The season is over for the Bears (for a while now...) and the ride wasn’t
pleasant, finishing with a mediocre 3-13 record and 18 players on the IR list…
eesh.
Resuming the final stretch in a nutshell is that we came
empty at the helm fot the starting QB position where Matt Barkley imploded
throwing for 10 interceptions in 3 games, although he toughed it out at the end
of the Packers game almost getting the win but couldn’t finish it with a TD on
the last drive, the next 2 games were just horrible performances trying to do
too much with bad ball placement. So, we’re back at having no sure thing at QB for
next season and it’s not as simple this time just to bring everyone back
because I don’t think you can evaluate more than 4 QBs to see who starts next
season. Barkley lost big because Hoyer’s play is better suited as a backup QB
where Barkley is more like a development QB like Connor Shaw would be if he’s
signed back and if one is drafted this year then I believe you have one to many
projects at QB. Hoyer CAN’T be our starting QB so the question is if there’s
anyone better at FA for the backup role or even for the starting role where I believe
its Cutler’s job to lose one more time next season if no one better is signed.
Focusing on how the other areas of the team on offense
finished the year, it’s great that Jordan Howard got called to play at the
ProBowl because he deserves it, just come back to us healthy please… really,
please. With Jeremy Langford backing him up, the RB position is looking good.
Cameron Meredith played like a pro, great routs and run
after catch, needs to focus on catching the ball because he can make really
thought catches, he’s a very good WR2. Right now, Jeffrey is our only WR1 and I
wouldn’t pay him as one of the top 5 WR in the league, he could argue he’s a
top 10 player but durability hits his stock hard, with this said I expect for
the Bears to present him with a better contract option that the one they handed
to Matt Forte last offseason. One who shouldnt get the chance to finish his
contract is Eddie Royal because, as it is for Jeffrey, health is not on his
side playing less than half the games in the last 2 seasons. Same could be said
about Zach Miller but his game has impacted more and has played more games that
Royal, still it’s a good idea to search for talent at the TE position for when
Miller can’t go and like Marquess Wilson they have finished 2 season on IR because
of the same broken foot and that is a durability concern. Letting go of Royal leaves the slot spot wide
open with really no one good enough to take a hold of it, we need speed and
that spot gives the Bears a chance to go get someone to fill the position and I
believe there are good options in this year’s draft.
Erick Kush played good ball in place of Kyle Long and should
be re-signed thus giving the boot to Ted Larsen. The times I was watching the
games and not yelling Bobby Massie’s name I realized he got better but I’m not
sold on him as I am with Charles Leno Jr. who I would not blame the team to
search for better players at both tackle positions, the depth at the interior
O-line makes it easier to focus on that.
As for the defense, the front seven looks promising but can’t
say the same of the secondary, but in general there is still much work to do. The
biggest problem I saw was in week 15 against the Packers where Ty Montgomery sliced
through the defense like nothing, I noticed the impact and importance of not
having Eddie Goldman on the field. In all the games he didn’t play I saw the
run defense succumb to the run, some games more than others, Goldman made Akiem
Hicks and Jerrell Freeman play better and more disruptive. Getting another body
at NT with Goldman’s run stopping talent to rotate or step in when he’s not available
should be a good idea or going for a more talented 5-tech to replace Mitch
Unrein who was silent most of the season. I’m hopeful that Jonathan Bullard
gets better for year 2 of his career, we could use his explosiveness to harass
the QB more often.
Leonard Floyd´s two concussions in his first season is a big
concern for me and can’t focus just on his great stats which point in the right
direction, he must focus on taking care of himself more by tackling properly. The
OLB position looks old and banged up, Willie Young can be considered at his
prime, Sam Acho is a backup and Pernell McPhee has health issues and has been a
rotational player lately and Lamar Houston is in his second trip to IR in 3
seasons with the Bears. Some youth is necessary here.
The opposite can be said about the ILB position with Freeman
being the stellar player this season just to get band 4 games for PEDs and with
Danny Threvathan on IR… in come the youngling's Nick Kwiatkoski, who got necessary
experience and played decent, and John Timu, who is a backup at best. With Kwiatkoski,
Christian Jones and Jonathan Anderson there is some projects here to see how
they develop.
The secondary… well it just gives me nightmares. Is it
young or old? Theres young talent but not enough was shown to be sure if someone is going to step up like Amos did the previous season. Is Porter going to
play forever? who’s going to replace
him? Is he on the team right now or in FA or the draft? There are tons of options
and possibilities, decisions must be made to pave way for the next squad
that will be playing next season. I really like Callahan but he get injured to often, I dislike LeBlanc he's not a sure tackler and get burned a lot but I'll admit he doesn't forgive QBs when they throw a bad ball and he can blanket a receiver but he can also get beat real bad, many have high hopes for him but just not me. Amos didn't have a good year as any of the others that played beside him. In defense, the secondary squad playing on the field gave plenty of time for the front seven to get to the QB lots of times. But as pressure didn't get there much, neither did they take advantage when the did, making QBs throw bad balls and not resulting in turnovers.
This year's draft is loaded with promising DB's and pass rushers so that's good.
Free agency on the other hand doest look as promising, I don't think the big name players are going to be left free by their present team so Ryan Pace will have to make due with another good draft.
Looking at next year's opponents makes me think that, if this season was tough, next season is going to be loads more. Taking on the AFC NORTH and the NFC SOUTH, both very competitive so will be the Eagles that are on the rise. So a good way of putting it it's that it's going to be a challenging season and getting to the playoffs would speak volumes of the team but another season like this one and we could be experiencing a change in direction for a Bears team that will have to take the long road to get things right. So leaving this year behind, let's enjoy the ride to another season and watch closely what's to come. Bear Down.
