Colin Cowherd Gives Reason He Thinks Bears Should Be A Playoff Team
The Chicago Bears have low expectations across most of the national media landscape. That isn’t a surprise. They went 3-14 last season. GM Ryan Poles has busied himself trying to rebuild the roster from top to bottom. It’s gone pretty well, all things considered. Still, while the Bears should be better in 2023, no one is picking them to make a quick turnaround into the playoffs. Well, that isn’t entirely true. Longtime sports analyst Colin Cowherd is a bigger believer in this team than some might realize.
He explained himself on The Herd. In his mind, the Bears have improved greatly over the past few months. That is especially true on the offensive side of the ball. While not good, the offensive line wasn’t as terrible as people think last year. Now it’s improved. They have two very good receivers in D.J. Moore and Darnell Mooney, and two solid tight ends in Cole Kmet and Robert Tonyan. That isn’t even counting Chase Claypool and a deep stable of running backs. Forget the defense. Everything about this season falls on the shoulders of Justin Fields.
No more excuses. Either he takes the final step to become a legitimate passer, or the Bears must start their search for a replacement.
Colin Cowherd has plenty of bad takes, but he’s not wrong here.
The Bears have expressed the utmost confidence in Fields. It feels genuine too. They’re doing everything in their power to help him succeed. He has all the tools to be a superstar. His one problem is that he can’t pull the trigger fast enough, causing him to hold the ball too long. That leads to scrambles, sacks, or interceptions. It did appear he showed lots of progress last season, though. Between October 9th and December 24th, he completed 65.65% of his passes. That ten-game span showed he could execute at the necessary level Cowherd described.
He must learn to do it throwing more passes per game. The team will never win enough games with him averaging 21.2 per game. That is why the Bears invested so heavily in his line and his weapons. They want him to throw. Everybody wants him to throw. Even he wants to throw. All signs point to him putting in more work than ever this off-season. Nobody can say he’ll be unprepared. Love or hate him, Colin Cowherd is correct. This has to be the year Fields starts carrying the team with his arm. If he does, they will be in the playoff hunt.