Chicago Bears: 10 Must-Read Bold Predictions for 2024
Will Caleb Williams pass for 6,000 yards? Can Montez Sweat rack up 30 sacks? No and no, but the Monsters of the Midway will deliver their share of surprises in 2024.
EACH AND EVERY NFL SUNDAY, I watch way way way too much pregame crap. But I want the best pregame crap possible, so after years of channel surfing between CBS, FOX, NFL Network, and the local Bears coverage, I’ve made Rich Eisen and the NFL Network’s GameDay crew my official Sunday sherpas. Eisen, Mooch, Kurt, the Playmaker and their battalion of sideline reporters and fantasy pundits consistently deliver the best info, the most passion, and the silliest jokes. (Sorry, Terry Bradshaw, but you know I’m right.)
But what I dig the most are their bold predictions.
As should be the case with any bold predictions, their weekly prognostications are almost always ridiculous, stuff along the lines of, “Amon-Ra St. Brown and Sam LaPorta will combine for 600-plus yards and 9 touchdowns” or “The Buffalo defense will sack Joe Burrow 42 times.”
Their dart-throws rarely, if ever come to fruition — but bold predictions aren’t supposed to come to fruition, are they?
Putting together a list of absurd prognostications is super-fun, as is chopping it up about my Chicago Bears, so here we are, decamped in Bold Prediction Flats: population, me, a city where ten goofball Bears prophecies for 2024 will be tossed around like a Sid Luckman bomb.
And if any of these puppies do indeed come to fruition, y’all owe me a dozen red velvet cupcakes from Molly’s over on Clark St. Yum.
Caleb Williams Will Shatter the Chicago Bears’ Single-Season Passing Yardage Record
Nary a quarterback in Chicago Bears history has topped 4,000 yards — for that matter, nary a one has come significantly close.
Erik Kramer (1995) - 3,838 yards
Jay Cutler (2014) - 3,812 yards
Jay Cutler (2009) - 3,666 yards
Jay Cutler (2015) - 3,659 yards
Jay Cutler (2010) - 3,274 yards
Mitchell Trubisky (2018) - 3,223 yards
Rex Grossman (2006) - 3,193 yards
Billy Wade (1962) - 3,172 yards
Mitchell Trubisky (2019) - 3,138 yards
Jim Harbaugh (1991) - 3,121 yards
As for non-Bears signal callers, in 2023, ten quarterbacks threw for over 4,000 years, three of whom topped 4,500:
See, 4,000-plus yards is easy!
With an air-happy Offensive Coordinator in Shane Waldron and one of the league’s finest batches of pass catchers, Williams is poised to have a C.J. Stroud-esque rookie year…and in his 2023 freshman campaign, Stroud put together a 4,174-yard season.
A 17-game season and one of the league’s top-five easiest schedules have Caleb Williams set up to be a yardage monster. So yeah, “shatter” it is.
D.J. Moore and Keenan Allen Will Each Exceed 1,300 Receiving Yards
If Williams is going to compile 4,000 yards, he’ll need some help, which he most definitely has in the form of Moore and Allen. The duo finished last season, respectively, 6th and 11th in receiving yards, with a combined total of 2992 — and Allen missed four games.
Now this one might not be as bold as it seems on first blush. A bit of basic math tells us that 1,300 plus 1,300 equals 2,600, and a pair of receivers topping 2,600 has been a thing on four occasions in NFL history:
Isaac Bruce & Torry Holt (2000, St. Louis Rams)
2,774 yards
Jerry Rice & John Taylor (1995, San Francisco 49ers)
2,751 yards
Larry Fitzgerald & Anquan Boldin (2005, Arizona Cardinals)
2,703 yards
Cris Carter & Randy Moss (2000, Minnesota Vikings)
2,711 yards
If Waldron dials up as many downfield pass plays as expected, the Moore/Allen duo has a chance to crash the above party. To paraphrase Derrick Rose: Why not them?
Rome Odunze Will Exceed 900 Receiving Yards
Moore and Allen will see their fair share of double coverage, leaving Odunze with his fair share of one-on-ones. Dude runs a 4.45 40, and in his final season at Washington, he dropped a measly 5 passes in 106 targets. If Williams can get him the ball downfield — and he can, he can! — 900 yards is eminently doable.
