Plenty of speculation has surfaced this offseason about how good the Chicago Bears will be.
Are they a middle-of-the-pack team? Will they be in contention for the first overall draft pick?
Former Bears offensive coordinator, Mike Martz, believes this team might go down as one of the worst teams in history. At least, that's who he compared the offense to.
"But I don’t know if I’ve seen an offense that bad in talent since the 0-16 Detroit Lions (in 2008)," Martz said in a column he wrote for the 33rdteam. "They just don’t have anybody there. It’s a bad football team right now."
Martz makes a wincing comparison to this season's Bears offense to the Lions from 2008. The Lions were the fourth team in history to go down without a win in the regular season. Ironically, they went undefeated in the preseason. Maybe the Bears should lose against the Cleveland Browns on Saturday just for good measure.
Looking at both the Bears' offense for the upcoming season and the Lions' from 2008, there are some striking similarities between the two.
The Lions had a young, unproven quarterback in Dan Orlovsky, as the Bears have with Justin Fields. (Ironically, Orlovsky played for the Bears and has thrown his fair share of jabs at Justin Fields this offseason.) Orlovsky's statistics from the '08 season are remarkably similar to Fields' first season, throwing for just under 1,700 yards and eight touchdowns.
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Detroit also had a couple of reliable weapons on their offense, but nothing more. They had Calvin Johnson as their go-to receiver in the passing game, much like Darnell Mooney is for the Bears. Kevin Smith ran for just under 1,000 yards and eight touchdowns that season, similar to David Montgomery's current career stats.
The difference is in the defense. The Lions' defense allowed the most points in the NFL in 2008, giving up an eye-opening 32.3 per game. On the other hand, the Bears will not be giving up 30-plus points per game this season. While the Lions didn't address their defense that season, the Bears have.
The Lions didn't have two-time All-Pro linebacker Roquan Smith. They didn't have a guy who could put up 18.5 sacks in a season (Robert Quinn). And, they didn't have two ferocious rookies who bring knock-your-helmet-off energy to the defense (Jaquan Brisker and Kyler Gordon).
Unfortunately, the Lions' offense was their biggest strength. Behind Johnson's production, the team ranked 27th in points per game, putting up 16.8 per game. It's nothing to write home about, but it's better than giving up over 30 points per game.
There's no argument the Bears will have a bottom-of-the-league offense next season. They have a second-year quarterback taking snaps from an inexperienced offensive line mixed with shoddy veterans. The wide receiver core is unestablished, tugging on the jerseys of Darnell Mooney and Cole Kmet to save the ship. And, while Luke Getsy's offense seems primitively user-friendly, it's still a new offense for Fields and the rest of the newbies to learn.
In sum -- bad offense? Yes. Bad as the 0-16 Lions? Maybe. But, the Bears' defense will save them from a completely winless season.