Last year’s column saw my predictions ONCE AGAIN surpass the 50% mark though down slightly from the previous year’s 67%. But as my daddy always said, “If you’re right half the time, that’s better than being wrong a bunch.”

Here are 50 prognostications and thoughts for the 2014 NFL season. Every team gets their moment. The Bears get more.

1. If Jay Cutler stays healthy he’ll throw for 4,000 yards but come up short of his career high 4,526. 

__________

2. In a deliciously dramatic moment, Devin Hester will break the all-time return record not against the Chicago Bears but against his former head coach Lovie Smith on week four’s Thursday Night Football installment.

__________

3. If the Broncos beat Seattle the third week of the season I give them a more than plausible chance to go undefeated. The offense is a machine. The defense is going to be terrific.

__________

4. Bears tied the Jacksonville Jaguars for fewest sacks in football last year with 31. (Carolina had 60 last year. That is DOUBLE!) This year they move to mid-table and finish the season with 45.

__________

5. Kelvin Benjamin will win offensive ROY because of this depth chart:

__________

6. I completely agree with Brandon Marshall’s assessment on Jay Cutler. If he stays healthy he is going to have an MVP-type season this year. But there is no way the writers will give Cutler the MVP. None.

__________

7. Never rent an apartment from a guy calling himself Tom Benson! From Scambook:

The so called Tom Benson claims to be the doorman of an apartment complex that is situated just across from the Crowne Plaza. He mentions that he is the doorman and that the owners are away for vacation but that they rent the home. He then goes on to send you pictures and says that he will even offer a free airport shuttle. This is an illegitimate offer and the Department of Homeland Security has already investigated this crime. I sent out a money transfer, only to then quickly cancel. I was lucky and I hope that this helps other people as well.

__________

8.  Sammy Watkins (and all NFL fans) will wake up midseason and wonder aloud, “Why did he have to end up in Buffalo?” Bills will be forced to get Watkins the ball on bubble screens and underneath when they realize EJ is both afraid and unable to get him the ball over the top.

__________

9. Every season a team goes from worst to first they tell me. This season that will not happen. I repeat: this season that will not take place.

__________

10. Tampa Bay will have them some…

Read More …

•  In 2013, the Detroit Lions beat the New England Patriots 40-9, the St. Louis Rams led the Denver Broncos 20-10 at halftime and Seahawks star Russell Wilson threw two interceptions as his team struggled to move the ball, heading into halftime tied 3-3 with the Packers. Those were all the supposedly important third preseason games. See what I’m getting at there?
• Seattle is better than the Bears right now. They’re better than everybody right now. Who was the best team three weeks into preseason last year? Not Seattle, New England or Denver. The season is long, a lot will happen between now and January.

Read More …

I’ve already written about the importance — or lack of importance — of tonight’s game in the grand scheme of things, but there are a few things that are worth watching:

•  If, when and how long does Santonio Holmes play? Are they going to throw him in with the starters as the third receiver right away? Does he still have to beat Josh Morgan out? Then, of course, how does he look? Will we see some of the explosiveness he showed early last season or in his days with the Steelers? Holmes has a chance to be a big part of what the Bears do this season. The Bears need to find out if he’s up to the challenge as soon as possible.

Read More …

When former Arizona Cardinals head coach Dennis Green went on that rant, he created a rallying cry for those who put a lot of stock in preseason, but it’s still debatable if he’s right.

I’ll agree that the third preseason game is the most important of the preseason games, but the main goal is still just to escape healthy.

Read More …

As the Chicago Bears prepare for their third preseason game they’re still trying to figure out if two of General Manager Phil Emery’s highest draft picks can play.

Although they’re both still young, there wasn’t much evidence at all that either Shea McClellin or Jon Bostic were going to be good football players. But last week’s game against Jacksonville was interesting and was enough to once again raise the question: Who are these guys?

Read More …

Just when I was ready to write Cornelius Washington off as nothing more than a workout warrior, he showed actual skill on the football field last week, something that could be a big long-term benefit for both he and the Bears.

When the Bears drafted Washington, one of their scouts referred to him as “avatar” because of his freakish athletic ability. That ability didn’t always show up on the field at Georgia and there was no sign he could play for the Bears last year. We still don’t know if he’s ever going to be a decent defensive end, but he has the look of a standout special teams player. If he continues to standout in the third phase, it will give the Bears more time to develop him as a defensive end.

Read More …

If Santonio Holmes is able to regain his prime form, the Chicago Bears will have the best trio of receivers in the league, but he won’t need to be that good to be an upgrade over last season.

Yesterday we learned that former third receiver Marquess Wilson could miss most of the season after breaking his collarbone. We still don’t know how the Bears are going to do with Wilson, but they might need Holmes to play a lot this season.

Read More …

When the Chicago Bears signed Santonio Holmes it was a sign that the news on receiver Marquess Wilson wasn’t good, but USA Today’s Tom Pelissero gave us a bit more of an idea, reporting Wilson would miss 12-to-14 weeks.

If Wilson were to miss the full 14 weeks (since his surgery) he wouldn’t return to the Bears until November 18, which could give him six games. How much of an impact such an inexperienced player could have in that short amount of time late in the season is iffy.

Read More …

The 2014 version of the Chicago Bears defense looked much like the 2013 version in their last preseason game against the Jaguars, but the fact that they didn’t break could be a good sign for this season.

Technically, the Bears did break once, but we all know that was bull. The Jaguars started their third possession at the Bears 23 and the drive seemed to be stopped when Trevor Scott sacked Chad Henne on third down, but Kelvin Hayden was called for a bogus illegal contact penalty. (The excuse was that the NFL referees have “points of emphasis” in preseason, but it’s hard to see how a receiver running into a defensive back can be a penalty on the defense no matter what the case is. The sack would’ve forced the Jaguars into a long field goal attempt. Josh Scobee is an excellent kicker, but kicks over 50 yards in Soldier Field are another story.)

Prior to that, the Bears held the Jaguars to field goal attempts after Jacksonville had a third-and-1 on the Bears 27 on their first drive and a first-and-goal at the Bears 7 on their second.

Preseason is basically just a glorified practice, maybe we shouldn’t put any stock into anything that happens, but there are reasons to think that the Bears can be a “bend but don’t break” defense.

Read More …

Before getting into the nuts and bolts of the 2014 Chicago Bears, I figured I should introduce myself to some of the most passionate Bears fans.

As he told you yesterday, I got to know Jeff mostly through Twitter debates after becoming a regular reader of DBB. I have quite a bit of experience blogging myself, previously writing for Bleacher Report and currently writing for cover32 and Bearly Bullogging, a website I launched with my  brother. I’ve also been writing a weekly sports column for my day job for a little over 11 years. More of my nonsense can be found on Twitter (@ChiBearsAD), where I usually react before thinking then defend my opinion until you give up.

I am an avid collector of information and I try to present that information in a way that makes sense. I believe statistics are wonderful and essential, but useless if they’re not used in context. (For example, Jay Cutler was never an average or below average quarterback, but his supporting cast from the GM down was terrible. The result was average-to-below average statistics.)

I’ve taken the last month or so off because of my wedding, but Jeff’s vacation coincides with my wife going to India for work. He asked me to fill in and I thought it to be a much better alternative than being bored out of my mind for three weeks.

In Jeff’s absence, I’m hoping to make the readers of DBB think a little, have a lot of fun and hopefully nobody gets hurt.