Welcome to the 2016 NFL season and the 97th season of Chicago Bears football. The path to this edition of the “Monsters of the Midway” has been a bit different than many, and this club may be a little tougher for us to get our arms around than many past ones.
Coming off a 6-10 campaign in their first year under general manager Ryan Pace and head coach John Fox, the Bears elected to let 31 percent of the offensive production go by not attempting to re-sign free agent Matt Forte, trading Martellus Bennett and bringing in no one to replace them in the startling lineup.