Chicago Bears have a high chance to be NFL’s surprise team of 2023

The Chicago Bears may have been the worst team in the NFL in 2022, but 2023 is a new year, and the team has a good shot at being the surprise team of the upcoming season. 

After bottoming out with a 3-14 record in 2022, the Chicago Bears made several notable changes to their personnel department.

Offensively, they invested in the trenches by signing guard Nate Davis from the Tennessee Titans. Additionally, they traded the No. 1 overall pick to the Carolina Panthers in exchange for a bounty of draft capital and wide receiver DJ Moore. This gave quarterback Justin Fields a viable option in the passing game to go along with Darnell Mooney and Chase Claypool.

After making another trade, they picked 10th overall and drafted Tennessee offensive tackle, Darnell Wright. Chicago would acquire additional talent later in the draft with the selections of running back Roschon Johnson out of Texas and wide receiver Tyler Scott out of Cincinnati.

Defensively. Chicago invested heavily in the linebacker core with the signings of former Eagles linebacker TJ Edwards and Tremaine Edmunds from the Buffalo Bills. The club also added talent in the draft for that side of the ball with players like cornerbacks Tyrique Stevenson and Terrell Smith and defensive tackles Zaach Pickens and Gervon Dexter Sr.

All in all, the names sound good, but the results matter. General manager Ryan Poles has essentially scrapped the Ryan Pace era with a new look for the club, but there are still several holes left to be filled, including the O-Line and the pass rush situation.

Having said that, it would not be a surprise to see Chicago become the surprise team of 2023 and win more games than would be expected.

The Chicago Bears have a deep enough team to make more noise than a year before and be the surprise team of 2023.

Do we expect them to be as big of a surprise as the Cincinnati Bengals were the year they advanced to Super Bowl LVI? Not really, but that Bengals roster was loaded with more talent than what Chicago currently has.

That said, the NFC North title is still up for grabs. Yes, Detroit is the darling pick, given how they ended the season last year with an upset win over Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. But that was last year. Minnesota is inconsistent, and there is no real solid proof of what Jordan Love will be like in Green Bay.

If Love turns out to be the 3rd straight Hall of Famer for the Packers, god help the Bears. So far, it doesn’t look like that, and Chicago may have the best chance to take control. Granted, this team is still at least a year or two away from competing, but they have a real shot to cause some problems for the opposition this year if things go according to plan, meaning Fields takes the next step.

Turnarounds happen every year in the NFL where someone comes out of nowhere and makes a statement that season to set themselves up for future success. Maybe, just maybe, this is the year that the Bears are fortunate to receive such an opportunity.