Knocking off the defending AFC champion New England Patriots wasn’t enough to sway the 7% of our voters who still lack confidence in the Chicago Bears’ direction. This week’s Reacts results are pretty much the same as a week ago, when confidence was at 92.7%.
I’m sure we have some visiting voters from the SB Nation sites that cover the Packers, Lions, and Vikings in the poll trying to sway things negatively, but if there are still disgruntled Bears fans out there voting no, I need to know: why?
If
a (5-2) record one season after an (11-5) NFC North Championship team that beat the Packers in the Wildcard round and narrowly lost in the Divisional round isn’t enough for you to be confident the Bears are heading in the right direction, then what are you waiting for?
Perfection?
Now, to be fair, most of these votes were tallied before the Bears made the all-in move of trading for Jeffery Simmons.
So maybe some of your hesitation in voting yes was that you were waiting for the defensive line to be addressed.
Well, it’s been addressed in the biggest way, and the baddest defensive tackle in the NFL now resides in the Windy City.
Simmons goes from the one-win Titans to the high-profile Bears, who have two prime-time games up next, and a bigger media presence can only help his chances at the Defensive Player of the Year Award. Our partners at FanDuel Sportsbook currently have those odds at +2000, which are the seventh-best.
Simmons is a force multiplier, and the entire defense will benefit from his presence in the middle of the Bears’ d-line
Chicago’s defense has been generating pressure by blitzing, but Simmons will let them drop more into coverage, which could help their struggling corners.
Nickelback Kyler Gordon is tied for the team lead with 4 sacks in just 2 games, but the Bears may not have to send him off the edge as much with Simmons pushing the pocket.
On Monday night, the Bears play the Seattle Seahawks and one of the best wide receivers in the game, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and when he runs routes out of the slot, Gordon could be counted on to cover.
Do you think Gordon can cintnue his surprisinly impressinve play?
