The Fantasy Football season is fast approaching, and our Fantasy Six Pack team is bringing you the 2021 Fantasy Football Team Previews. Today I will be doing the 2021 Fantasy Football Chicago Bears Preview.
The Bears are a team that is coming off of an 8-8 record and a playoff appearance. Unfortunately, the playoff appearance was an embarrassing one, they lost to the New Orleans Saints 21-9. That turned out to be the last straw for quarterback Mitchell Trubisky, who is now playing for the Buffalo Bills.
The Bears are coming into this season trying to turn over a new leaf after yet another quarterback change. They signed veteran Andy Dalton to a one-year contract, whom they told will be the starter. Here’s where it gets a bit tricky. They then drafted quarterback Justin Fields with the 11th pick in the NFL draft after trading up to get him.
With Head Coach Matt Nagy on the hot seat, it will be interesting to see how he handles things this season.
Now let’s jump into the Fantasy impact side of things in the 2021 Fantasy Football Chicago Bears Preview.
2021 Fantasy Football Chicago Bears Preview
Quarterbacks
- Andy Dalton
- Justin Fields
- Nick Foles
All indications from Head Coach Matt Nagy is that veteran Andy Dalton will be the starter heading into week one against the Los Angeles Rams. Dalton went into last season as the backup in Dallas behind Dak Prescott. He then had to take over as the starter after Dak suffered a horrific leg injury.
Dalton was serviceable once he took over in Week 5. He threw 14 touchdowns and eight interceptions while averaging almost 16 Fantasy points per game not counting the game that he took over for the injured Prescott. Which was good enough for QB17 during that time span. Dalton is not someone you should be targeting in single quarterback leagues. In Superflex Leagues, I’m ok with taking a late-round flyer on him as your QB3, but that’s about it.
Justin Fields will be coming into the season as the QB2 in this offense. I dont expect that to be the case for very long though. The Bears have been searching for a franchise quarterback for the entirety of their existence. Coach Matt Nagy and GM Ryan Pace are on the hot seat, so I don’t believe they can wait very long.
The Athletic Quarterback project’s to be a solid Fantasy option as soon as he settles into the starting job, with a solid floor because of his mobility. In 2019 Fields rushed for 484 yards with 10 rushing touchdowns at Ohio State. Fields also ran a 4.46 40 yard dash at his pro day. He also happened to throw 41 touchdowns as well compared to only three interceptions.
When it comes to Nick Foles, he’s an afterthought in this offense now. He played poorly last season when he took over for Trubisky. Foles will most likely not be on the team when the season comes. For me, Fields is the quarterback I want in this offense, but nothing more than your last pick your draft. I could see Fields being the starter by Week 4 against Lions, that seems like a good confidence-building game for the rookie.
Running Backs
- David Montgomery
- Tarik Cohen
- Damian Williams
- Khalil Herbert
- Artavis Pierce
David Montgomery surprised everyone when he finished the season as the RB4. He did that on the back of an extremely soft schedule at the end of the year. The last five teams the Bears played all ranked in the bottom at stopping opposing running backs. Those five teams on average gave up almost 24 Fantasy points per game to opposing running backs.
Montgomery took advantage of that and scored over 20 plus Fantasy points in each of his last six games, en route to hopefully winning you your Fantasy Football Championship. This season I believe he will come back down to earth a little bit. I definitely don’t see top 5 upside again, but with his current ADP being the 20th running back off the board according to FantasyData.com, that’s great value in my eyes.
Montgomery also did all of that with his running mate Tarik Cohen on injured reserve. The quick shifty back tore his ACL while receiving a punt in Week 3 against the Atlanta Falcons. All indications point to cohen being ready for Week 1 Rams. Cohen is someone you can target late in your drafts with his PPR value. In 2019 Cohen saw 103 targets in 2019 which ranked 3rd amongst all running backs according to playerprofieler.com. He did that while only playing 50% of the snaps.
