DJ Moore and Chicago Bears receiving records

DJ Moore has only played five games as a member of the Chicago Bears, but he’s already got some people wondering what he could do to the team’s record books. While the history of the Bears is long and storied, the chapter on wide receivers is embarrassingly short. The Bears lack a longtime receiving stalwart that racked up numbers. Their career leader in catches is Walter Payton, who played in the 70s and 80s, the career leader in yards is a guy who played in the 60s (Johnny Morris), the career 100-yard receiving games leader is a guy who played in the 50s (Harlon Hill), and career receiving TDs is a guy who played in the 40s (Ken Kavanaugh).

So while it’s tempting to go right to the career mark after DJ Moore’s monstrous outing against Washington last week, let’s just focus on the single-season records. Brandon Marshall’s 2012 holds two records in franchise history with 118 catches and 1,508 yards. Marshall also recorded 7 games of at least 100 yards that season, joining Hill and Jeff Graham for most in a season. Dick Gordon and the aforementioned Kavanaugh have the record number of receiving scores in a season at 13.

Moore’s stats through five games are plenty impressive already, with 27 grabs for 531 yards, five scores, and three games topping the century mark. Now, calculating the “he’s on pace for” directly after a monster game is always a dangerous path to walk, but the way Chicago lost track of Moore in the season debut does somewhat offset doing this now. The point is take this with a grain of salt - a lot can happen in an NFL season.

Moore’s stats project to a season total of 92 catches for 1,805 yards, 17 TDs, with 10 games over the century mark. That would break three of the four single-season receiving records in franchise history.

What’s realistic? Touchdowns can be pretty random, and Moore had his best season last year with 7 scores. Given Moore’s ability to pile up yards after the catch, the single season yardage mark and number of 100 yard games seems completely within reach for the Bears new star receiver.

What do you think? Will Moore break any Bears records this season?