Final 2014 NFL Power Rankings: Guess where the Chicago Bears ended up

From time to time during the 2014 season we checked in on some of the various NFL Power Rankings to see how the Bears were looked at from a more national perspective. At some point it just became too depressing to watch the Bears plummet down the rankings week in and week out.

With the 2014 season over now, we'll take a peek at a few Power Rankings to see where the Bears ended up. All of these power rankers seem to have taken some off season moves into consideration when ranking the 32 teams. The good news; it seems like Chicago's coaching moves are playing well nationally.

According to NFL.com, the Bears are 25th.

Big fan of Chicago's staff makeover, starting with new head coach John Fox. And the huge bonus here was landing former 49ers defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, who did a whale of a job in San Francisco, leading an injury-depleted unit to a No. 5 overall ranking. The Chicago D made its present felt in 2014 about as much as Lenny Kravitz made his presence felt in the Super Bowl halftime show. Yawn.

Yahoo's Shutdown Corner had the Bears at 27.

Tough to say what the Bears will do with Jay Cutler. The smart move is to get out of the contract if anyone is willing to give them a "get out of jail free" card. But teams rarely make smart moves when it comes to middle-of-the-road quarterbacks.

We already exhausted every possible Cutler angle earlier this week in this article, Chicago Bears 2015 Roster Turnover: Quarterback, so if you want to talk about Cutler, head over there.

I will share this nugget from Spotrac however, there are now 10 QBs that will carry a larger cap hit in 2015 than Jay Cutler, so relatively speaking, his paycheck is closer to middle of the road now.

Bears are 25th according to the USA Today.

Jay Cutler debate is fun fodder. But addition of coordinator Vic Fangio will cause massive defensive changes if he wants 3-4 base.

No. The Jay Cutler debate is not fun fodder.

And finally, CBS Sports has Chicago at 26.

John Fox takes over as coach and he will bring toughness back to the team. But that defense is a mess.

I'd be OK with a little toughness back in Chicago.

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It feels weird not having the Mile High Report represented in a power ranking post since we garnered so much joy during the year from their constant Cutler bashing brought on by their jilted lover syndrome, so I checked in on their rankings.

They were really consistent all season long, plugging in a new power ranking every week, but then they suddenly stopped after their January 6th edition. That week, the week before the Divisional Round of playoff games, they had the Denver Broncos ranked #1 among the final 8 playoff teams. Here's their playoff predictions.

After winning a scary one against Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts, Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos steamroll the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship game to get a rematch in the Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks. Except this time, the Broncos defense is Seattle's equal as both were the only two defenses in the NFL to lead the league in DVOA rankings and in average yards per play this season. Match that with the superior Broncos offense (this time anyway) and the Lombardi Trophy will finally come home to where it belongs. Final score will be closer than it appears, with the Broncos winning 31-21.

Well... Their playoff game against the Colts probably scared a bunch of Denver fans, but not for the reasons they thought. And there was no steamrolling of the Ravens, nor was there a 31-21 beat-down of the Seahawks.

But as for the eventual Super Bowl champion New England Patriots, they predicted a one and done for the Pats and even shared that Tom Brady GIF of him crying.

Better Luck next year Bronco fans! Oh wait... I probably shouldn't have said "Luck."