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Most maligned offense in the league, even after the departure of Cedric Benson. Over the past two to three seasons it has become so popular to hate on Rex Grossman even my mother-in-law knows who he is. Kyle Orton backs up Rexy, and he's awful. The receiving corps was decimated in the off-season with the departures of Muhsin Muhammed and Bernard Berrian while being replaced with uninspired choices Marty Booker and Brandon Lloyd. The team was also criticized -- in addition to not drafting a QB -- for passing on Rashard Mendenhall in the first round of the draft and instead settling on a 2nd rounder to
The Breakout
Once Benson was cut, the Matt Forte era began in Chicago. As I previously stated, there are upsides and downsides to Forte taking over in the Bears backfield. First of all, the offensive line was a major issue this year. It should be somewhat improved this year, but not a ton. Also, Forte wasn't deemed talented enough to be drafted in the first round. The upsides, though, are that the Bears will be playing smash-mouth, ball-control football. Keep the defense off the field by moving the chains and keeping the clock running is the mantra. That means 20+ touches per game for the rookie while he learns the NFL game. Expect 1200 yards and 6 TDs.
The Bust
He's my all-time favorite player already, but if you think Devin Hester is going to be a reliable fantasy option you are going to be quite disappointed. He's still the best returner in the history of the league, but he hasn't shown the ability to get himself more actively involved in the offense. Sure, there will be a few 60+ yard TD catches and probably a two TD return game where some team is too egotistical to punt the ball out of bounds (ahem, Mike Shanahan), but those will be buried amidst a sea of 1 catch for 13 yards and 0 TD games.
The Depth Chart
QB1 - Rex Grossman
QB2 - Kyle Orton
RB1 - Matt Forte
RB2 - Adrian Peterson
RB3 - Garrett Wolfe
WR1 - Marty Booker
WR2 - Brandon Lloyd
WR3 - Mark Bradley
WR4 - Rashied Davis
WR5 - Devin Hester
WR6 - Earl Bennett
TE1 - Desmond Clark
TE1a - Greg Olsen
K - Robbie Gould
The Team D/ST
Big time injury issues last year made this unit a bust. Expect a bounce-back as everyone is healthy. You'll get plenty of takeaways from these ballhawks, the occasional defensive TD, and of course, you get Hester's special teams return touchdowns when someone moronically kicks to him. This is a top-five unit.
The Skinny
The mess at receiver is a quite jumbled. Feel free to crumple down the rankings I made above and do your own. Anyone's guess is worthwhile at this point with those six. The most likely scenario is that all six run in and out of the game constantly and aren't of any use in fantasy leagues. There is no reason to draft any of them earlier than the 12th round. The erratic Grossman is quite difficult to own as well. Olsen is worth a look as a breakthrough candidate at TE, but he won't be consistent enough to warrant top ten pre-season at the position. The real value on this team lies only in Forte, Gould (a top five kicker), and the defense. That's it.
