High Expectations Leave Bears Directly Under a Microscope

The heat is getting turned up this week on the Bears, who already face upcoming national scrutiny daily at training camp with HBO's Hard Knocks.

Expectations are high, and with them could come consequences in the event of disappointment.

Both Pro Football Focus' Bradley Locker and CBS Sports' Jeff Kerr are putting the Bears into elevated positions as a team with high expectations.

Kerr's article names seven non-playoff teams who could make the playoff jump, and it particular cites the Jets and Bears as primed to end playoff droughts. The other five teams are the Falcons, Vikings, Seahawks, Bengals and Jaguard. The Bengals hardly have what anyone could consider a drought but the Bears definitely have one for playoff wins, although they did get in as a wild card as recently as 2020.

Citing all of the offensive changes the Bears made from the coaching staff down through the quarterback, receivers and running backs, Kerr saw the Bears ready to find a way to overcome the rough second half of the schedule with each of their divisional opponents in it twice.

"The Bears appear primed to make a run at a playoff spot, no matter how difficult the NFC North is," Kerr concludes.

The PFF article isn't so sure where it will end up and points out the consequences if everything goes sideways.

"With stars at several positions and a fantastic all-around roster, the Bears will need to exorcise their demons in 2024 and at least vie for a wild-card berth," Locker wrote. "If underachievement continues, then uncertainty at head coach looms."

If they're to hit these expectations, they'll need to overcome one of their most consistently reported flaws. That is their defensive line issue. It was cited for being the worst defensive line in the league by PFF earlier. This week, NFL.com is calling their deficiencies on the defensive line the fifth-most

The Bears are relying a lot on Sweat and Matt Eberflus' scheme to generate pressure. Chicago could be a team that lets the early part of the season play out before trying to add at the trade deadline again, if the youngsters get blown off the ball. 

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Named as one of the big worries in a recent BearDigest series, the Bears defensive line was earlier labeled the worst in football by Pro Football Focus. This week, NFL.com, in a column by Around the NFL writer Ken Patra, has called the Bears defensive line the fifth biggest remaining hole any team must fill.

Montez Sweat's dominance alone won't do it, and he'll need second-year defensive linemen Gervon Dexter and Zacch Pickens to step up.

"The Bears are relying a lot on Sweat and Matt Eberflus' scheme to generate pressure," Patra wrote. "Chicago could be a team that lets the early part of the season play out before trying to add at the trade deadline again, if the youngsters get blown off the ball." 

Neverteless, the expectations they'll overcome all of this remain high.

As of Monday, June 17, Eberflus remained the co-betting favorite with Jim Harbaugh for NFL coach of the year at DraftKings.com. They're listed +900, just ahead of Robert Saleh and Demeco Ryans (+1100) and Matt LaFleur (+1200). And his team is quarterbacked by the top candidate for offensive rookie of the year, Caleb Williams, at +135. The website puts Willliams' over/under for passing yards at 3,500.5, paying at -125 over and +100 under.

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