2010 Fantasy Football Report: Chicago Bears Players vs. NFC North Rivals

With the 2010 fantasy football season a few short months away, I thought I'd throw out a preliminary report on how the Bears players stack up against the rest of the NFC North fantasy stars.

I am going to rank them according to basic PPR fantasy league scoring rules: Six points for all TDs, negative-two points for all INT/fumbles lost, 0.5 points per reception, and one point for every 10 yards gained.

As for the kickers, I will use the standard three points for each field goal, one point for each extra point, and two bonus points for each 50-plus yard field goal.

On defense, it will be the standard one point for each sack, two points for INT/fumble recovery/safety/blocked FG, and the typical tiered scoring level for points scored against, with negative points starting at the 24-27 level.

The Bears may not have ended 2009 as a top NFL team, but some of the players do have the ability to be stars on the fantasy field.

Let's see how they stack up.

Quarterbacks: An Obvious Choice for No. 1

Even though Jay Cutler can put up some impressive numbers, it's going to be tough for him to outduel the number one fantasy QB in all of football, and the old man who proved he still has it (assuming he comes back).

2010 rankings:

1. Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers
2. Brett Favre, Minnesota Vikings
3. Jay Cutler, Chicago Bears
4. Matthew Stafford, Detroit Lions

Rodgers was far and beyond the No. 1 fantasy QB last season, and with all of his weapons returning next season, it would be hard to reason as to why he wouldn't remain at the top.

The part that stings the most about Rodgers is the fact that I traded him during last offseason, so that I could retain Matt Ryan as my rookie keeper.

I ended up getting Brandon Marshall with the draft pick that I traded him for, but ended up trading Marshall, anyways, so basically I ended up quitting the league because all of my dumb moves.

As for Cutler's progress, with the Bears not adding any weapons for him on offense (besides Chester Taylor), it becomes hard to believe that he will get any better. He had good numbers last year, ranking 12th among all quarterbacks, and I can't imagine he will throw as many interceptions this year as he did last (26), so obvious improvement is on the way.

But, I don't feel it will be enough to supplant either Rodgers (No. 1 overall), or Favre (No. 3 overall). Both quarterbacks have more weapons at their disposal, and the addition of Mike Martz will only help to a certain extent. He may be a "passing offense guru," but even he can't make Supermen out of the Bears' wide receiver corps.

Running Backs: Another Obvious Choice at No. 1

The race for the top spot at running back in the NFC North is a little more interesting on paper than it should be.

With all the talk about how great Adrian Peterson is, he should be the clear-and-away winner of this, and he is. But, it's a lot closer than one might think. Then again, it's still not all that close.

2010 rankings:

1. Adrian Peterson, Minnesota Vikings
2. Matt Forte, Chicago Bears
3. Ryan Grant, Green Bay Packers
4. Kevin Smith, Detroit Lions
5. Chester Taylor, Chicago Bears

The NFC North is the home of the non-running back by committee teams (RBBC). Most teams nowadays live by the RBBC format, but with all the discrepancy in talent between the No. 1's and No. 2's on all the teams in the NFC North, it is clear that these teams are trying to buck the trend.

The only team that has a legit backup would be the Bears, which is why Chester Taylor is on the board, and worthy of a late-round draft pick in all fantasy leagues.

Fact is, he is going to see the ball. But, before he does, Matt Forte is going to get his.

Forte may have gone downhill in terms of rushing yards, last season, but the fact of the matter is that in a PPR league, he is a top draft pick at RB.

Only Ray Rice, Tim Hightower, and Frank Gore had more targets (when the quarterback threw the ball to the player) than Forte. And only Rice and Hightower had more receptions.

And, with Mike Martz at the helm of the offense, it's most likely he is going to turn Forte into a Rice-type back, where he will use him in the passing game in order to set up his running game.

Martz has always had a thing for pass-catching running backs, so aside from Rice, there is no other running back who Martz is more suited to coach than Forte.

I expect big numbers out of Forte this season. If he can get up over 1,200 yards rushing, adding that to his totals in the passing game, he may have the opportunity to take over the No. 1 spot in the NFC North.

The only problem he faces there is the fact that Taylor will be taking away some of his touches, but also that Peterson has no apparent backup (unless you believe Toby Gerhart is going to take the ball out of his hands), and will pull up his receiving numbers this year, as well.

This will be the most fun race of all to watch.

Wide Receivers: Missing Top Tier Talent

This might be the weakest of the fantasy positions.

Don't get me wrong, some of these receivers are extremely talented, but only one WR from the NFC North finished in the top 10 (Sidney Rice at No. 8). After him, were the Packers duo of Greg Jennings and Donald Driver (Nos. 19 and 20, respectively).

With a big-name talent like the Lions' Calvin Johnson having an off year due to injuries, quarterback injuries, and an all around bad offense, this division race is Sidney Rice's to lose.

