CBS Sports: Bears will underperform in 2024

The Chicago Bears aren’t used to having high expectations (or expectations of any kind) entering a new NFL season. But things are different this year with Caleb Williams in town, the Bears are a sexy pick to be 2024’s Houston Texans or perhaps even the Detroit Lions.

Not everyone agrees that Chicago will make that jump, however. The folks over at CBS Sports predicted which teams would exceed and fail to meet expectations, and the Bears were on the wrong side of the projections.

“I’m leery when it comes to putting too high of expectations on a rookie starting quarterback, which is what Caleb Williams will be this season,” CBS’ Bryan DeArdo wrote. “Add in the fact that they play in one of the NFL’s toughest divisions is another reason why I’m hesitant to buy too much Bears stock this season. Talk to me in 2025, after Williams has had a full season under his belt.”

Fair points, I guess? Sure, Williams is a rookie, and history suggests that rookie quarterbacks don’t often win in Year 1. But CJ Stroud sort of bucked that trend in 2023, and Williams certainly has the talent to make it back-to-back seasons that a first-year passer leads a team to the playoffs.

The expectations CBS Sports is working off of are 8.5 to nine wins for the Bears this year. It’s odd that a win total that’s just two more than the Bears achieved with a much worse team and much worse quarterback in 2023 is being made to seem like an unreasonable prediction. In fact, there will be a lot of Bears fans who are disappointed with only nine wins. The expectations for this team are actually higher, which makes CBS’ prediction even worse.

What do you think? Will the Chicago Bears fall short of the national expectations this year? Create a free user account and drop your projects in the comments below.