The Chicago Bears are being hyped as one of the top teams to look out for in 2024. The addition of Caleb Williams on the backside of C.J. Stroud’s playoff surge has pushed way too many people into buying into the team. There are oodles of reasons why the Bears are not worth buying into. Here are just three of them.
1. Caleb Williams is a rookie
The biggest reason why the Bears will not make the playoffs is because their quarterback is a rookie.
Stroud was a miracle example of a rookie quarterback popping immediately. In the vast majority of NFL history, those new to the professional game spend their first year taking lumps, not giving them.
Williams needs to learn how to practice in the NFL, how to regularly commute to the facility, how to balance his time commitments with no school workload to take up time, and more.
Put simply, even with a windfall of brand-name players around him, the quarterback has a lot to learn. Williams could one day be great. However, it will not happen in the next few months.
2. Keenan Allen is 32
The addition of Keenan Allen is another reason why so many fans and pundits seem to love the Bears so much. Allen is coming off a 1200-yard season. However, his age cannot be ignored. At 32, every receiver has already begun declining. Even if it hasn’t translated to the stat sheet yet, it soon will.
Allen also will be forced to learn a new system, which exposes one’s age even more. Historically, older players can coast on past or more detailed knowledge of a system they’ve been part of for a number of years. However, Allen can’t do that, and as such, he’s set up for a step back.
3. Bears are in a playoff drought
This is one of the easier points to make from a big-picture standpoint.
Teams that miss the playoffs often miss the playoffs again the following year. For the Bears to meet expectations, they will need to not only quench their playoff drought, but make a deep run at the Super Bowl. The last time the Bears were in a Super Bowl, Williams was six years old.
Even if the goal is merely to make the playoffs, Chicago hasn’t done so since 2020 in an 8-8 season.
An object in motion stays in motion. Adding a rookie quarterback and a wide receiver well past the age of 30 won’t change much.
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