For a team that came just a few breaks away from producing a winning record and meaningful football deep into December, the Chicago Bears had an alarming amount of tangible weaknesses.
The offense rivaled that of Pop Warner, and those struggles permeated over into other phases, turning a one-of-a-kind defense in 2018 into a merely good one.
This time of year, finding optimism isn’t difficult; the week-to-week pressure isn’t on, and articles about how motivated Player A and Player B are give way to intrigue. But here’s the reality: despite the potential, the Bears are still an 8-8 team that had a decent, but not groundbreaking offseason.