The Chicago Fire have been MLS’s worst club for two straight years. In 2015, they lost 20 times, fired coach Frank Yallop mid-season, and did not retain interim boss Brian Bliss. In 2016, after new GM Nelson Rodriguez hand-picked Veljko Paunovic to be the club’s new head coach, they picked up precisely one more point in the standings, and actually won fewer games and had a worse goal difference.
Still, the Fire did at least add some good young players, and they also piled up a ton of allocation money. They’ve made some big moves this offseason, for sure, but is it enough to get them back among the Eastern Conference’s potential playoff teams?