All it took was one decision by Bears coach Matt Nagy to change the perception of his team. His choice to bench Mitch Trubisky and insert Nick Foles into the starting lineup has NFL experts and pundits beginning to rethink their preseason expectations for Chicago.
NBC Sports’ Peter King told Mike Florio on Pro Football Talk that he believes the Bears are a legitimate contender for the playoffs now that Foles is behind center.
That’s quite the change from some preseason power rankings that had the Bears among the NFL’s worst clubs. Chicago was considered more of a contender to win the Trevor Lawrence sweepstakes than the NFC North.
Not so much anymore.
“(Foles) gives the Chicago Bears the best chance now to be that seventh seed,” King said.
One of the reasons Foles should find success in the Bears offense is because of the cast of skill players he has around him, which King suggested might be the best he’s ever had.
“There’s an acknowledgment that Nick Foles can go on one of these runs again,” King said. “He’s got better receivers now in Chicago than he had then in Philadelphia.”
In case you’re wondering who Foles’ receivers were during his 2017 season in Philadelphia, they included former Bear Alshon Jeffery, Torrey Smith, and Nelson Agholor.
Allen Robinson is a clear upgrade over Jeffery, and Anthony Miller has his fair share of splash plays, much like Smith was known to do during his career. The platoon of Darnell Mooney, Ted Ginn, and Javon Wims is an easy win over Agholor, a first-round bust.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter if Foles has better receivers now than he had then. All Bears fans care about is whether he can lead this team to the same end result: a Super Bowl win.