The Chicago Bears will be greatly relying on internal improvement this year, and these five players will be worth watching for a breakout.
After a surprising 2018 season that saw them go 12-4 and win the NFC North, the Chicago Bears dropped to 8-8 last year. The defense’s fortune with turnovers normalized, and quarterback Mitch Trubisky’s flaws could not be covered.
The Bears will enter this week’s draft with just seven picks (as of this writing), including none in the first, third and fourth rounds right now. So they will be leaning heavily on internal improvement this year. They notably added competition for Trubisky by trading for Nick Foles, in the hope Trubisky is pushed to improve or Foles is the answer this year by simply providing an average level of play. With even marginally better quarterback play, Matt Nagy’s offense will operate more efficiently and maximize a solid set of skill position talent.
If the Bears wind up winning a few more games in 2020, and thus become a factor in the division, it will be because one or more of these five players had a breakout season.
5. DT Bilal Nichols
A fifth-round pick out of Delaware in 2018, Nichols delivered three sacks, five tackles for loss, seven quarterback hits and 28 total tackles in a limited role as a rookie (31 percent of the Bears’ defensive snaps). He started six games last year, as Akiem Hicks missed 11 contests, but Nichols registered zero sacks and just two quarterback hits as the entire Chicago pass rush fell off.
Better health for Hicks, the addition of Robert Quinn in free agency and of course the presence of Khalil Mack will leave others with favorable situations to exploit. Nichols will be one of those to benefit from opposing offenses’ lack of attention, so a slightly delayed breakout may come in 2020.