Mark J. Rebilas- USA Today Sports
In the following weeks, I will be walking you through all 32 NFL teams in a fantasy football perspective. I will give you predictions, rankings, sleepers and much more so you can be fully prepared for draft day. Today, I am going to walk you through the Chicago Bears.
The Bears are in one the toughest divisions in football. They have to compete with the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions twice a year. Those are six games that are going to be tough matchups. They have difficult out of division opponents too, playing the Super Bowl champs, the reinvented Philadelphia Eagles and a few other teams who are not too shabby.
Luckily, the Bears won’t be playing prolific defenses, as the Packers and Lions don’t bring a great defense to the field. This is a big boost to the value of the players.
Headlining the Bears are some very threatening fantasy options. I love Matt Forte and Brandon Marshall as top notch players at their position, but Jay Cutler has always been someone to under perform in the statistical category. Let’s get started.
Quarterback: As I mentioned above, Cutler has never been a great fantasy quarterback. Every year I think to myself that he may break out this year. With the lack of receivers and lack of time in the pocket to throw, he never had the chance to thrive. Unless the offensive line can fix itself this offseason, don’t draft Cutler as your starting quarterback.
Running Back: Matt Forte is one of those players that seem to disappoint you also. He only had five touchdowns last season, which is not what you want from the guy you depend on to be your first running back. It doesn’t help that Michael Bush gets the majority of the goal line carries, which depletes his value even further. The best thing about Forte is he catches the ball. Forte thrives in a PPR format, catching at least 44 balls in each year of his career.
Wide Receiver: Brandon Marshall is the best fantasy player on the team. He finished second among wide receivers in most standard leagues last year, only behind Calvin Johnson. He is going to be a first round draft pick in the majority of leagues. The latest he would be picked is the second round. I wouldn’t advise taking him or any receiver in the first round, but in a deep league, he could be your best option.
Tight End: You don’t want Steve Maneri on your team.
Cameron Adamczyk is a fantasy football writer for Rant Sports. Follow his Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus for constant sports updates!
