Bear Digest

One Bold Prediction Among Many Bears Record Projections

Sports Illustrated's Gilberto Manzano has one very bold Bears prediction on the coming season while other analysts have their own takes.

Gene Chamberlain

Tremaine Edmunds pressures Packers QB Jordan Love in the 2023 regular-season finale.
Tremaine Edmunds pressures Packers QB Jordan Love in the 2023 regular-season finale. / Mark Hoffman?Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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The best part of the NFL schedule release is all the meaningless predictions to follow.

Everyone puts in their 2 cents worth and ... hel-lo... it's May. They haven't even had OTAs.

So the predictions have little significance although the flawed early betting lines and over/unders established can allow plenty of bettors make rake in a windfall if they know what they're doing.

The schedule release comes complete with many types of predictions. The standard record forefast or game-by-game look is best. They're tried and true.

Sports Illustrated's Gilbert Manzano delivers a jolt to the Green Bay Packers system with a forecast they won't want to hear. The Bears are not only going to be in the playoffs, they are going 11-6 while Green Bay is going 8-9.

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"If Williams gets off to a hot start, the Bears might live up to the high expectations in the Windy City this season," Manzano writes. "But Chicago’s defense will also have to step up, especially against the high-scoring offenses of the 49ers, Rams and Texans."

ESPN Bears beat writer Courtney Cronin takes her stab at the record and says 10-7 for a team Vegas says has an over/under of 8 1/2. And she has one other significant call.

"This shouldn't be bold, but considering the Bears haven't beaten the Packers since their first meeting in 2018, predicting a Chicago win against Green Bay qualifies," she wrote.

On the negative side for Bears fans, Marcus Mosher of The 33rd Team sees the competition getting the best of the Bears and they finish 8-9.

"Chicago will undoubtedly be better this season, but it plays in a tough division and will face the NFC West and the AFC South this year," he wrote. "Look for Chicago to be a borderline playoff team."

The NFL.com projection on win totals by Cynthia Frelund is sadly lacking and not worth looking at because of its format. Rather than tell everyone what she predicts, it's basically setting her own over/under. That's why they have Vegas and that line has been out quite a while. Give us a win total here with tangible numbers here or don't give one at all. It doesn't seem likely the Packers will have 9.8 wins.

Not all predictions need to be about simple win-loss marks, and aren't.

ESPN's Dan Graziano, in a column looking at overreactions to the NFL schedule, predicts the thought of Caleb Williams going 4-0 in starts games against his fellow rookie quarterbacks while leading the Bears to the playoffs is no overreaction. That consists of wins over J.J. McCarthy twice, Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels.

"Of those quarterbacks, you can make a strong argument that Williams was drafted into the best situation, with a receiving corps that includes DJ Moore, Keenan Allen, Cole Kmet and fellow rookie Rome Odunze," Graziano wrote. "The Bears also signed running back D'Andre Swift and return a defense that finished last season playing like one of the best in the league."

He also points out the friendly schedule with 10 of 17 games against non-playoff teams from last year.

If he wanted to get real technical, it's not just the games against non-playoff teams but so many games against teams that didn't even reach eight wins. They have seven of those.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.