Chicago Bears: 2018 Season preview, prediction and more
The 2018 offense could be a scoring machine
What an offseason for the Chicago Bears offense. Last season, they owned the last-ranked passing attack. Their receivers couldn’t create space and had trouble holding the ball. The kickers couldn’t make field goals with any consistency.
As soon as the season ended, Pace got on the job of fixing what hurt the team. The first item of business was hiring a coach. He needed an offensive-minded guy who could help with Trubisky’s development. Pace appeared to have his man and went for him (the same way he went after Trubisky). In about a week he got a deal done with former Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy.
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Nagy did wonders with Alex Smith last year. Smith had a career year under Nagy. The Chiefs offense ranked 6th in points scored. His system uses everyone on the offense. You have receivers going deep and intermediate. The tight ends see a lot of work with Nagy. The running backs get a lot of looks catching the ball out of the backfield. It is a modern-day offense.
In order to run the system, the offense needs the players. This year, Trubisky has Allen Robinson, Taylor Gabriel, Trey Burton, and rookie Anthony Miller. They have Tarik Cohen catching passes like a receiver himself. If Kevin White can stay healthy, the Bears may have the best receiving corps in the league. Watch out for Miller. He plays with a chip on his shoulder and he makes every kind of catch you need him to make. He’ll be a candidate for Offensive Rookie of the Year.
That opens the field for Jordan Howard. He could have the best year of his career. He’ll even show improvement in his catching ability.
Even when the team isn’t scoring touchdowns, their kicking game improved. There were a couple of games last season that would’ve been won if the kicker made a key field goal. This season, the Bears have Cody Parkey. Parkey broke the rookie points record (held ironically by Chicago Bears kicker Kevin Butler). Last season with the Miami Dolphins, he hit 91.3 percent of his field goal attempts.
When healthy, the Bears’ offensive line is better than many think. The line gave up 39 sacks, which ranked 18th in the NFL. That isn’t bad considering all the injuries that the line sustained. The addition of James Daniels adds depth.
Daniels will see a lot of playing time, considering he’s listed as the backup to Kyle Long at right guard, Cody Whitehair and center, and Eric Kush at left guard. He may not be a starter now, but he’ll eventually be a starter. Rashaad Coward and Bradley Sowell backup the tackles. This should be a pretty good line. Not the best, but very solid.
We should see some good offense from the Chicago Bears. Matt Nagy (and his offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich) will have some tricks up their sleeves. Nagy got the players to buy into his system and there should be some fun times at Soldier Field.