The Chicago Bears prospects heading into last season looked “eh” at first. However, the acquisition of Khalil Mack changed that. An absolute game-changer on defense, suddenly they had the chance to turn some heads.
Turn some heads is exactly what they did too. Everything went right for them for a while, leading to a 12-4 record. That record was good enough for a first-place finish in the NFC North and was tied for the third best record in the entire NFL (Los Angeles Rams and New Orleans Saints both went 13-3).
Just because they had a great season doesn't mean there aren't concerns heading into the future, though. In fact, there are some pretty obvious ones heading into 2019. Here are three concerns that should be their biggest this season.
3. Mitchell Trubisky's Development
Mitchell Trubisky was definitely much improved in 2018 compared to his rookie year in 2017. That being said, don't be fooled – he still has a long way to go.
Trubisky finished the year with 24 touchdowns compared to 12 interceptions. He also threw for 3,223 yards in 14 games.
Obviously, the first thing you'll notice is the yards – that's not a great number. A big part of that is the reliance of the offense on short throws. This is due to Trubisky not having the most accurate of arms.
The 24 touchdowns don't seem that bad, but considering he threw six in one game – that number looks a lot worse as 18 TDs in 13 games. He had two three-touchdown games as well. Outside of that, he threw zero in three games and had one touchdown with at-least one interception in three others. Two of those were multi-interception games.
The defense is amazing, but in the end, this team will only go as far as Mitchell Trubisky can take him. So has the quarterback improved enough to help them win a Super Bowl?
2. Secondary
The Chicago Bears have a pretty strong secondary. Will that stay the case though? In 2018 they got some big time performances out of two players in particular. One of those is safety Adrian Amos – who's now on the Green Bay Packers. Obviously over there, he's not exactly going to help the Bears.
Then there's Prince Amukamara last season they got the best season of the 30-year-old cornerback's career. Will he be able to replicate that? Or will things go sour for Amukamara? If that happens the Bears could be left scrambling.
Besides those two, you can raise questions elsewhere as well.
Kyle Fuller had a career-year as well, intercepting seven passes – three more than he ever had in a single season. Is that something he can replicate? Or will Fuller's elite ball-hawking skills of 2018 revert back to normal?
What about new addition at safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix? He's proven to be a solid safety in his career – but struggled at times last season. This was amplified when he was traded to the Washington Redskins. Personally, I believe he is a very good safety and could help the team, but questions still need to be raised on how he'll fit in. If things go wrong, it could end up hurting the team more than anything.
1. Kicking
Of course this had to be on the list. The Chicago Bears had infamous kicking problems in 2018. Cody Parkey made 23-of-30 field goal attempts – a weak 76.7%. He had way too many kicks that hit the uprights and didn't fall his way.
The most famous of those was in the Wild Card Playoff game. Against his former team, the Philadelphia Eagles, Parkey had a chance to win with 10 seconds left in a 16-15 game. He missed a 43-yard field goal when his kick hit the uprights – TWICE.
To be fair to Parkey, he's had a very solid career. However, he's not in Chicago anymore after a career-worst season and that terrible ending to it.
To replace him, the Bears currently have Elliot Fry and Eddy Pineiro on the roster. Those two have combined for a whopping zero field goal attempts in the NFL.
With that in mind, this isn't just a jab at least season. The Chicago Bears seem to literally have no idea what they'll be doing at the position in 2019 – that should make it a major concern for the team heading into the new season.
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