A strong NFL preseason could be sign of bad season to come

By David Just

Chicago Bears quarterback Jimmy Clausen looks to a pass during an NFL football training camp at Olivet Nazarene University, Monday, Aug. 5, 2015, in Bourbonnais, Ill. | AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh

The Bears are expected to be bad this season.

They’re last in USA Today’s power rankings. They’re 50-to-1 to win the Super Bowl. And mistake-prone Jay Cutler is still the quarterback.

A win in Thursday night’s preseason game against Miami might tempt you to believe the Bears might be decent this year.

It shouldn’t.

The New York Times relays this story Thursday that reveals a strong preseason not only means nothing, but it could also be a sign of a bad regular season to come.

In the last 10 years, the Times reports, 18 teams have gone unbeaten and untied during the NFL preseason. Those teams went on to post a combined regular season record of 130-158.

Here’s more:

The perfect preseason teams also did not improve from the previous year, declining as a group by a total of 23½ games, dropping more than one win per team. There were some cases when a good preseason did herald a successful year. In 2005, the Broncos parlayed a perfect preseason into a 13-3 record. The 2013 Seahawks won the Super Bowl after a 4-0 preseason. But more often, the preseason wonders flopped when the games started to count. The 2013 Redskins, who had won 10 games the previous season, fell to 3-13. The 2011 Rams won all four games in the preseason, then went on to win just two regular-season games.

So now you’ll have reason not to panic if the Bears lose Thursday.

And if they win? Well, enjoy it because there may not be too many more coming in 2015.

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