The Chicago Bears have the best roster in the NFC North

Surprise, surprise...

If you already checked out our Daily Bear’s Den, which I’m sure you have, then you no doubt noticed the first article that Ken shared was very favorable to the Chicago Bears. It was such an interesting revelation, that I wanted to give it the spotlight, all to itself.

Yesterday, our sister site that covers the Minnesota Vikings, The Daily Norseman, went through an exercise in trying to determine how the four NFC North rosters stacked up. They used the grading system at Pro Football Focus to gauge each starting lineup, and since teams spend so much time in nickle on defense and in 11 personnel (1 RB/1 TE) on offense, that was the formation groupings they used.

There was only one “elite” player on the Bears’ roster, but partly because of their NFL North leading eight “average” players, Chicago checked in with the best roster in the division. It goes Bears #1, Vikings #2, Packers #3, and the Lions at #4.

I’m not sure what to make of this. On one hand, it helps validate that the Bears have some talent among their starters, and had they not led the NFL in games lost due to injury in 2016, that they could have won more than three games.

But on the other hand, we’re talking about PFFs subjective grading system.

One other note on the grades in the lineups. PFF has Mitch Unrein and his 51.8 grade, as the Bears’ nickle defensive tackle. That’s just silly. He’s a rotational guy. PFF has him on the field instead of Eddie Goldman, who has an 80.0 grade. So if you factor Unrein out, and Goldman in, the Bears are even better than they originally thought!

What do you guys make of The Daily Norseman’s findings? Do you feel better about the Bears heading into the 2017 season?