Chicago Bears: 2018 Season preview, prediction and more

Recapping the 2017 season

Last offseason was certainly different from this one. Everyone on the planet knew the Bears would move on from quarterback Jay Cutler. His tumultuous time in Chicago ended with just one playoff win.

The prevailing thought was the Bears would find their guy through the draft. When free agency started, however, Pace surprised everyone. He signed Mike Glennon to a deal, shocking both experts and fans alike.

So with a quarterback already signed, who would the Bears go after with their number three overall pick? Well, here we had shocker number two — Pace moved up one spot, traded away some valuable draft assets, and picked…a quarterback. No one had an idea what Pace was doing.

Even though the Bears had Trubisky waiting in the wings, Pace and Fox and anyone involved with the Bears at Halas Hall insisted Glennon was the quarterback. Trubisky would have a redshirt season, or so we thought.

After four horrible games to start the season (1-3 record and four touchdowns to five interceptions), the fans clamored for the kid and finally, Fox and the Bears relented. Trubisky started the final 12 games of the season, leading them to a 4-8 record.

While the numbers weren’t spectacular, Trubisky showed some promise considering he didn’t have a good receivers corps and Fox usually handcuffed him.

Jordan Howard had another stellar season, rushing for over 1,000 yards again. He became the first Bears running back to rush for over 1,000 yards in his first two seasons. What made his season more incredible was the fact that without a real passing attack, teams stacked the line to try to stop him. He still got his yards.

Akiem Hicks had himself another great season. After recording 7 sacks in 2016, he went out and recorded 8.5 sacks in 2017. Pretty good considering he got no help from Mitch Unrein on the other side, meaning he faced a lot of double teams.

While the offense struggled last season, the defense took a step up. Vic Fangio worked his magic again and, despite injuries to key players, he coached a top-ten defense.

The Bears finished the season 5-11 and that cost Fox his job. He was a good coach who accomplished a lot in his career, but it was clear the game passed him by. His offense was from the middle ages and he misused the rookies. A week after the season ended, the Matt Nagy era began in Chicago. Then the wheeling and dealing began.