10 Wild Chicago Bears Predictions For the 2024 Season
For the first time in over a decade, the Monsters of the Midway might be scary.
Here’s a phrase you rarely, if ever hear: The Chicago Bears dominated the NFL Draft.
After last weekend’s Motor City Draftapallooza, it feels like the orange-and-blue won’t be welcoming any David Terrells, or Cedric Bensons, or Mitchell Trubiskys into Halas Hall. The bust factor appears to be negligible.
For that matter — and let’s throw caution to the wind, here — there’s a chance that in 20 years, we’ll discuss the 2024 haul the way we now reminisce about Chicago’s epic 1983 Draft, a weekend that netted the franchise two Hall of Famers in Richard Dent and Jimbo Covert, as well as key Super Bowl-era contributors Dave Duerson, Willie Gault, Tom Thayer, and Mike Richardson. (Writing that sentence legit gave me goosebumps.)
Landing quarterback Caleb Williams and wide receiver Rome Odunze in the first round last Thursday was a coup that, to paraphrase GM Ryan Poles, might have the Bears taking the NFC North and never giving it back…someday.
Barring drastic backslides from ascending Green Bay quarterback Jordan Love and ascended Detroit wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, Chicago’s divisional domination is still a season or three away, so what say we focus on 2024?
To that end, here’re ten predictions as to what we might see in this coming campaign:
1) THE CHICAGO BEARS QB CURSE WILL BE BROKEN
Say it with me, now: No Chicago Bears quarterback has ever thrown for 4,000-plus yards in a single season. That embarrassing streak ends this year…and don’t be surprised if Williams tops 4K by week 15.
2) ROME ODUNZE WILL REMAIN CHICAGO’S WR3 FOR THE WHOLE YEAR…BUT JUST BARELY
Last season, in terms of yardage, D.J. Moore (1,364) and Keenan Allen (1,243) both finished among the league’s top-11, so they’ll be Williams’ go-to security blankets. But Chicago Sports Stuff is confident Williams and Odunze will develop a Burrow/Chase kind of connection, so if Odunze is consistently shadowed by the opponent’s #3 coverage dude, eking out a few more yards than Allen is a small possibility.
3) MONTEZ SWEAT WILL DOMINATE
In 2023, by a country mile, Sweat was the Bears’ best defensive player not named Jaylen Johnson. After a full training camp messing around in coach Matt Eberflus’ system — which, based on what we saw after Flus took over the play calling in Week 4 of last season, is a darn good one — Tez will thrive.
4) TORY TAYLOR WILL SHUT DOWN THE HATERS
Virtually every Draft analyst smacked Poles around for snatching up a punter in the fourth round…but not this guy. When the Aussie replicates his college magic, single-handedly earns the Bears a win, and logs a Pro Bowl nod, there’ll be a goodly number of red-faced pundits. But not this guy.
5) THE RUNNING GAME WON’T BE SUPER-HELPFUL
D’Andre Swift is fine. Khalil Herbert is decent. But you can’t call either of them a true RB1. The good news is that with Moore, Allen, Odunze, and Cole Kmet ready, willing, and eager to catch balls, “fine” and “decent” should be sufficient. For now.
6) THE DEFENSE WILL BE VERY GOOD, BUT NOT ELITE
The D-line is a work in progress. The linebackers land somewhere between solid and spectacular. The backfield has a ton of unrealized potential. Assuming the offense performs as expected/hoped, that’s all okay. Again, for now.
7) THE BEARS WILL SPLIT THE SEASON SERIES WITH ALL THREE OF THEIR DIVISIONAL RIVALS
At least on paper, the NFC North is now one of the top groups in the league, thus every divisional game will be a bloodbath. A 3-3 record in the North would be considered a massive win.
8) MATT EBERFLUS WON’T LOSE HIS JOB
Last season, virtually everybody whose name wasn’t Matt Eberflus or Ryan Poles begged for Flus to get canned. This season, if the newly-bearded one focuses solely on his D and leaves new OC Shane Waldron alone to do his thang, he’ll have a gig in 2025, and everybody will be totally cool with that.
9) THE BEARS WILL NOTCH THEIR FIRST WINNING RECORD SINCE 2018
Let this sink in: Since the turn of the century, the Chicago Bears have finished the season with double-digit wins just seven times. Yikes.
The 2024 NFL schedule hasn’t dropped, but we do know who and where the Bears will be playing, so here’s a way-too-early W-L breakdown:
HOME
Detroit Lions - W
Green Bay Packers - W
Minnesota Vikings - L
Los Angeles Rams - L
Seattle Seahawks - W
Jacksonville Jaguars - W
Tennessee Titans - W
Carolina Panthers - W
New England Patriots - W
AWAY
Detroit Lions - L
Green Bay Packers - L
Minnesota Vikings - W
Arizona Cardinals - W
San Francisco 49ers - L
Houston Texans - L
Indianapolis Colts - W
Washington Commanders - W
11-6. We’ll take it.
10) CHICAGO WILL BE ONE OF THREE NFC NORTH TEAMS TO MAKE THE PLAYOFFS
Bears: In. Lions: In. Packers: In. Vikings: Cancun.