Chicago Bears: Former All-Pro Declares 2018 Their Year

The Chicago Bears did everything in their power to give themselves a chance to have success this coming 2018 season, but was it enough?

Plenty of experts remain skeptical. This isn’t because they feel the Bears are still a bad team. Most of them like what they’ve done this offseason from adding a bevy of new, athletic receiving options for Mitch Trubisky including Allen Robins, Taylor Gabriel, Anthony Miller and Trey Burton. If that weren’t enough they also added a potential fixture on their defense for the next 10 years with inside linebacker Roquan Smith.

So why the pessimism? Most of it centers around the brutal division the Bears sit in. As much as they appear to have improved, the other three teams in the NFC North remain huge obstacles. The Minnesota Vikings are Super Bowl favorites with the acquisition of Kirk Cousins. Green Bay is getting Aaron Rodgers back. The Lions? They’re not as big a threat but they’ve still beaten the Bears enough times to be taken seriously.

One man though seems to have the utmost confidence in their looming success. Former All-Pro wide receiver Steve Smith is buying into the Bears for 2018. A big reason for that? The arrival of Matt Nagy as head coach.

An improved offense is a key to a Bears resurgence in the NFC

The thing about Smith is it always seems like he’s just spouting things off, but he’s actually quite an intelligent man who is often correct in his predictions. Among his more famous was saying receiver John Ross would break the NFL scouting combine 40-yard dash record right before it happened. He knows his stuff, so it was interesting to hear him say that about the Bears.

It’s worth noting that the Bears have reason to feel confident. Vic Fangio has produced a top 10 defense for them and that returns mostly intact this year. If Nagy can get improvement out of the offense, there’s a strong possibility they see a lot more winning this year. It’s not like he even needs to produce a top 10 unit either. On average, here are the rankings of the Bears scoring offense every time they’ve made the playoffs since 2000.

• 11th
• 26th
• 2nd
• 21st

The Bears ranked 29th last season in that category. It’s almost impossible to win games when you can’t score points. Nagy knows this. His two offenses in Kansas City from 2016 to 2017 ranked 13th and 6th respectively in scoring. He demonstrated an ability to manufacture points. That’s a big reason Chicago hired him. If they can get even a 13th ranked offense alongside Fangio’s defense, there’s every reason to think they’ll be in the playoff mix this year.

Next: 2018 NFL Power Rankings: Biggest QB Teases For All 32 Teams

Smith has total confidence in that happening and he knows football better than most of us. So maybe it’s time for Bears fans to get excited.