2014 Chicago Bears Season

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The 2014 Chicago Bears season will be the franchise's upcoming 95th season in the National Football League, as well as the second under head coach Marc Trestman.

Offseason

Organizational changes

Free agency

The Bears enter the offseason with 27 players set to become free agents, with safety Anthony Walters being a restricted free agent, while guard Taylor Boggs and defensive lineman Cheta Ozougwu are exclusive rights free agents. CBS Sports writer Joel Corry projects the Bears salary cap to be $41,632,799, with an adjusted cap of $128,013,800, which ranks fourth in the league, behind the Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars and Oakland Raiders. By February 22, the Bears' salary cap was approximately $2.7 million.

2014 draft class

Main article: 2014 NFL Draft

The Bears did not receive any compensatory picks for the draft. Profootballtalk.com's Michael David Smith wrote Chicago needed to draft players at four positions for the first round: defensive back, with first-round possibilities including Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and Justin Gilbert; linebacker, such as C. J. Mosley and Ryan Shazier; defensive tackle, like Aaron Donald. Additionally, Smith wrote the Bears could target a running back or quarterback with mid- to late-round draft picks, such as De'Anthony Thomas and James White, and Tom Savage, respectively.

With the 14th pick in the draft, the Bears selected Virginia Tech cornerback Kyle Fuller, who recorded 173 tackles, 4.5 sacks, six interceptions and 21 deflections during his college career. In round two, with the 51st pick, LSU defensive lineman Ego Ferguson was drafted; Ferguson had started only one full season in 2013, recording a sack, but had his season end due to an injury, which had prevented him from participating in the NFL Scouting Combine. In the following round, Chicago drafted defensive tackle Will Sutton of Arizona State with the 82nd pick; Sutton recorded 20.5 sacks in his college career, while leading the Pac-12 Conference with 10.5 sacks and 20 tackles for loss in 2012. The Bears held two fourth-rounders: the 117 and 131, the latter being acquired after a trade with the Denver Broncos. The former was used on Arizona running back Ka'Deem Carey, the school's career-leading rusher, and was considered as the best running back available by numerous experts. The 131st pick was used on Minnesota safety Brock Vereen. As a result of the trade with Denver, the Bears did not have a fifth-rounder. In the sixth round, with the 183rd pick, San Jose State quarterback David Fales was drafted, who holds every passing record in school history. The next round, with the 191st pick, Miami punter Pat O'Donnell was drafted; O'Donnell led the Atlantic Coast Conference and ranked second in the nation in punting average with 47.1 yards. The Bears' final pick, the 191st pick in the seventh round, was Boise State offensive lineman Charles Leno, Jr., who started 36 consecutive games since 2011.

Analysts gave above average grades for the draft class. James Neveau of WMAQ-TV graded the offensive selections as an "A", considering Carey as the "best value pick" by the Bears. On defense and special teams, Neveau gave the picks a "B+", praising Sutton's selection, but doubted the decision to take Ferguson in the second round. NFL.com's Bucky Brooks wrote Carey was the biggest steal of the draft among NFC North draft picks, ultimately giving the Bears' class a "B". Foxsports.com, who gave the Bears a "B", praised Carey, while stating that despite playing well in 2012, Sutton had been too heavy in 2013, and must be "at the right playing weight in 2014 to make a difference in the big leagues". Chris Burke and Doug Farrar of Sports Illustrated considered the Sutton and Carey selections as "a win for the team's Southwest area scout"; the two gave the class an "A-". ESPN analyst Mel Kiper, Jr. awarded the class a "B", believing the team performed well in focusing on team needs, and stating he is fine with Fuller's selection, as Gilbert is not "superior to Fuller", though Clinton-Dix would've a been a good selection; Todd McShay, another ESPN analyst, considered Vereen as the best NFC North selection.

After the draft, the Bears signed nine undrafted free agents: quarterback Jordan Lynch of Northern Illinois, who is listed as a running back; defensive tackles Brandon Dunn (Louisville) and Lee Pegues (East Carolina); guards Ryan Groy (Wisconsin) and James Dunbar (TCU); tackle Cody Booth (Temple); and linebackers Tana Patrick (Alabama), Christian Jones (Florida State) and Devekeyan Lattimore (USF).

Offseason activities

The Bears began their offseason program on April 22, with a mandatory minicamp ending the program from June 17-19.

Training Camp

Rookie Minicamp

Preseason

Schedule

The Bears' preseason opponents were announced on April 9, 2014.

Regular season

The schedule was announced on April 23. ESPN ranked the Bears' schedule as the 15th strongest in the league, with opponents having a combined winning percentage of .496. The Bears will open the season with six away games from weeks 2-10, due to three conflicting events in the Chicago area: week 2 is unavailable due to a NASCAR race and PGA golf tournament, week 6 due to the Chicago Marathon utilizing Soldier Field as a start/finish line, and week 9 due to a rugby union game at Soldier Field on Saturday night. To resolve the situation regarding week 9, league schedulers created a bye week for the Bears. The Bears will also play five prime time games, the most allowed by the league scheduling, and a Thanksgiving Day game during the season. Although CBS, which airs AFC games against the Lions on Thanksgiving, held the rights to the game for 2014, the league's new "crossflexing" policy, which allows CBS and Fox to switch seven games, permitted the Bears to play Detroit.

Game summaries

Week 1: vs. Buffalo Bills

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Staff

Template:Chicago Bears Staff

Current roster

Template:Chicago Bears Roster

References

External links

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