Damian Williams might be someone who comes in and vultures maybe 5 touches a game. I believe he was brought in strictly as a depth piece who knows the system since he played under the same system in Kansas City. The Bears also drafted Kahlil Herbert in the 6th round, who will most likely do all his work on special teams. Neither of these guys are Fantasy viable.
Wide Receivers
Allen Robinson is definitely the alpha wide receiver in this offense. The disgruntled wide receiver who signed his franchise tag this offseason saw the third most targets in the NFL last season with 151 and caught 98 of them. That was also with sub-par quarterback play, to put it nicely.
Robinson has never had even a good quarterback throwing him the ball, however, he always seems to produce. In his last two seasons in Chicago, Robinson finished as WR8 and WR9. Right now he is being drafted as the WR11 and the 33rd player off the board. I believe that’s a perfect spot for him. If you can start your drafts by going RB/RB or RB/TE and be able to land a solid WR1 in the 3rd round is a great value.
Darnell Mooney is a breakout candidate in my eyes. The second-year speedster from Tulane showed some flashes last season, with inconsistent quarterback play. With Mooney’s 4.38 40 yard dash time, he was the deep threat in this offense. He saw 23 deep targets which led the team, that stat stuck out to me the most because it was good for 11th in the NFL. He also saw 98 targets as a rookie which was second on the team.
Mooney is currently going as WR51. He also has a 15th round ADP, which is crazy to me. I could see Mooney finishing around a WR3 this season, and could be the steal of your draft in the 15th round.
As for these other wide receivers, I do not want anything to do with them Fantasy-wise. Anthony Miller has all the talent in the world, but can’t seem to stay out of Matt Nagy’s dog house, and he struggles with drops. He has also been involved in a ton of trade rumors this offseason.
Damiere Byrd and Marquise Goodwin come over as veteran speed threats and offer some depth in the wide receiver room. They should help the Bears offense improve as a whole, but for Fantasy purposes, stay far away.
Tight Ends
- Jimmy Graham
- Cole Kmet
- JP Holtz
- Jake Butt
The Bears came into this offseason tight on cap space, and they could have saved seven million dollars by cutting veteran tight end Jimmy Graham. Which would have made sense considering they have a second-round draft pick from just a year ago, Cole Kmet, on the roster. But they did not.
Jimmy Graham will be in Chicago for his second season on the team. Last year, Graham was the Bears’ favorite red zone target. He had 20 red zone targets, which was third amongst tight ends. Those red zone targets propelled him to having an eight touchdown year, ranking 5th for tight ends. I expect a similar red zone workload for Graham this season. However, I would not draft him in any league. He is a streaming option during the bye weeks.
Tight ends usually struggle during their rookie seasons, and that was no differnt for Cole Kmet. He ony caught 28 balls for 242 yards and two touchdowns. What was also alarming was his aDOT was only 6.5.
During Weeks 1-10, Kmet only ran on average 6.4 routes per game with a 29% snap share. However, from Weeks 12-17 those numbers skyrocketed and he was averaging 26 routes run per game, with an 87% snap share. Some people think Kmet could be on the verge of a breakout, but I don’t think that can fully happen until we see Graham’s red zone targets go down. Kmet is nothing more than a streaming option some weeks.
Final Verdict
Coming into this season the Chicago Bears offense still has a ton of question marks, especially at the quarterback position. We don’t know when we will see Justin Fields, my guess is sooner rather than later, however, and could help Mooney breakout – and possibly Kmet too. But even with Dalton starting, the Bears’ skill position players should be just fine.
I can see the Bears finishing around a 7-10 record, maybe 8-9. The schedule seems to be a tough one considering they play the AFC North.
I hope you enjoyed the 2021 Fantasy Football Chicago Bears Team Preview. If you liked what you read please follow me on Twitter @dclemons2222. Be on the lookout for more awesome content around the website. Please Like and subscribe to the Fantasy Six Pack YouTube channel as well.
Visit the F6P Fantasy Football page for more advice to get you prepared for the 2021 season.
The post 2021 Fantasy Football Chicago Bears Preview appeared first on Fantasy Six Pack.
