Chicago Bears Win Total Prediction
The Chicago Bears have a new coach in Matt Nagy that will be tasked in helping Mitchell Trubisky make a big leap in his second year. With a win total of 6.5, are bettors sleeping on the Bears in 2018?
Chicago Bears Odds
According to oddsmakers, the Bears have an over/under of 6.5 for wins in 2018. They’re also 90/1 to win the Super Bowl, 50/1 to win the NFC title this season, and are 15/2 to win the NFC North, ranked behind the other three teams in the division.
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Bears Offseason Losses
Linebackers Jerrell Freeman (he also retired), Pernell McPhee and Willie Young were all released, same goes for cornerback Marcus Cooper, safety Quintin Demps, receiver Markus Wheaton and quarterback Mike Glennon. Lamarr Houston, Dontrelle Inman, and guard Josh Sitton all left via free agency.
Bears Offseason Additions
The team signed quarterbacks Chase Daniel and Tyler Bray to help mentor Trubisky under Nagy. The team also added tight end Trey Burton, receivers Taylor Gabriel, Allen Robinson and Bennie Fowler, as well as tackle Earl Watford and defenders Aaron Lynch and Nick Williams.
In the draft, the Bears struck a balance between adding offensive and defensive players in the first four rounds. They selected sideline-to-sideline linebacker Roquan Smith out of Georgia with the eighth overall pick, then in the second round, they took a pair of offensive players in Iowa center James Daniels and Memphis receiver Anthony Miller. In the fourth, they went back to defense with the selection of linebacker Joel Iyieguniwe out of Western Kentucky.
Bears Season Win Total Prediction
I think the Bears are going to surprise some people this year. They’re not going to win an NFC title or the NFC North, but I firmly believe they’re a 7-9 team. In a similar manner as the Rams last year, they’ve significantly upgraded their coaching staff, going from the archaic John Fox and Logan Dowells to Nagy and Mark Helfrich, who will utilize more shotgun formations, spread concepts, and RPOs to usher Chicago’s passing attack into the modern era.
The Bears went 2-6 in one-score games last year but they allowed over 23 points (league average) in just one of those eight contests. If they can merely go .500 in one-score games this year, I like them to get to 7 wins. With an improved offense, a softer schedule and better injury luck (the Bears defense was the third-most injured in the NFL last year and they owned one of the most banged-up wide receiver corps in the league, too), I see this being a markedly improved team.
Of course, for this to happen, Trubisky has to make a leap in his sophomore season. While it used to be that the sophomore slump was a real thing for quarterbacks, if you look back over the past five years or so, signal-callers have actually improved in their second years (see Andrew Luck, Jameis Winston, Marcus Mariota, Jared Goff and Carson Wentz). With an improved receiving corps, I expect Trubisky to make that leap and lead the Bears to at least seven victories in 2018.
Chicago Bears Season Win Total Prediction: Over 6.5