Falcons @ Bears Preview

By: Ricardo Russ (@1788sports, @RicardoLRuss)

The Falcons open their season with a road game at Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears. Last year, the Bears were… not good. They finished 3-13, and finished with the 25th overall DVOA. Not only that, but they then lost their franchise QB, Jay Cutler,  and his two immediate backups, Brian Hoyer and Matt Barkley. The Bears then also managed to lose true #1 WR Alshon Jeffery to the Eagles in free agency, likely further compounding the issues of the Bears passing game.

In the 2017 draft, the Bears traded up to grab QB Mitch Trubisky out of UNC as their signal caller of the future. However, despite his relatively good performances during the preseason, he will start the regular season as the backup to former Tampa Bay QB Mike Glennon, in order for Trubisky to have some additional developmental time. This works out for the Bears, as Glennon has been surprisingly effective against Atlanta for a career backup, as he boasts a 1-3 record and 109.2 passer rating against the Falcons.

Luckily for Glennon, he will have the ability to lean on RB Jordan Howard, who arguably had a better rookie season than Ezekiel Elliott, and a top 5 offensive line, led by guard Josh Sitton. Unfortunately for the Bears, Glennon will also have to contend with an extremely depleted receiving corps, following the loss of Alshon Jeffery in free agency and the season ending injury to Cameron Meredith. The Bears will have to hope that the previously unimpressive Kevin White lives up to his potential, or they will be competing with the Jets for the ignominious title of the worst WR group in the league.   

While the Bears offense will likely be an average to below average unit in 2017, given the offensive turnover and general ineptitude of the 2016 offense, the Bears should have a pretty good defense in 2017,  despite their relatively poor rankings in 2016. The Bears did make an effort to add talent to their defense in the offseason, as they added safety Quintin Demps and DL Jaye Howard in free agency and drafted former Alabama safety Eddie Jackson. However, the Bears will be mostly reliant on internal improvement to aid their defense. Their best defensive player in 2016 was linebacker Jerrell Freeman who graded out as one of the best linebackers in the league. The bears also got good production from edge rusher and former Georgia Bulldog, Leonard Floyd, who finished with 7 sacks during his rookie season.

While the Bears are a team likely on the rise, the Falcons are already one of the best teams in the league, and there is no one area, other than arguably the OL, where the Bears are definitively better than the Falcons. In particular, I believe that Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman will have a ton of room to run against the Bears, which will help set up play action shots to Julio, Taylor Gabriel, and Mohamed Sanu. While I am hesitant to predict a blowout given the fact that there will likely be opening game jitters, I think the Falcons will ultimately come away with a comfortable win.

Prediction: Falcons 31 -Bears 20