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Chicago Bears Have Potential To Win 10 Games In 2015

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After a horrible 2014 campaign, the Chicago Bears have breathed a lot of enthusiasm into their fanbase with some encouraging moves to start the offseason. First they brought in highly regarded Ryan Pace to be the team’s general manager and followed that up by hiring John Fox as head coach. The additions of Adam Gase and Vic Fangio as offensive and defensive coordinators have things pointed in the right direction in 2015.

After a disappointing 5-11 season, how much can Bears fans really expect the team to improve in just one season? It’s difficult to say, because on the surface, there isn’t much that can be done to the roster. The Bears have a lot of money committed to their current roster and won’t have much of an opportunity to maneuver for cap relief until after the 2015 season. That isn’t to say the Bears won’t be active; they have space to make a few moves, but they are in no position to overhaul the roster.

The offense is going to look largely the same. I expect Jay Cutler to be back, as well as the rest of the key offensive contributors. Gase is going to have his hands full with Cutler, but this Bears regime seems to understand what type of system Cutler thrives in (play action with a lot of misdirection). And one would hope he should be better than he was last year under Marc Trestman. That’s not to say that Gase is going to turn Cutler into Peyton Manning, but with the weapons they have at his disposal, it isn’t impossible to think that the Bears’ offense could recover and be in the top half of the league, maybe even top 10.

Expect the Bears to use most of their cap space and draft picks to help the defensive side of the ball. Fangio will try and use more 3-4 sets with these players, so there is going to be a transition to make that happen. The defensive roster is still going to be thin on talent, but you can expect Fangio to get the most out of it. It won’t be easy, but with a couple good signings, one or two impact rookies and a significantly better scheme, the Bears should be able to go from pitiful to at least near average. A quality defensive coordinator like Fangio is going to make significant improvements alone. Mel Tucker was a horrendous defensive coordinator, so that change should make an impact almost immediately.

Keep in mind, the Bears were sitting at 3-4 last year when the team imploded against the New England Patriots, causing the locker room to fall apart and everything was a disaster from that point forward.  The first half of the season it was clear the Bears weren’t the contender that some thought they would be in the preseason, but they didn’t look horrible either; they looked like they were going to be a 7-9 or 8-8 team.

With a coaching staff keeping the team together this year as one cohesive unit, the Bears will play better on that alone. They don’t have an easy schedule, but it is manageable. They face the AFC West and NFC West next year, as well as their division opponents and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Washington Redskins.

With vastly improved coaching, a more cohesive locker room and a few roster additions, there is no reason to think the Bears can’t go 9-7. If the ball bounces their way a few times, a 10-6 record isn’t out of the realm of possibility which would at least put the Bears in the hunt for a postseason spot.

With the situation the way it is, you can’t expect miracles out of Fox, but there is no question fans can expect significant strides to restoring some pride in this great franchise.

Bill Zimmerman is a Chicago Bears writer for www.RantSports.Com. Follow him on Twitter, like him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google.

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