Feeling The Love

The Bears bandwagon is about to be really crowded.

Under the leadership of Phil Emery, the arrow is pointing straight up for the Bears and the national media is due to take notice. Considering the off-season that the Bears just had their way with, I think they're going to become the popular pick this year. You know, that team that that all of the analysts start hyping up as a team that "may surprise you." Like when the Eagles signed Nnamdi Asomugha (and Vince Young) and everyone picked them for the Super Bowl. Even when they lost four of their first five games, the national coverage never slowed down. They still had the media believing that they would turn it around. The coverage that the Bears are going to end up getting this season is going to be something comparable.

While there's not going to be a lot of analysts taking the Bears as their Super Bowl favorites, the Bears have enough going for them that would deserve to stay on the national radar. They have a defense that's been known for carrying them them for as long as we can remember. They have a QB who finally won over the nation's heart last season even before he tore his thumb apart. They also have a top 10 RB coming back from surgery who wants to cash in on this bizarre trend of teams overpaying at the RB position. They have new blood in the front office that came in and immediately made their mark without hesitation.

When you factor all of these different elements in, it seems as if the timing is right for the Bears to be the "it" team. But I think the most important factor in all of this is their potential to have an explosive offense. With the addition of Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery, the Bears finally have playmakers at the WR position. Defenses just won't be able to key in on Matt Forte and Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery all at the same time. The NFL has shifted to an offense-based league, and this is the first time the Bears are bringing a qualified offense to the table.

This has been the missing link. They've had the great defense. They've had the great special teams. It's always been the offense who hasn't carried their weight, and now that they've begun to address that part of the roster, the national media will be ready to start claiming them.

The Bears have been scheduled for thirteen prime time games in the past three seasons and are slotted for another five in 2012. They've had plenty of national exposure over the past three season, but they haven't had very much support from NFL experts in that time. Throughout the 2010 season, while they marched to the NFC Championship game, the Bears were always billed as lucky rather than deserving of their success. While the Bears continued to rack up wins, nobody seemed to believe in them.
This is going to be the year when that all changes. With what has quickly become an impressive arsenal of offensive weapons, the Bears are finally going to have an offense that we can believe in... an offense whose primary function is to score points, rather than to give the defense a breath... an offense that's going to make the highlight shows and demand national attention.

I love hearing national analysts say positive things about the teams I like. I'm so used to them not believing in the Bears -- not believing in the Bulls -- and I'm ready to hear them acknowledge that they finally do. I'm ready for them to stop calling the Bears "lucky" and start calling them "legitimate." This is going to be the year when the Bears are finally likable throughout the country and non-fans start wanting the Bears to win. It's going to be a fun season and the national love is going to start soon... right around the time training camp gets here. Can't wait.

Phil Recognize Trill

Phil Emery came into the Bears organization and immediately did what Jerry Angelo failed to do during his tenure. He addressed the Bears biggest need right away, instead of facing the same issues over multiple off-seasons. From 2008-2011, the offensive line was the Bears biggest weakness every single off-season. This year was the first time since then that the Bears needed to upgrade a different position more than the line. Emery came to Chicago with an unbiased opinion and accurately pointed at the WR position as the big weakness on the roster.

Ever since Jay Cutler came to the Bears we have been yelling for a big bodied WR to throw to. Somebody that could resemble the kind of target that he had back in Denver when he went to the Pro Bowl. Somebody who can make adjustments to the ball downfield and take advantage of Cutler's ability to make throws through tight windows.

I asked Phil Emery to do two things for this team when he signed on. The first thing was to sign a free agent WR that could be the number one target for Cutler. The second thing was to draft one of five WRs that have the potential to become a #1 receiver in the NFL.

Phil Emery came through brilliantly on both of those wishes. He didn't just settle for one of the three free agents WRs worth targeting, he traded for one that is better than all three of them and that already has an established rapport with Jay Cutler. Still, he wasn't satisfied with adding just one WR. He then drafted the WR with the highest ceiling in the 2012 draft. Alshon Jeffery has the athletic potential to become the best WR out of the entire draft class, better than Justin Blackmon and Michael Floyd.

Emery came to Chicago and projected this aura of competence that we hadn't seen from the Bears GM position in decades. From his early press conferences, it was clear that he understood the Bears did not have an offensive roster up to 2012 NFL standards. So he did something about it. He identified the problem and addressed it. There's no guaranteeing that it will work out, but with the actions he took, there's a damn good chance that it will work out.

Phil Emery also identified the two biggest weaknesses of the defense. The Bears obviously needed a pass rusher and they are far from set at the safety position. When the Bears selected Shea McClellin most of us were wondering who that was. While we may have been expecting them to pick Whitney Mercilus or Chandler Jones, Phil Emery identified a player that he liked more than anyone and took him without hesitation. Even if you don't know anything about defensive line technique if you watch some tape of McClellin running around a football field, you can tell that he'll find his way to the QB. He is capable of fast, fluid movements that will allow him to get past defenders.

After the Bears made their first two picks I wondered if they would spend a draft pick on a safety after the Angelo regime had missed so many times in the past. In a move I didn't expect, Emery went after one in the 3rd round. Even though everything about this selection screams "Lovie pick," the truth of the matter is safety is a position that still needed to be upgraded. Major Wright is not a legitimate starting safety in the NFL, he is a backup. While he may start the season atop the depth chart, the Bears have brought in somebody else who can challenge for his spot. Regardless of how much we believe Lovie has a boner for Major Wright, if somebody else can come in and play the position at a higher level, he will go with that somebody else.

We don't know for sure how any of the Bears picks will turn out but, now that it's over, most of us came out with the feeling that Phil Emery has a general idea of what he's doing. Between free agency moves and the draft, we can feel confident that the Bears now have a GM that actually knows what he doing. It's a very unfamiliar feeling but I like it.