Peter King ranks Chicago Bears as one of NFL’s worst teams in 2022

NBC Sports and longtime NFL writer Peter King published his annual NFL Power Rankings this week, and it isn’t a pleasant read for Chicago Bears fans. Like most of the national media, King doesn’t believe in the Bears this season.

King is such a disbeliever that he has the Bears among the worst five teams in the league at No. 28:

“I’ve crushed Chicagoland dreams,” King wrote. “I ranked the Lions over the Bears. Feels like the first time that’s been possible since Joe Schmidt roamed the middle of the field. But part of being a smart franchise architect is to survey the landscape and understand where you are and who you are. Ryan Poles did that when he took this job. He traded Khalil Mack, putting a $24-million dead-cap-money anchor on the franchise in the process, and saddled the team with $52.8-million in dead money.

“The flip side: The Bears have a league-high $96.9-million in cap space in 2023 ($103 million more than the in-debt Packers, per Over The Cap). The upshot is if new offensive coordinator Luke Getsy can help Justin Fields to be a competent player, the Bears will be in great position to attack the market next March. Baby steps, Bear fans.”

Chicago Bears hit new low in Peter King’s power rankings

Yep. You read that right. King has the Chicago Bears as the worst team in the NFC North, and it’s by a pretty wide margin. The Detroit Lions are eight spots higher at No. 20. Meanwhile, the Minnesota Vikings check in at No. 19, and the Green Bay Packers lead the way in the division at No. 5.

King’s power rankings fit the Bears narrative that’s developed this offseason: Poles didn’t invest in Fields, Fields should want out of Chicago, The Bears” defense isn’t what it once was, blah, blah, blah.

Sure, it hasn’t been all rainbows and butterflies this offseason. Yes, Poles could’ve been more aggressive in his attempt to level up the weapons around Fields. But there’s a strong culture developing inside Halas Hall that will eventually bear fruit. Perhaps it isn’t in 2022. Maybe there will be some growing pains for coach Matt Eberflus and his coaching staff. But Chicago can’t be dismissed as having any chance at making noise in the NFC North. A ranking this low suggests their season is already over. That’s nonsense.

Fields’ development is critical to any success the Bears enjoy in 2022. That development will be aided more by the coaches and football minds surrounding him than any wide receivers or skill players. Chicago enhanced that part of the program — significantly — this offseason. And the results in the regular season will prove it.

Will the Chicago Bears be a top-15 team? Will they push for a wild card berth? Probably not. There’s too much working against them. It’s Year 1 of a rebuild, and Fields is still a young player. The defense will have several new starters, and it will take time for a new coaching staff to get rolling. But there’s more talent on this roster than pundits acknowledge, and the improvement this season will make power rankings like these look foolish.