Bernie Lincicome: Power rankings have Bears right where they belong

It is not entirely clear who makes up the so-called "power rankings," or even why anyone should bother to do so. I suppose I could do it myself and be just as accurate or as appealing, but I'll pass.

I am not anxious to disturb the natural order for ranking things, which is, of course, alphabetically.

This means that by team name the "Bears" will always be put at the head of the line, and while "Chicago" allows the odd Arizona or Buffalo a place in front, real life and real football always seem to interfere with all such gimmicks.

Yet, curiosity does cause me to check around post draft and see where the Bears now fit in the greater standing of the National Football League, an organization the Bears confidently concede still includes themselves.

The short version is the Bears are lousy. The draft was confusing. Not much help. Wait 'til next year. Really. 2023, that's what they are all saying. I am saying that, too, but, then, when am I not?

Of the seven power rankers I checked, the most generous was Sports Illustrated; you know, the place with the swimsuits and the cover curse. Not that the Bears are anywhere near the cover, nor swimsuits as far as I could tell.

For optimists the SI conclusion is that the Bears are 26th out of the 32 NFL teams, pointing out that Justin Fields may one day be something, but for now he is better known for "fumbles and turnovers."

I am guessing that of all the things that could be said of Fields, fumbles and turnovers are generous.

The general consensus is that nothing much was done to help Fields, not on the line that protects him, not with receivers who, on occasion, do not have to twist themselves into unnatural shapes just to catch his passes, leaving the young man where we last left him, running around like an orphan at an open house.

The possibility has been suggested that the new suits and whistle blowers in charge of the Bears have no real faith in Fields and are looking ahead to - let's say it together - 2023, when the real building begins, starting where most new regimes start for the Bears, at quarterback.

By eschewing Fields' needs the Bears cover themselves for the inevitable failure that will put them in position to get their own quarterback and trash can the last and largest of the previous regime's mistakes.

In short, the Bears are going to resort to tried and true troglodyte football, defense and running, without a Dick Butkus or a Walter Payton to do either.

Not all is gloom among the power rankers, however. None pick the Bears as the absolute worst team in the NFL, that place reserved for either Houston or Atlanta, but there the Bears are, peeking over the edge at the cellar.

The Bleacher Report, whatever that is, generously puts the Bears 31st, just ahead of Houston, concluding that the Bears are "facing an uphill battle," but then who isn't?

USA Today, the national newspaper, as well as Yahoo, the national aggregator, agrees with the Bleacher Reporters that the Bears are one step from the bottom, leaving the bottom for the Falcons.

Atlanta gets its powerless ranking thanks, in part, to its general manager saying out loud that he expects the Falcons to be "taking it on the chin this year." The Bears' Ryan Poles might have been as bluntly honest but instead wandered off into some sort of private mind space where he's "pumped about the direction this team is going."

Poles sees the "upside talent level," and the fresh coach of Lake Forest, Matt Eberflus, his obedient accomplice and sidekick, sees "explosive athletic ability."

Well then, neither of them should pay any attention to CBS - and who does pay attention to network TV any more? - where head scratching seems to be the reaction. Though power ranking the Bears at No. 27, nonetheless, the Bears not helping out Fields is a concern and "somewhat strange."

On NFL.com the Bears come in 30th out of 32 with familiar compassion for Fields, and the power rankers emphasize their sympathy with an exclamation point. "Give the kid a chance!"

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