Chicago Sports Stuff Mailbag: The Bears' 2024 Journey and Postseason Predictions
The NFL season kicks off next week, and CSS readers are pumped!
Y’ALL, THIS IS the final CSS mailbag before the NFL regular season takes us away from our families for four-plus months, so we may as well get predictive.
Bears floor, Bears ceiling. Go!
-Ryan, Chicago
Succinct. Straightforward. Spirited. I dig it. So let’s floor it.
In his breakdown of which NFL teams, schedule-wise, have the most difficult quarterback matchups, The Athletic’s Mike Sando and his abacus tell us that the Bears are kinda screwed, bestowing upon them the 31st toughest QB path, then noting:
“The Bears are the only team to face all three first-round quarterbacks from the 2023 draft: Stroud in Week 2, Richardson in Week 3 and Young in Week 5. They are one of three teams, along with the Vikings and Packers, with zero games against Tier 1 quarterbacks. Their 17th opponent, New England, has the lowest average tier vote (4.04).”
Over the final seven weeks of the 2023 season, Matt Eberflus’ defense ranked 10th in the league in team D, and Jaylon Johnson, Montez Sweat, et all balled out during training camp, so this QB situation might not be as bad as it looks.
Or maybe it is.
The second half of the season is a QB buzzsaw, as Chicago stares down Jared Goff (twice), Jordan Love (also twice), and Brock Purdy. So if they have any kind of stumble early in the year — say, if they drop three of their first four games, a possibility considering they have to deal with the critics darling Houston Texans, the feisty Indianapolis Colts, and the they’re-probably-better-than-you-think Los Angeles Rams — a final record of 6-11 is possible. (Okay, maybe 7-10 if Minnesota Vikings’ QB Sam Darnold plays like Sam Darnold.)
On the other hand, according to Sharp Football Analysis, the Bears have the league’s third-easiest overall schedule:
If Chicago beats all the teams they theoretically, on paper, should beat — Tennessee, Carolina, Jacksonville, Washington, Arizona, New England, Minnesota (2x), and Seattle — and sneak in a couple of nifty divisional wins against Detroit and Green Bay, we’re looking at 11-6.
Yeah, there’s a wide berth between 6-11 and 11-6, but this Chicago Bears squad is a big bowl of question marks, so neither win (or loss) total is out of the realm of possibility.
P.S. - If Caleb Williams does lead the squad into the postseason, it’s one-and-done. The Bears aren’t quite there yet…but soon, me pretties. Soon.
Keeping it short and sweet, who do you have going to the playoffs and the Super Bowl?
-A.J., Chicago
Love the quick-hitter letters. Keep ‘em coming.
Similar to my dumbass Super Bowl prediction and weekly upset articles, I’m going to include final scores in my path-to-the-Big-Game picks because, y’know, I’m a dumbass. Check it:
AFC
Playoff Teams
Baltimore Ravens
Buffalo Bills
Cincinnati Bengals
Houston Texans
Kansas City Chiefs (bye)
Miami Dolphins
New York Jets
Wild Card
Baltimore 32 - Buffalo 21
Cincinnati 21 - New York 17
Houston 21 - Miami 20
Divisional
Houston 28 - Baltimore 24
Kansas City 30 - Cincinnati 20
AFC Championship
Kansas City 42 - Houston 32
NFC
Playoff Teams
Chicago Bears
Dallas Cowboys
Detroit Lions (bye)
Green Bay Packers
Philadelphia Eagles
San Francisco 49ers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Wild Card
Dallas 28 - Green Bay 20
Philadelphia 18 - Chicago 17
San Francisco 38 - Tampa Bay 10
Divisional
Detroit Lions 30 - Philadelphia 17
San Francisco 35 - Dallas 28
NFC Championship
Detroit 28 - San Francisco 21
Super Bowl
Kansas City 45 - Detroit 38
As is always the case with my freakshow predictions, you have free reign to throw this whole mess in my face in December, when you realize I’ve hit on exactly nothing.