So what are the Bears chances of making the playoffs next year? They didn’t do so well last year. Now Lovie Smith is gone and the Bears organization has imported Marc Trestman from Canada to take over the head coaching job.
What changes may we expect from Chicago next year?
Matt Forte had a few words to say about that in a recent interview. Matt was drafted in the second round by the Bears back in 2008 and he has never played for another NFL team. Matt was elected to the Pro Bowl in 2011. Last year, Forte was given the franchise tag by the Bears… worth a reported $7.74 million… but he refused to sign the tender… probably holding out for a longer term deal.
The relationship between new coach Trestman and Matt Forte… not to mention Jay Culter… will go a long way in determining just how the Bears will perform on the field next year. So far, it’s looking good.
Forte says that they started working first on a lot of outside zone runs but obviously are going to be working on more gap plays and tosses that in the past. There was also some analogy of Trestman’s playbook to a local telephone book.
Major off season moves by the Bears included drafting offensive guard Kyle Long from Oregon and Offensive Tackle Jordan Mills from Louisiana Tech to try to get Cutler some protection this coming season and keep him from spending so much time on the ground.
Additionally, there were a couple of free agent pick-ups that might make a difference next year. They got an experienced offensive tackle in Jermon Bushrod from the Saints as well as tight end Martellus Bennett.
Bovada currently has the odds on the Bears winning Super Bowl XLVIII in New York at 28/1. That’s the same odds that they are giving the Dallas Cowboys. There are only 11 other NFL teams with lower odds on them at this point than the Bears. So, it could be worse. They are still ahead of teams like the Eagles and the Redskins.
So now Jay Cutler will have a few more options to throw passes to in addition to Brandon Marshall who caught 41% of the Bears passes last year. But the Bears are going to have to win without the services of veteran All-Pro linebacker Brian Urlacher who the Bears let slip through their fingers at the end of last season.
