Might as well call May the month of scathing hot takes. It feels like there have been plenty of them and it’s only been a week. By far the hottest to date comes courtesy of Matt Miller from Bleacher Report. Usually known for his draft expertise, he stepped out to provide his list of power rankings on how he feels the 2020 season will play out. This includes teams who will finish with the worst record all the way to the best. One can guess that he started a bit of a firestorm when his choice of position for the Chicago Bears went public.
There were plenty of non-surprises. Kansas City and Baltimore sat at #1 and #2 respectively. New England took a noticeable dip to #10 after losing Tom Brady to free agency. However, all of that paled in comparison to his Bears take. He not only had them out of the playoff picture. He had them finishing with the second-worst record in the NFL.
His reasoning behind this decision? Namely how unimpressed he’s been with the Bears offensive outlook to this point. He clearly does not like Nick Foles due in large part to him losing his job to Gardner Minshew in Jacksonville. He also doesn’t care for their receiving corps and especially their offensive line. If that weren’t enough, he isn’t a fan of Kyle Fuller too.
Now everybody is entitled to their opinion. That is what makes sports great. At the same time, this feels less like a legitimate, educated take and more like a reactionary statement brought about by what Miller saw last season. He really didn’t take anything into account from the past couple of months. He outright ignored the arrival of Jaylon Johnson from Utah, a player he rated as a borderline 1st round talent going into the draft.
In addition, he didn’t take note of an improved tight end position and a much deeper wide receiver room with the arrivals of Ted Ginn Jr. and Darnell Mooney. Not to mention how well Anthony Miller played to finish last season. Nobody is saying the Bears will set the world on fire in 2020. It feels like 7-9 or 8-8 is still possible despite some clear improvements.
To go 3-13 though, which was the second-worst record in the NFL last season? That feels like a tough sell given how talented this roster is overall.
