How bad are the 2015 Chicago Bears? Let's look at some statistics...

The Chicago Bears are not a good football team, and haven't been for quite some time. They've played some good football this season, and have been fun to watch along the way, but that doesn't cover up the fact that this football team is pretty bad.

The coaching staff was significantly upgraded from last season, and John Fox, Adam Gase, and Vic Fangio have done reasonably well with what they have had to work with, but a good coaching staff is only about 1/3 of the necessary ingredients to make a successful football team.

Let's look at some numbers...

- The Chicago Bears lead the league in offensive holding penalties this season (33 for 315 yards).

- The Bears are 1-6 at Soldier Field this season.

- Chicago is 2-8 against the NFC this season.

- The Chicago Bears are averaging a different OL combination about every 5 quarters of play this season.

- The Bears have lost 9 straight games in the month of December.

- The Bears have made the playoffs once in the last 9 seasons.

We've noted all season long the rough shape the Bears roster is in, with considerable lack of talent in multiple positions on both sides of the football, and of course that largely falls on the shoulders of former general manager Phil Emery.

New GM Ryan Pace came in and made some significant improvements in his first season.

2015 Draft picks:

- 1st round: WR Kevin White

- 2nd round: DT Eddie Goldman

- 3rd round: C Hroniss Grasu

- 4th round: RB Jeremy Langford

- 5th round: S Adrian Amos

- 6th round: OT Tayo Fabuluje

Significant UDFA's:

- CB Bryce Callahan

- LB Jonathan Anderson

- LB John Timu

- WR Cameron Meredith

On a positive note, while not all of those players have been great this season, they are all rookies. Many of them weren't supposed to contribute in significant fashion this season to begin with, but thanks to a depleted roster and serious injuries, they got thrust into the spotlight.

And that's fine-- the 2015 Chicago Bears didn't have too high of expectations when you consider how badly they were managed in 2013 and 2014, so to see them win a few games along the way was a positive sign.

However, 2016 will be key. Can Ryan Pace put together another draft like he did this year, and scoop up a few more UDFA's to help out?

This year's Bears are bad, but next season will bring with it much higher expectations.