Better Lives Through Chemistry

Michael C. Wright at ESPN is asked about his thoughts on the Bears offseason moves. I find one aspect of his response to be interesting:

“What’s a little troubling for me is the fact the Bears have added 12 new players off other teams with the majority of them signing one-year deals. On one hand you worry about how all the new faces and personalities will mesh. But on the other, that concern is assuaged somewhat by the fact that everybody in that locker room, regardless of how long they’ve been Bears, is coming into something new under [Bears head coach John] Fox and [Bears general manager Ryan] Pace. So that situation could actually bolster chemistry and camaraderie between the players and all the new staffers.”

Team chemistry is one aspect of what Pace has done that I hadn’t considered much. And if there’s one thing that needed to change about this team, it was the chemistry. Last year’s team was soft as butter with one opposing assistant coach calling them “the biggest bunch of front-runners in the league”.

We all know that the Bears have purposely added natural leaders like veteran safety Antrel Rolle. But a lot of the chemistry remake was probably to some extent inadvertent as Pace and Fox were just trying to fill holes with stopgaps. Nevertheless the effect is probably going to be real. Bear fans have every reason to believe that this will be an entirely different team with an entirely different attitude, especially on defense where the turnover is greatest. In my mind, that can only be a good thing as there was no place to go but up.

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