The landscape of the NFL resembles that of a snow globe right now given all the trades and moves in free agency.
The player movement this week was highlighted by quarterbacks changing zip codes as Tom Brady landed in Tampa Bay, Philip Rivers headed to Indianapolis, Teddy Bridgewater landed in Carolina, and Nick Foles wound up in Chicago.
Bears Super Bowl odds
The Bears will have plenty of “bounceback” potential this season as a legitimate contender. Foles gives the Bears an enormous boost offensively, as the former Super Bowl MVP thrives in the RPO offense that head coach Matt Nagy employs.
Sportsbooks across the country, though, weren’t exactly bowled over with excitement when it comes to Foles being traded to the Windy City.
FanDuel Sportsbook had the Bears at +3300 to win the Super Bowl before free agency began. The book now has the Bears at +3400 to win it all.
DraftKings Sportsbook currently has Chicago at +3300 to hoist the Lombardi next year. There are 16 teams ahead of them with lower odds. Here is the list.
Kansas City Chiefs +600
Baltimore Ravens +750
San Francisco 49ers +900
New Orleans Saints +1400
Dallas Cowboys +1800
New England Patriots +1800
Philadelphia Eagles +1800
Tampa Bay Buccaneers +1800
Seattle Seahawks +2000
Green Bay Packers +2200
Buffalo Bills +2800
Indianapolis Colts +2800
LA Rams +2800
Minnesota Vikings +2800
Pittsburgh Steelers +2800
Tennessee Titans +3000
Chicago Bears +3300
Give the man weapons
A lot of Foles’ success in Philadelphia came because of the offensive weapons that surrounded him. Tight end Zach Ertz was a monster in 2017, as was wide receiver Alshon Jeffery. Nelson Agholor and Torrey Smith also came up huge in the passing game that season.
The Super Bowl-winning squad also received huge production out of running backs LeGarrette Blount, Jay Ajayi and Corey Clement.
The Bears offense doesn’t have nearly as many options but there are a few definite building block players under contract.
Wide receiver Allen Robinson, who is entering the final year of a three-year contract, went for over 1,000 yards receiving in 2019 – and that was with Mitchell Trubisky throwing him the ball.
Running back David Montgomery also showed flashes of brilliance in his rookie season, rushing for 889 yards and six touchdowns.
And Bears general manager Ryan Pace added veteran tight end Jimmy Graham to the roster this week.
Flash in the pan?
If his surroundings are perfect, we have seen Foles get the job done. But most of the time in the NFL, surroundings are far from ideal.
Foles was hardly impressive during his brief stint in Jacksonville in 2019 as he threw just three touchdown passes on the year. He appeared in just four games thanks to injury, but in all four games he played the Jaguars wound up on the losing end.
In the 2018 playoffs with the Eagles, Foles kept Philly afloat offensively. But he was far from the world-beater he was a year prior.
In the “double-doink” game against Chicago, Foles threw a pair of interceptions and the Philadelphia offense only managed to put up 16 points total. A week later against New Orleans Foles wasn’t much better as he again threw a couple of picks. He finished that game with a 61.4 passer rating and the Eagles scored a grand total of 14 points.
