Chicago Bears: 5 Reasons the Monsters of Midway Will Miss 2012-13 NFL Playoffs

It may be shocking to many fans, but the Chicago Bears are not at all likely to make the playoffs next season. They had too much trouble throughout the schedule this season, and the NFC North is getting too competitive for this mediocre team to win consistently enough next year.

Even with a healthy Jay Cutler and new management, these five obstacles will prove to be too much for the Bears to overcome in the fall of 2012.

The (Surprise) Lions Will Be Too Good

With Calvin Johnson, Matt Stafford and the entire Detroit Lions franchise becoming more comfortable with winning, the Bears are in for a frustrating fall. It will become increasingly difficult to beat the Lions in the next few seasons, as Jim Schwartz has the team on the right track, having improved their record by four wins each year he has coached in the Motor City.

Schwartz also has the entire team playing with a swagger, both offensively and defensively, that was nonexistent three years ago. The Lions need to do a little fine-tuning and pick up a couple more good players, but they have a solid foundation that can pay dividends in the future.

Many may not like the newfangled nastiness of the Lions, but one cannot argue that they are able to back it up.

Aaron Rodgers Is Too Good

One only needs to watch the Green Bay Packers for a few quarters to realize that their core players of Aaron Rodgers, Jordy Nelson, Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, Clay Matthews and Charles Woodson are all game-changers.

A player of Rodgers' caliber has been surrounded by players good enough to beat any secondary in the NFL, and in the age of the quarterback, Rodgers stands out among the greats, with a record passer rating of 122.5 for the season, as well as a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 45-to-6.

He is far and away the best quarterback in the NFC North, and he will be giving the Bears (and the rest of the NFL, for that matter) headaches for the next five years at least.

Too Many Internal Problems

The McCaskeys and Bears president Ted Phillips have not exactly created the most sterling franchise in sports.

With a lack of institutional control or knowledge, exemplified by the drug case of Sam Hurd, as well as the inability to draft or keep solid players, the Bears have created a franchise where mediocrity is king. The contest for best unit on the roster is always between Robbie Gould and the linebackers, and the other six groups all lack the ability to make consistently explosive plays.

One might ask, "What about Devin Hester?" but his singularity coupled with an inability to produce offensively relegate him to the six poor units. Sure, Jay Cutler and Matt Forte played well this season, but Cutler now needs to work with a new offensive coordinator and system, and Forte seems to be undergoing the same process as Olin Kruetz. Despite his value, the Bears seem not to want to do anything and everything to re-sign him. 

Thus, a roster with little talent for Lovie Smith to work will lead to more 8-8 seasons.

No Offensive Continuity

Sure, Bears fans may argue that Mike Tice is a good coach and the right replacement for Mike Martz, but the fact of the matter is that Tice is the third offensive coordinator in five seasons, forcing the players to learn yet another system of offense.

Nowhere is this more evident than the play of Jay Cutler. Until his injury this year, Cutler was playing superb football, despite being surrounded by mediocrity everywhere except running back. He seemed more comfortable than in years past, presumably because he was used to Martz's system and he knew the offense well. Now, he will play in Tice's new system, with different coaches and players surrounding him after the organizational shakedown at the end of this season.

To add to those problems, Matt Forte's contract situation is topsy-turvy to say the least, and he does not even know if he will be in Chicago next year. So, look for further inconsistent play as a result of uncertainty and incongruity.

No Playoff-Caliber Talent (Except Brian Urlacher)

There is simply no explosiveness, no spark, to the Bears, and every player on the roster seems to have reached his ceiling of potential.

Roy Williams seems to have a perpetual case of the dropsies, Matt Forte is the only superb running back and Olin Kruetz was run out of town. The tight ends are mediocre, and the best young prospect the team has at wideout is Dane Sanzenbacher, a rookie this season, with 25 catches and three touchdowns.

Those numbers are not exactly spectacular, and when compared with the Packers' trio of Jennings, Nelson and Driver, as well as Calvin Johnson and Brandon Pettigrew in Detroit, the weapons of the Bears are weak compared to their competition.

They need to draft a solid wideout, offensive lineman, a cornerback and a running back in order to compete in the future, but even those players will not be an immediate fix to the team-wide skill deficiency.