Chicago Bears: Cowherd reverses himself, now says team is playoff caliber
A few weeks back, Fox Sports radio host Colin Cowherd made record predictions for every team in the NFL. When he came to the Chicago Bears, he was pretty dismissive. He barely spent his breath talking about them.
Bears, 6-7 (wins), whatever.
He had the Bears finishing last in the NFC North. He did not show much respect for the team.
It would be understandable if he said that about last year’s team. When general manager Ryan Poles took over, he tore down the roster. In its place, he signed players who didn’t exactly have a lot of talent.
Poles felt he had to do that so he had the flexibility to sign better players in the 2023 offseason. That is exactly what happened. When free agency began in March, Poles and the Bears had the highest salary cap in the league. He avoided overspending so he was able to sign a plethora of new, more talented players.
Poles also had the number one overall pick in the draft, along with nine more. He did some wheeling and dealing, picking up multiple picks not only for this year but also in the future. In addition, he picked up one of the best wide receivers in the NFL, D.J. Moore.
Looking at this roster now, even with remaining questions, this team is definitely like last season’s. This is a more talented team and will be more competitive in 2023.
Apparently, after giving it more than a fleeting thought, the Fox big mouth agrees with that assessment.
Cowherd reverses course and now believes the Chicago Bears are a playoff-caliber team.
He actually used more words to describe his feelings for Chicago.
I’m very interested. Minnesota shouldn’t be as good. Green Bay won’t be as good. Detroit will be better. This should be a playoff team. They are more than capable.
Of course, he goes along with the very popular choice to win the North — the Detroit Lions. However, he no longer thinks the Bears finish in last place.
Of course, Cowherd took the opportunity to still bash the team and his favorite punching bag, Justin Fields. He still feels that Fields is not a good passer, despite him not having nearly enough talent both protecting him and catching his passes.
Cowherd even questioned the Chicago Bears’ ability to develop Fields’ passing acumen. He said he was not sure if the Bears’ brass is good enough to make Fields an average passer.
To be fair, Cowherd being concerned about Fields’ passing is valid. He hasn’t had much success throwing the ball. Again, a lot of that had to do with his protection and targets. The thing to keep in mind, though, is that he had much more success throwing the ball than running it. He had great targets at Ohio State and he was wildly successful.
Now, with better targets this season, he should be much better at throwing the ball. He will have the ability to stand in the pocket longer and find the open receiver. Furthermore, he will have the confidence that his receivers will make key catches and make big plays. He did not have that confidence last season.
Maybe Cowherd had a change of heart. People have those all the time. However, maybe he “changed” his opinion because if the Bears don’t make the playoffs he then has material to bash the Chicago Bears and especially Fields. Looking at Cowherd’s sketchy past statements on a number of subjects, we should not take what he ever says as gospel.