2010 rankings:

1. Calvin Johnson, Detroit Lions
2. Sidney Rice, Minnesota Vikings
3. Greg Jennings, Green Bay Packers
4. Percy Harvin, Minnesota Vikings
5. Donald Driver, Green Bay Packers
6. Devin Hester, Chicago Bears
7. Bernard Berrian, Minnesota Vikings
8. Devin Aromashadu, Chicago Bears
9. Johnny Knox, Chicago Bears
10. Earl Bennett, Chicago Bears

The Bears, without a clear number one guy, will be spreading the ball around this year (as they did last year), so that is the main reason why they have four guys on the top 10 list over any other team having four guys on the list.

I have to believe Johnson will stay healthy this year and Rice won't duplicate his performance from last year, which will have them fighting a very close race for the top spot.

Devin Hester, the top receiver for the Bears, will stand no chance of breaking into the top three, unless the Bears suffer an inordinate amount of injuries at the wide receiver position, thus leaving him as their only remaining option.

Even then, it will be hard to take that spot from one of the top three, who have proven the capability of going for over 1,300 yards receiving and scoring 10-plus touchdowns.

With a few spectacular games, Hester could move into the fourth slot, but with the way Martz likes to spread the ball around, it will make it difficult for him to sustain the type of success needed to obtain those lofty statistics.

Tight Ends: Decent Talent and Good Numbers

The top three can, seemingly, be interchanged into any order. They all put up similar numbers, but one mainly scores his points off of TDs, the other plays more with wide receiver-like talent, and the third just found himself to be coached by a guy who has never really liked using tight ends all that much.

2010 rankings:

1. Jermichael Finley, Green Bay Packers
2. Visanthe Shiancoe, Minnesota Vikings
3. Greg Olsen, Chicago Bears
4. Brandon Pettigrew, Detroit Lions
5. Tony Scheffler, Detroit Lions
6. Donald Lee, Green Bay Packers

The bottom three might not even need to be drafted unless you are in a 20-team league, or are in a 12-team league with a bunch of fools, who like to draft two TEs hoping to trade one away to somebody who will give up something to get a guy who averages four to six points a week.

Finley is a legit threat. He is capable of putting up big numbers, and is likely to move up the overall tight end rankings as long as he can stay healthy. I truly believe he will be a top five TE this year.

The next two are enigmas. Shiancoe seems to only ever catch one-yard touchdowns, while Olsen is an above average pass-catching TE, with great red zone ability, but now finds himself on the outs with the Chicago Bears. It's not even a given he remains on the Bears long enough to see the start of the season.

If Martz can't believe in Vernon Davis enough to have the ball thrown to him, one has to believe Martz won't put much faith into Olsen, who has had his fair share of dropped ball-itis.

Even with that said, however, both Shiancoe and Olsen finished last season in the top 10 fantasy rankings (Nos. 6 and 10, respectively). They are very capable of putting up the same types of numbers this season, so both are worth drafting in the mid-level rounds.

Defense: The Bears Got Better, but Still Not Good Enough

The Packers and Vikings both have great defenses, so it would be tough for the Bears to overcome the differential in scoring between those two teams, even with the signing of Julius Peppers, and the comeback of Brian Urlacher.

2010 rankings:

1. Minnesota Vikings
2. Green Bay Packers
3. Chicago Bears
4. Detroit Lions

At least we're better than the Lions, right?

I understand that Peppers will help out the defense. He will get more sacks, and put more pressure on the ball, making it harder for the other team to put up points and rack up the yardage against the Bears' secondary.

Still, even with all that, the Bears can't compare to the defenses in Green Bay or Minnesota.

The Vikings have a sacking machine at each position on the defensive line, and at linebacker. And they had some injury issues last season with Antoine Winfield missing almost half the season, and EJ Henderson missing the end of the season.

So, with those guys coming back healthy, and assuming they stay healthy, the top spot will be theirs this season even though the Packers were the best last season.

The Packers were the opposite of the Vikings, in terms of how they scored their fantasy points on defense. Their secondary would create turnovers and return them for touchdowns, rather than just rack up the sacks.

It will be a good battle this season for the NFC North fantasy defense leader, which I think the Bears can remain in but eventually fall to the wayside.

But you never know, the Bears could return to their ways of creating turnovers and scoring touchdowns in just about every game. If they can do that, the NFC North title is theirs.

Kickers: Does Anybody Really Care?

2010 rankings:

1. Ryan Longwell, Minnesota Vikings
2. Mason Crosby, Green Bay Packers
3. Robbie Gould, Chicago Bears
4. Jason Hanson, Detroit Lions

Look, draft any of them, because with kickers there is no strategy. People who play the matchups with kickers in fantasy are ludicrous if they think they know what they are doing. You never know what kind of scoring day a kicker is going to have, so don't draft with caution, just close your eyes and pick one.

Best of luck this year to all of us fantasy geeks!