My 2009 Bears Prediction for John O

One of my favorite Gatherers is John O. John more times than not he asks me about sports in the Chicago area and the Bears in particular.

So, John here's my take on my Bears who recently picked up pro-bowl QB Jay Cutler.  The Bears WR's are lacking right now. I feel that Devin Hester may have a break out year as a WR. He has the speed and moves and gets better every year in the position.

The Bears had Matt Forte running the ball last year and he's is the real deal. Next year will be his sophomore year, this kid runs, blocks, catches the ball out the backfield. Forte has heart and his head is on straight. Forte is going to make money hand over fist in Chicago which is a major market.

If Micheal Vick had a lick of sense he could have done well in Atlanta, came to Chicago, New York or Frisco and made double because of the size of the market but then again we are talking if he had any sense to understand that there is a business side to the game.

The fact that Micheal Jordan played here and got mega media exposure playing in prime time almost every game with most of the country watching helped him in his personal marketing.

If you play in the east a lot of the west viewers miss your games and if you play in the west then you don't get the exposure east. If you play in the middle of the country, you get to be on prime time TV a lot . Jay Cutler wanted to come to Chicago, Jay is thinking long term and big dollars.

The way I see it is the Bears will be fine on offense but I like defense. I like in your face smash mouth defense on the football field. Defense is the only consistent thing in the game you can always play defense and I'll settle for a 20- 10 win than a 38-34 shoot out defeat any day of the week.

Defense is the Bears weakness now especially on pass defense. Just check these 2008 defensive stats on the Bears and the fact that they were 30th league in pass defense. A lot of the Bears getting killed on pass defense is the lack of a pass rush up front until they address that problem I don't see much of an improvement in pass defense.

OK, John here's my 2009 prediction for the beloved Chicago Bears who play in a weak NFL North division.

11W- 5L

Matt Forte