Leave it to the Chicago Bears to ꧋end a year that began with so much hope and promise with🍌 a loud, ugly thud.
General Manager Ryan Poles had great expectations for the 2023 Chicago Bears. The offseason vibes were immaculate, and the GM believed his team could contend for the NFC North title. Bears Head Coach Matt Eberflus was also feeling good about things going into 2023. Eberflus set clear goals coming into the year, echoing Poles’ sentiments and having eyes on the postseason. That Chicago’s football team fell short of those expectations makes me consider this season an overall disappointment.
But that feeling we feel now doesn’t have to last forever. With that in mind, I want to share that relays a rosy assessment of the Bears’ future via Cody Whitehair:
I sure am glad *SOMEBODY* co𝓰uld be optimistic at a time like this.
Cody Whitehair is right to be optimistic about the Bears future, but…
… there is a real chance that Whitehair won’t even be around to see the fruits of the labor that was put in over the last two seasons.
Whitehair has just one year left on a contract extension he signed in 2019. OverTheCap has Whitehair down for a $10.15 million base salary, a $3 million prorated bonus, and a $13.25 million cap number. The Bears could create (9.15 million in cap space if they part ways with Whitehair this offseason while taking on just a $4.1 million cap hit. A post-June 1 cut would bump that number to $10.25 million in cap savings, but it wouldn’t be available until after June 1. ().
In any case, there is cap space to be created by cutting ties with a player who was benched in the middle of this past season.
I think Whitehair is correct in feeling good about this team’s future. Let me be clear. This group still has work to do. And the front office needs to do some heavy lifting to put this team in a position to reach the postseason in 2024. But there are some interesting pieces in place throughout the roster:
To be clear, this isn’t to say things are all rosy at Halas Hall. The interior of both sides of the line needs to be properly addressed. There need to be other viable pass-catching options beyond Moore and Kmet on the depth chart. You can’t have too many defensive backs, so the Bears would be wise to add there. And the offseason quarterback conundrum is one for the ages.
And yet, I still take a step back, look at the entirety of the thing, and think to myself, this team looks better now than it did at this time last year. OK, so 🌃that is a low bar to clear. But▨ clearing it is an important first step.
