Sports Illustrated Predicts That The Bears Will Finish Dead Last In The NFC North

(source)--Sports Illustrated’s print preview of the 2019 NFL season, writer Andy Benoit projects the Bears to finish last in the NFC North. He doesn’t even have the Bears at .500, predicting a 7-9 record for the defending division champions.

“The Bears are still better than they were before Nagy arrived last year,” Benoit writes, “but the defensive slip and improvements by the NFC North’s other teams result in a pre-Nagy-like record.”

Benoit has the Minnesota Vikings winning the division with an 11-5 record, good enough for the No. 3 seed in the playoffs. He has the Green Bay Packers finishing second at 10-6, good enough for a wild card berth. He even has the Detroit Lions finishing ahead of the Bears at 9-7.

7 and 9. SEVEN wins. I feel like a very under-played storyline this summer is how the national media and Vegas bookmakers are disrespecting the Bears. I know the schedule is harder, I know Trubisky hasn’t really proven anything yet, I know they won’t sneak up on anyone this year, but this article. This I can’t abide. What the fuck is he talking about. Of ALL the things to bring up this Andy Benoit idiot is predicting a “defensive slip”. Why? Because they replaced Amos with former pro-bowl caliber safety in Ha-Ha Clinton-Dix? I mean does this guy think that Roquan won’t improve? That Jackson is on the decline? On what planet is this defense going to slip? Not this year. Everyone is back. The only thing that could fuck up this defense is the injuries. Other than that they’re as bad as ever. Studs at every level. It’s somehow trendy to hate on the Bears and it makes ZERO sense. Defense will be the defense again and if the offense improves even just a litttttttttllllleeee bit with Monty at running back and Mitch pulling the strings in year 2 of Nagy’s offense then this team is going back to the playoffs. I don’t care who is on the schedule. They’re playing a 1st place schedule because they’re a first place team. Bear. Down.