Chicago Bears - 2021 NFL Season Preview

CHICAGO BEARS    

                                                                                       

2020 RECORD - 8-8-0

Head Coach - Matt Nagy 

 

Key Additions - Andy Dalton (QB), Marquise Goodwin (WR), Damiere Byrd (WR), Desmond Trufant (CB), Damien Williams (RB), Jeremiah Attaochu (LB), Angelo Blackson (DL), Christian Jones (LB), Elijah Wilkinson (OL)

OFFENSE - The Bears parted ways with quarterback Mitch Trubisky and will look to veteran Andy Dalton (2,140 passing yards with 14 touchdowns and eight interceptions with Dallas in 2020) as the starter, unless top rookie draft pick Justin Fields (Ohio State) can prove he is ready to go when the season opens. Journeyman QB Nick Foles provides depth as he passed for 1,852 yards with ten TD passes and eight interceptions a year ago in Chicago. 

The running game has David Montgomery (1,070 rush yards with eight TD and a 4.3 ypc average along with 54 receptions and two more touchdowns) as the main back along with veteran Damien Williams, who sat out last year (COVID-19 pandemic) after a big Super Bowl performance for the Kansas City Chiefs two years ago. Tarik Cohen missed most of last season with a knee injury, but will look to get back to the form he showed in past seasons. The wide receivers include Allen Robinson (102 receptions for 1,250 yards and six TD), Darnell Mooney (61, 631, four TD), Damiere Byrd (47, 604, one TD with New England) and Marquise Goodwin, who comes over from San Francisco. The tight ends are Cole Kmet (28, 243, two TD), Jimmy Graham (50, 456, eight TD) and Jesse James.

 

DEFENSE - Up front will be Eddie Goldman, Akiem Hicks and Bilal Nichols (five QB sacks). The linebackers are Khalil Mack (team high nine sacks in 2020), Roquan Smith (team high 139 tackles in 2020 along with two interceptions) and Danny Trevathan, who was second on the team with 113 tackles a year ago. Robert Quinn is also at linebacker along with free agent Jeremiah Attaochu. The secondary features corner men Desmond Trufant and Jaylon Johnson along with safeties Tashaun Gipson (two INT) and Eddie Jackson. 

The Bears defense slipped to 11th overall a year ago, allowing 345 yards per game while allowing 23.1 points per game. In addition, Chicago only had ten interceptions and 35 QB sacks, which is a far cry from the standard they set the two previous seasons.

 

2021 SEASON OUTLOOK - This could be a make-or-break season for Head Coach Matt Nagy, who has seen the team go 8-8 the last two years after winning the NFC North in his first season back in 2018. 

The Bears will have a lot riding on the quarterback spot with Dalton the presumed starter while rookie Justin Fields will look to get his chance at some point. Fields is the highly touted player the team traded up in the draft for, which was what they also did back in 2017 when they selected QB Mitch Trubisky. They are hoping it will pan out this time around. The offense averaged 23.3 PPG a year ago while finishing 26th overall on offense, averaging 331 YPG (103 YPG rushing and 228 passing yards).

The defense has to show better as well after slipping to the middle of the pack against the run (113 YPG allowed) and not forcing the turnovers like in the past. With Goldman back in the fold up front, it should ease pressure on linebacker Khalil Mack and perhaps help him to get back to double digits in the sack total. Goldman opted out last year due to health concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic. He is a definite force on the front line for the Bears defense.

Playing in the NFC North, the Bears could finish second (or third) again and perhaps challenge for a wild card playoff spot as they earned a year ago. Green Bay is still the team to beat in the division and Minnesota will likely bounce back from a sub .500 season this year, so the Bears will have to improve their record this season. Most likely, a 9-8 record will happen for the Bears in 2021 and that could be enough to get them back into the post-season.

 

2021 SCHEDULE 

Week 1 - at L.A. Rams 

Week 2 - vs. Cincinnati 

Week 3 - at Cleveland 

Week 4 - vs. Detroit 

Week 5 - at Las Vegas 

Week 6 - vs. Green Bay 

 Week 7 - at Tampa Bay 

Week 8 - vs. San Francisco 

Week 9 - at Pittsburgh 

Week 10 - BYE 

Week 11 - vs. Baltimore 

Week 12 - at Detroit 

Week 13 - vs. Arizona 

Week 14 - at Green Bay 

Week 15 - vs. Minnesota 

Week 16 - at Seattle 

Week 17 - vs. N.Y. Giants 

Week 18 - at Minnesota 

 

Bucks, Lightning Win NBA, NHL Championships - Now It's Time For Football

Now that the Milwaukee Bucks have won the NBA Finals (four games to two over the Phoenix Suns) and the Tampa Bay Lightning repeated as Stanley Cup champions in the NHL recently by defeating the Montreal Canadiens, four games to one, pro football is ready to take center stage once again in the sports world. 

True, the 2020 Summer Olympic Games are getting ready to start in Japan in about a week or so, but they are already a year behind schedule because of COVID-19 and may be forced to cancel once again because Japan is having so many problems with the COVID-19 (Delta) variant and too many people in that country have not been vaccinated, which is furthering the problems of the rapid spread of the virus. 

Major League Baseball is entering the dog days and will have the "trade deadline" in the next few weeks as the teams vie for playoff positioning. The call here at Heftyinfo remains the same as in the March post of the MLB 2021 Season Previews. The Chicago White Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. 

Stay tuned.

So, that leaves pro football as the mainstay in the sports world once again as NFL training camps will be starting in the next few days. Hopefully, the players will go with the flow as far as COVID-19 protocols are concerned (vaccinations) and the the season can go along without any hiccups, unlike last season when the schedule was all over the place halfway through the 2020 season. 

It's that time of the year once again. So, congratulations are in order to the Milwaukee Bucks and Tampa Bay Lightning  . . .  and now let's move forward. 

 

 

 

 

 

How About Some Common Sense People?

 

COVID-19 and any variants is a virus. 

It does not recognize political affiliation, so the people who refuse to get a COVID-19 vaccination in the hopes the infections will continue rising and perhaps tank the American economy once again, are doing so in vain. 

These people are ardent supporters of Trump and will do anything it appears (including dying) in the hopes the economy going down the drain once again will make President Joe Biden look bad and perhaps pave the way for a return to the White House for disgraced former president Donald J. Trump. 

Guess again people. 

How about some common sense people? 

Get vaccinated and do your part to help stop the spread of the coronavirus, which has been the main topic in the medical world since late 2019. This is getting old people and not getting vaccinated doesn't help. Plus the fact that your guy Trump (and many, many other right wingers, both political figures and pundits) has been vaccinated against COVID-19 says quite a lot about the mindless thoughts they echo that people should resist getting vaccinated. 

You cannot have it both ways. 

Real Americans get vaccinated and help to stop the spread of this virus and get back to living a normal life once again. All you folks are doing by not getting the vaccine is showing how stupid you are. Disinformation and political revenge is what is fueling this insane movement. 

Period. End of discussion. 

It's very easy to do so and doesn't hurt that much. It's a shot folks. Remember getting those when you were little kids going to school? Four months ago I got mine and being fully vaccinated feels right. 

Don't be afraid people, just get it done. You will not regret it.