Chicago Bears: 3 Early breakout candidates for 2019 season

As the Chicago Bears get into the thick of offseason workouts, which three players have the potential to really break out in the 2019 season?

Getting away from John Fox and handing the team over the Matt Nagy turned out to be a genius decision for the Chicago Bears. After going 5-11 in the 2017 campaign, the former Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator entered the fold and brought along a massive upswing in success. When the dust settled, it was better than many could have hoped for.

The Bears finished the regular season with a 12-4 record and in first place in the NFC North. Unfortunately for Chicago, that led to the Bears facing the Philadelphia Eagles in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs. Nagy’s club lost in heartbreaking fashion as Cody Parkey‘s potential game-winning kick hit the uprights twice before falling no good.

As important as the addition of Nagy was, it’s worth noting the massive improvements that the Bears made to their roster, most notably trading for Khalil Mack into the fold. The former Raider won NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors upon arriving in the Windy City and made Chicago a team that won with defense under famed coordinator Vic Fangio.

However, Fangio is now in Denver as the new head coach of the Broncos. Furthermore, the Bears can’t just sit complacently and run back what they put on the field last year. This is a league that is ever-evolving, which means that they need new wrinkles to their teams, new playmakers to emerge and so on.

Despite the fact that the Bears weren’t big spenders in free agency and had little high-end draft capital to work with after the Mack trade, they still have players who will have the opportunity to step up and help this team take another step forward. Though we’re still in the heart of the offseason, let’s take an early look at three such players.