plays. In the preseason games, he took a little screen pass 62 yards in one game. In another, he made a catch, got away from the defenders, and went 40 yards.
There is a lot of hope that Moore does that in the regular season. If he does, there will be some fun times watching Chicago Bears football again.
Prediction: Moore has 63 catches for 1,156 yards, 10 touchdowns
Fields shows that he is the man the Chicago Bears thought he could be
Fields is the Chicago Bears’ lightning rod for controversy. There seems to be a lot of split on whether or not he is the franchise quarterback the team thought. That split is not only among Bears fans and the national audience but also among Bears fans as well.
Fields certainly showed how valuable he is running the ball. He ran for 1,143 yards. That was the second-most by a quarterback in a season.
A quarterback gets paid to throw the ball, however. In that area, he had some struggles.
Here’s a funny thing, though. While Fields struggled early on, he did perform better as the season progressed. In his first seven games last season, he completed about 56 percent of his passes. He had 5 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. His passer rating was 74.6.
In his final eight games, however, Fields improved despite the lack of dependable receivers. He completed about 64 percent of his passes. He had 12 touchdown passes and 5 interceptions. His passer rating was 93.1.
Now, with more talent surrounding him, Fields should be a better passer. He doesn’t have to worry if his target will make a play or catch an important pass. As we saw in the preseason, he can just throw a little screen or a curl and the receiver can turn it into a big gain.
Many people feel that Fields is a running back disguised as a quarterback. What they don’t talk about is that in college he was a pass-first quarterback. He had receivers he trusted and he had a lot of success throwing the ball.
This season, Fields will show how good of a passer he really is.
Prediction: Fields completes 66.5 percent of his passes for 3,813 yards, 29 touchdown passes, and 10 interceptions. He runs for 863 yards and 6 rushing touchdowns.