I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but on the cover of SI.com today is a story about Peter King’s picks for the upcoming NFL season.  Apparently he loves the NFC North, since he has the Bears going 11-5 and the Pack and Vikings going 10-6 (no surprise there, he LOVES Favre), and all that is just fine, even if it might be a stretch.

Then he gives his playoff predictions.  That’s where the love gets a little bit much.  He picks the Vikings and Packers to both win Wild Card games, then the Packers to win their divisional round game while the Bears down the Vikings in theirs.  Then he has the dream matchup that we would all love to see, a Bears-Packers NFC Championship.  Who wins that?  The Bears of course.  Eventually whatever paint he was huffing must have run out, since he finally has the Bears choking in the Super Bowl to the Patriots.

While it seems like I’m hating on my beloved Bears a little bit, King’s predictions are a little over the top.  Cutler definitely makes this team better, but I think he might be blinding some analysts to the fact that our offensive line is average at best, our defensive line is a huge question mark, and our secondary has more holes than a slice of swiss cheese.  All that being said, the NFL is a crazy league with a lot of unpredictable runs by teams.  The Bears definitely have the talent on both sides of the ball to play deep into the playoffs.  Only time will tell if King was crazy or prophetic, but either way its good to see “experts” think the Bears are a legitimate contender this season.

I have a feeling that this season will be a wild ride one way or another, so hang on to your hats Bears fans.

h/t: Adam