Bear Digest

NFL fans fume over predictably (w)Rank 11-6 Chicago Bears forecast

The usual suspect has the Bears winning the NFC North, and fans of the Packers, Vikings, Lions and Commanders among others are erupting.
Gene Chamberlain|
Even Bears fans realize what they're getting when they see Adam Rank's prediction each season.
Even Bears fans realize what they're getting when they see Adam Rank's prediction each season. | Tork Mason / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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So NFL Network's Adam Rank has picked the Bears to be 11-6 and win the NFC North.

As the grea Laurence Fishburne said while playing The Daily Planet's Perry White: "Other breaking news: 'Water, wet.'"

Every year Rank makes a habit of being the overly optimistic Bears fan and fans of other teams all know it at this point.

Even Bears fans realize this is his shtick now.

For the posterity's sake, he's got it at Bears 11-6 in the NFC North, Green Bay 9-8, Minnesota 8-9, Detroit 8-9.

It seems Rank outdid himself this time, though, as he has the Bears winning their final five games to take the North.

Apparently it just will take Ben Johnson a while to mold things the way he wants. The Bears win at Lambeau for the second straight year in his scenario.


"Listen Caleb Williams has never lost there," Rank accurately points out. Of course, he's played there once.

The clincher comes in Chicago, appropriately enough for Johnson, over the Lions.



"And now Ben Johnson with an oppporrunity to win the division against his former team ... you know it's going to happen," Rank says as all of Detroit throws things at the screen. "Eleven and six for the Bears.

"That's right, I didn't pick them for 12 wins like you thought I was going to do. This shows that I'm grounded and realistic, but give them 11 wins and a division title, for the Chicago Bears."

It was fairly obvious his tongue was firmly planted in cheek at the end in this one.

At least Rank didn't do what Fox Sports' Nick Wright did last year and pick the Bears to get to the Super Bowl with a rookie quarterback.

There is great reason for optimism but, of course, this 11-win prediction flies in the face of all logic. Then again, when has that stopped Rank from sporting the orange and navy with his picks?

In 2022, after new GM Ryan Poles had to gut the roster to rectify salary cap issues, the Bears fell to 3-14. Yet Rank started that season out with a 10-7 prediction for the Bears.

As a result, and with all the hoopla regarding Johnson and their offensive changes, this 11-6 probably is a bit mildly negative for Rank and fans of other teams should simply adjust their scale accordingly. By his normal logic, the Bears should probably be going 15-2 or 14-3 this year. So it will be a down year.

His predictions at this point are a bit like the Saturday Night Live Superfans predicting a perfect record every year with 100-point victories in most.

After all of his predictions of success right after the Bearrs "win the offseason," they still haven't had a winning season since 2018 and that was the only one since 2012.

Rank needed to pick 4-13 or 5-12. Perhaps then it would create the right karma for a turnaround.

Doesn't the word jinx mean anything to him?

Next year, Bears fans might want to consider starting a petition that says "hey, stay off our side."

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.