After a 2018 campaign where the Chicago Bears went 12-4, the team struggled throughout 2019. They were unable to build on their strong campaign and failed to make the playoffs last season. Various factors contributed to the Bears’ decline – mostly quarterback Mitchell Trubisky, who was a thorn in the side of sports betting fans who backed the Bears – but everyone knew what the main problem was, and everyone knows what the key to a solution is in 2020.
Chicago Bears Offseason Changes
The biggest acquisition was the acquisition of quarterback Nick Foles, the hero of Super Bowl LII for the Philadelphia Eagles against the New England Patriots. Foles struggled last year with the Jacksonville Jaguars, but the Bears wanted to have him on the roster as a player who could challenge quarterback Mitchell Trubisky in training camp and into the start of the regular season. It’s unclear if he’ll start in Week 1, though, where the NFL odds show that the Bears are a three-point dog at Detroit. Here is a look at the latest Super Bowl Odds.
The Bears lost Leonard Floyd on their defense but signed Barkevious Mingo, so we’ll have to see if that’s a net loss or gain. The idea is that the signing of Robert Quinn, who spent 2019 with the Dallas Cowboys, will give the team a serious weapon opposite of Khalil Mack. On offense, they lost one tight end in Trey Burton but replaced him with Jimmy Graham and a slew of others. They also signed aging receiver Ted Ginn Jr., who played with the Saints last year, to add speed to the roster.
X-Factor
The success of the Bears depends on the quarterback position. Maybe Foles will win the starting job, but if he doesn’t, the burden falls upon Trubisky to save his career in Chicago. Trubisky was a top-two draft pick. The Bears gave up a lot of resources to get him in the same draft, which had Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes get taken several slots later. Trubisky has been a bust regardless of outside circumstances, but the sting of failure is more pronounced precisely because Trubisky was taken well ahead of two superstar quarterbacks, with one of them (Mahomes) winning the Super Bowl for a long-suffering franchise, the Kansas City Chiefs. Trubisky has no excuses going into the 2020 season, and he knows it. If he can use this challenge from Foles as a wake-up call, he could justify to management that he should stay in Chicago. If he fails this year, he will almost certainly go to another team in the near future. Trubisky has to be able to stretch the field and be more than just a game manager. It is true that he hasn’t had great receivers in Chicago, but he has still not processed the game as smoothly as head coach Matt Nagy would have hoped. The Bears were fourth in the NFL in scoring defense last season, but 29th in scoring offense. If the Bears can get an offense, which was 15th in the NFL in scoring (points per game), they should be a top-tier contender in the NFC … but given how lost Trubisky is, and how mediocre Foles was last year in Jacksonville, it’s not a likely scenario.
Schedule
The Bears play six NFC North games – two each against the Packers, Lions, and Vikings. The Bears’ other 10 games come against the NFC South (four games), the AFC South (four games), and the New York Giants and Los Angeles Rams. The NFC North is going to be tough. The Bears are probably looking at a 2-4 record in those six games, 3-3 at best. They are looking at 1-3 against the AFC South and the same against the NFC South. They will beat the Giants but lose to the Rams. It figures to be ugly this year for the Bears. Their schedule is brutal, so bet under their regular-season win total in the NFL sportsbook.
![MLB Picks, Predictions & Best Baseball Betting Odds [Thursday June 30]](https://cdn-bcmke.nitrocdn.com/FhMIXoNValmFJErBGxsWCoKAdOAOBcHv/assets/static/optimized/rev-33bd406/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/mlb-picks-predictions-best-baseball-betting-odds-thursday-june-30-120x86.jpg)
