Chicago Bears 2019 Preview Capsule

New faces: S Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, CB Buster Skrine, WR Cordarrelle Patterson, RB Mike Davis, RB David Montgomery, WR Riley Ridley, G Ted Larsen, K Eddy Pineiro They're gone: S Adrian Amos, CB Bryce Callahan, RB Jordan Howard, WR Josh Bellamy, G Eric Kush, TE Dion Sims, WR Kevin White, K Cody Parkey

2019 snapshot: Virtually any defense that reaches the heights Chicago's did in 2018 is bound to regress some, but the Bears might be in for a larger slide than most. It's not the team's fault that Vic Fangio is gone, but Chicago could have promoted Ed Donatell to D-coordinator to maintain Fangio's scheme. Instead, Donatell followed Fangio to Denver, and Chuck Pagano took over the Bears' D. Pagano has ample talent at his disposal, but his defenses in Indianapolis were disappointing. Chicago also lost talent in the secondary, with Clinton-Dix and Skrine replacing Amos and Callahan, respectively, albeit at friendlier prices.

The Bears put most of their efforts into supplementing the offense, as Davis and Montgomery should be an upgrade to Howard in the backfield, and Patterson and Ridley complement a talented receiving corps. The O-line remains solid, with James Daniels moving to center (Cody Whitehair will bump out to guard) and RT Bobby Massie retained (four years, $32 million), giving quarterback Mitchell Trubisky no excuses. Chicago's kicking situation was unsettled late in training camp, but Pineiro appears on track to hold onto the job.

Get to know ... RB David Montgomery. Montgomery caught the Bears' eye almost two years ago with his do-everything skill set, and management fell in love with his professional approach. He won't immediately overrun Tarik Cohen in an offense that wants to spray the ball horizontally and vertically, but Montgomery appears to be the future anchor in the backfied.

Worth the investment? --Trubisky started near 100-1 at some books in the MVP derby. Perhaps he's worthy of that billing, but investors drove him up to 25-1 and even higher before training camp began.

Bottom Line: This is an NFC North contender, of course, but will they be around in late January? Expected regression on defense is the biggest worry. 

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