Jaylon Johnson Will Lead the NFL in Interceptions
It’s easy and logical to sit here and say, “Christian McCaffrey is going to rack up over 2,000 all-purpose yards this season,” but in terms of interceptions, there’s such an element of luck that it makes it impossible to offer a reasonable prognostication.
But I’ll do it anyhow.
In 2023, Johnson tied for fifth in the league in interceptions with 4, a ways behind league leader DaRon Bland’s 9. But with a fat new contract in his back pocket and an eternal chip on his shoulder, J.J. should be motivated (and lucky) enough to top the 2024 tote board.
D’Andre Swift Will Become the Bears’ Bell-Cow Running Back
Bears RB2 Khalil Herbert’s comp ceiling is Darren Sproles and his floor is Jacquizz Rodgers. Neither Sproles or Rodgers will drag a franchise to a Super Bowl.
Bears RB3 Roschon Johnson is an unknown quantity, but he didn’t light it up in the preseason, so we might not know the sophomore’s ceiling or floor until 2025.
But Bears RB1 D’Andre Swift? Well, he’s been pretty good at football.
Last season in Philly, Swift finished with 42 receptions, tying him for 15th in the league, notably impressive as the Eagles’ backfield is a Myrtle Beach-level timeshare.
Swift and Williams have already demonstrated a nice little connection, and it’s not like Herbert or Johnson have the chops to leapfrog the University of Georgia product. By Week 6, the 25-year-old will be both a fantasy and reality studmuffin.
The Bears Defense Will Finish Top-3 in Points Allowed
Over the final six games of the 2023 season, the Bears allowed an average of 15.8 points per game. For context, the season leaders were the Baltimore Ravens, who gave up 16.2 a night.
Chicago hasn’t added any major pieces on the defensive side of the ball — Kevin Byard III is the most notable — but a full year of Montez Sweat, a breakout season from Gervon Dexter Sr., and continued stellar work from Jaylon Johnson’s trash-talking backfield could make that 15.8 thing stick.
Cole Kmet and Gerald Everett Will Have Identical Touchdown Totals
One of the first things we heard about Shane Waldron after he landed the Chicago OC gig was, “This guy is really into two-TE sets.”
Welp, the Bears have themselves one helluva tight end room in Cole Kmet, Gerald Everett, and Marcedes Lewis. All three are solid options who have to eat, but since Lewis is 731-years-old, Kmet and Everett will get the majority of the yummies.
To that end, I’ll take it one step further and posit that the twosome will get the exact same amount of yummies.
Chciago’s presumptive TE1, Kmet posted 71 yards and 6 tuddies in 2023. As the LA Chargers’ TE1.5 next to Donald Parham Jr., Everett put up 51 yards with 3 trips to the end zone. If the duo split and/or share snaps, some quick algebra tells us that Kmet and Everett could each find paydirt 5 times. Easily.
Ryan Poles Will Make a Major In-Season Trade
Just before the 2023 NFL trading deadline, the Bears acquired Montez Sweat. Awesome move.
Just before the 2022 NFL trading deadline, the Bears acquired Chase Claypool. Not an awesome move.
Chicago GM Ryan Poles is batting .500 in mid-season moves, a solid average that will likely have him feeling comfy with tweaking the roster before the November 5 deadline.
So each Bears lineman on both sides of the ball better be on high alert.
Montez Sweat Will Finish Top-Three in Sacks
Last season, Sweat tied for eighth in the league in sacks, with 12.5. Now that he has a half-season and a full training camp Head Coach Matt Eberflus’ defense in his back pocket, the 27-year-old is poised to make The Jump.
Neither 17.5 sacks nor a first-team All-Pro nod are out of the realm of possibility.
Matt Eberflus Will Finish Second in Coach of the Year Voting
Matt Nagy was the last Bears headman to win Coach of the Year — and he stunk. Matt Eberflus used to stink, but Chicago’s 2024 offensive reinforcements will make the third-year coach seem way less smelly.
After the Texans manage 13 wins, Houston’s DeMeco Ryans will take home the COY hardware, but a 10-7 record and a Wild Card berth will have Flus finishing a close second.
Considering how we were all calling for Matt’s head for most of last season, this particular prediction is about as bold as you can get.