It’s hard to feel anything but disappointment regarding this Chicago Bears team right now. Finishing 8-8 with one of the worst offenses in franchise history despite Super Bowl aspirations when the year began? That is nothing but a major failure. Once again the franchise found a way to waste another precious year of a great defense. Something that looks like will never change. One person though goes into 2020 with sky-high optimism. That is Kevin Pierre-Louis.
A lot of people didn’t know who the veteran linebacker was when the Bears signed him this past spring. All they learned was he had a good special teams background and was a decent backup on defense. So one can imagine how surprised people were when he had to step in for the injured Roquan Smith and finished the final four games with 28 tackles and an interception. His mixture of speed and instinct were hard to miss, raising hopes that he would be back next year.
By the sound of things, Pierre-Louis himself wants to be back. Not just because of the opportunity, but because he senses something building with this team. While 2019 may not have gone as planned, he feels the culture the Bears have built makes this a team capable of being what fans have waited over three decades for.
Kevin Pierre-Louis does indeed know his stuff
It’s okay to take him at his word. Pierre-Louis isn’t just saying things. He has indeed played on his fair share of different teams, and they’ve run the gambit from championship-caliber to downright awful. He was on the 2014 Seattle Seahawks team, defending champions who went back to the Super Bowl. A few years later he was on the 2018 Jets team that finished 4-12. So he’s seen the difference between “do everything to win” and “just collecting a paycheck” teams.
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What he says about the Bears is welcome encouragement that they can get things right for next year. It’s not like they have too far to go. The defense is in good shape. If they can at least get to something resembling an actual NFL offense, there is no reason they can’t get right back into the playoffs next year. That job falls to GM Ryan Pace. He’ll certainly have the motivation what with his job on the line.
