Chicago Bears: 5 Bold predictions for 2021 NFL season
The Chicago Bears take to the road to face the Los Angeles Rams in Week 1 of the year. Here are five bold predictions for the 2021 season.
The Chicago Bears finally start their regular season this week. Training camp and the preseason are over. All the discussions about who makes the roster and who doesn’t are over.
It is now time to put everything into action. The Bears have the team they want (for the most part) and now it’s time to see the performance on the field. We’ll see how well general manager Ryan pace did in building this roster. We’ll also see how well head coach Matt Nagy does in handling the players.
What will we see from the Chicago Bears in 2021? Of course, we won’t know until the opening kickoff ensues and the season progresses. Yes, we all have opinions on what to expect. There are some who expect a good season out of this team. Others see another struggling team trying to win more games than it loses. In a few months, we will all find out the answer.
For now, however, let’s have some fun and make some predictions. Not just plain, vanilla predictions. Let’s go with bold ones. Let’s go out on a limb with our predictions. At the end of the season, you, the readers, can hold me to these predictions. We’ll see how well (or awful) these turn out. Here are five bold predictions for the Chicago Bears’ 2021 season.
5. With his hot start, Andy Dalton holds off Fields for a while
Head coach Matt Nagy announced months ago that Andy Dalton would be the starting quarterback to start the season. Despite this, many fans acted surprised and upset that he kept his word and that Dalton starts the season as the starter.
Unfortunately, all this love for rookie Justin Fields turns to hate towards Dalton. There are actually a lot of fans who actively cheer for him to fail so Fields takes over.
The thing to remember is that FIelds’ development will determine when he takes over. We can cheer for Dalton to succeed. If Nagy stays true to his word again, Fields could take over despite Dalton’s success. Of course, that will bring about a whole new set of arguments.
People like to compare this situation to the one Mitchell Trubisky was in when he was a rookie in 2017. It is a different one, however. Dalton is better than Mike Glennon (whether you want to admit it or not). Also, Dalton won’t be throwing to Josh Bellamy, Kendall Wright, and Dion Sims/Zach Miller. He’ll have Allen Robinson, Darnell Mooney, and Cole Kmet/Jimmy Graham.
Dalton will perform better than Glennon did, allowing Fields to look and learn. He’ll get off to a good start, keeping Fields on the bench.
Dalton is a pretty accurate passer downfield. He’ll be targeting a bunch of speedy receivers in Mooney, Marquis Goodwin, Damiere Byrd, and Breshad Perriman. That is a total of four sub 4.4-40 runners in the wide receivers room. The Bears will create some mismatches and Dalton will take advantage of that.
Dalton will have some good stats to open the season. Despite this, FIelds will take over at some time during the season. Dalton is a veteran and he understands this.