The Chicago Bears sit with 20/1 odds to win the NFC Championship in 2020 for the first time since 2006. While they have a championship-caliber defense, questions remain at quarterback and over the entire offensive unit.
This is a team that can hang with the NFL’s best offenses given the fact their defense was historically good in 2019 and looks even stronger in 2020. They weren’t splashy, but they stifled opponents often, which led them to rank fourth in the league in points allowed.
The offensive side of the ball is a different story, and there is hardly a soul on offense who would start for the league’s other 31 teams.
The Bears can sneak into the NFC Championship and win one, but it will require a flashback to the past to get there.
Here are the five issues you need to know about before betting on the Bears.
1 – Quarterback Quagmire
Quarterback quagmires are never good. They ruin teams with two or even three quarterbacks who are good enough to start in the NFL but not good enough to impress a coaching staff that they are the right man for the job over their competition.
It often leads to subpar seasons unless one of the competitors steps up and plays exceptionally.
In this matchup, we have the incumbent Mitchell Trubisky going head to head with the challenger, Nick Foles.
Trubisky has the advantage in that he knows and has played in the system. But the team refused to pick up his fifth-year option, and he failed to give the Bears faithful that he is the right man for the job.
In comes Nick Foles, who often responds well to pressure. When teams give him the job, he finds ways to mess things up, which often leads to him getting the boot. However, when he must claw for the job or faces adversity, a different player shows up.
Foles and Trubisky are capable of starting but so far, neither have proven they are long-term solutions, evidenced with Foles’ status as a journeyman and Trubisky’s mediocre performances.
This season, the quagmire deepens because the Bears coaching staff won’t have the luxury to watch the quarterbacks in action against real competition until such real competition begins in Week 1.
For you, the red flags should wave when you’re looking to bet on potential NFC Championship winners.
Ask yourself whether one of these men will step up and either play like the Super Bowl MVP they once were or like the first-round pick the team thought they drafted.
Will they have enough time to mesh with the other starters on offense?
Can the defense bail them out when things get tough for these quarterbacks and their offense (which ranked 29th in points scored in 2019)?
You should feel better if the Bears had a strong incumbent quarterback. What they have are two fringe starters looking to carry an offense and take the pressure off the defense.
2 – Tanking in the Red Zone
The Bears’ red zone offense was one of the worst in the league in 2019, which fell to 24th in touchdown percentage.
The team is looking to solve this problem with “height” players like Cole Kmet and Jimmy Graham coming to town.
Look for the team to throw more in the red zone to these “height” players, with the theory of throwing the ball high enough so their athletic tight ends can catch the ball at its highest point over shorter corners, safeties, and linebackers.
Height was something the Bears lacked in 2019 with the 6’2” receiver Allen Robinson providing the tallest option. While a few height players lined up at the tight end, no one grasped the revolving door that was, which is where Kmet and Graham come in this season.
If the new “height” players solve the issue, look for the team to improve upon their abysmal scoring both in red zone touchdown percentage and overall scoring offense.
If not, look for more of the same from 2019.
It all comes down to whether you believe the “height” theory will work in the Bears favor with Graham and Kmet suiting up for the team in 2020.
3 – The Spirit of ’85
This is their best defense since their 2006 Super Bowl run, which was the last time this team won the NFC Championship. They ranked eighth in total defense in 2019 and ninth in both passing and rushing defense.
The Bears ranked 15th in turnover differential and as mentioned earlier, fourth in points allowed.
And now, they have more help coming to the Midway, starting with Robert Quinn, who can still log double-digit sacks as he heads into his 10th season.
Look for players like Quinn, new safety Tashaun Gipson, and rookie cornerback Jaylon Johnson to contribute immediately to the defense.
But it doesn’t end with the new signees. Look for Khalil Mack to sneak back into the double-digit sack margin with Quinn coming to town and drawing attention away from him. If the gigantic Akiem Hicks stays healthy, expect more dominance from Mack.
The downer is the fact that defensive tackle Eddie Goldman opted out for 2020, but the clear upside is the additions and Hicks’ return.
The Bears also added depth with spot starters and key role players in Barkevious Mingo and Artie Burns, among others.
They also return corner Kyle Fuller and ballhawk safety Eddie Jackson.
Minus Goldman’s absence in 2020, this defense should bring even more dominance to the table and like it’s done the previous two seasons, will carry the team at least into contention for a playoff spot.
4 – On the Front Lines
The offensive line hurt the Bears in 2019. And it showed, with 45 sacks allowed and both running backs David Montgomery and Tarik Cohen struggling to make anything happen.
The Bears’ line regressed over the offseason when stalwart Kyle Long hung up the cleats and the team replaced him with the struggling Germain Ifedi. Bears general manager Ryan Pace signed Ifedi as a guard rather than a tackle.
He believes that if Ifedi kicks inside, it will revive his career much like former tackles turned guards in Justin Pugh, Ereck Flowers, and others. If that’s the case, the Bears will fix their running game and perhaps their pass blocking.
If not, look for the quarterbacks to find their uniform jersey more often in 2020. If traditional pocket passer Nick Foles starts over Trubisky, the Bears line must give the immobile passer time to go through his progressions and find receivers.
The rest of the line appears so-so, with tackle Charles Leno Jr. on the chopping block after a 13-penalty outing in 2019. The same goes for Bobby Massie, who plays well but faced multiple nagging injuries that derailed his season.
Cody Whitehair is the stud, as is James Daniels. The two players are the only consistency the Bears had in 2019 while Massie can join them if he avoids injuries.
Leno and Ifedi must step up and play to their potential if the Bears wish to move the ball and put up points on offense.
The defense will give them plenty of chances in 2020, as they did in 2019.
Capitalizing on those chances starts with the offensive line, especially late in games when the team will try to grind out a win with the powerful David Montgomery leading the way out of the backfield.
5 – Questions at Running Back
Who will start at running back in 2020?
A slimmed-down David Montgomery was the clear-cut starter given spell back Tarik Cohen’s ineffectiveness in 2019. Third back Ryan Nall has offered nothing to date.
Montgomery spent the offseason losing weight, as he looked to hit openings harder and run with the same authority that he was known for in college.
The proclaimed toughest back to tackle in college football was supposed to take over games in 2019 and along with an excellent defense to catapult the Bears back to the playoffs.
Instead, he laid an egg with a meager 3.7 yards per carry. Montgomery knew he had to make appropriate changes to how he approached the game, and he did.
Unfortunately, he suffered a groin strain of unknown severity in late August and the severity is unknown.
If Montgomery can’t go, or if the injury lingers and the Bears cannot find a viable replacement, it will force Foles and Trubisky into a one-dimensional role in 2020.
And it will all but tank the team’s season.
Conclusion
The Bears have the talent on defense to get into the playoffs, make a run, and find themselves in a position they haven’t seen for over a decade. However, the offense’s struggles may prevent the team from winning enough to even make the playoffs in 2020.
The experience is also there on offense, with quarterback Nick Foles having Super Bowl experience along with an offensive line that can block if their weak links step up.
While 20/1 odds at BetOnline.ag aren’t bad, the Bears in 2020 will rely on too much defense unless Foles recaptures some of the magic he possessed when the team won the Super Bowl in 2017.
Michael Stevens
Michael Stevens has been researching and writing topics involving the gambling industry for well over a decade now and is considered an expert on all things casino and sports betting. Michael has been writing for GamblingSites.org since early 2016. …
