SI's King down on the Bears

The Bears have been one of the most active teams this off-season, yet they’ve fallen far in the eyes of Sports Illustrated’s Peter King.

Before the 2009 season, King picked the Bears to win the NFC. Now, King has ranked the Bears… 25th out of the league’s 32 teams… one spot behind the Detroit Lions.

Here’s what King wrote about the Bears: “The Mike Martz-Jay Cutler marriage could work, or it could explode. The defense will be solid, assuming Julius Peppers comes to play, but he can’t solve everything on a unit that allowed 375 points last year.”

King, though, does note that he ranked the New Orleans Saints 24th last season and that he isn’t confident in his list.

“I stink at this,” he writes. “In fact, my recommendation if you really want to find out what’s going to happen in the NFL this year is to take a bye on this column.”

But King is one of the most respected NFL writers around, so his insight can’t be totally dismissed.

He has the Green Bay Packers ranked No. 1, highlighting the maturation of Aaron Rodgers, and the San Diego Chargers No. 2.

He has the Minnesota Vikings on the playoff bubble at No. 13 because — whether Brett Favre returns or not — they have “an offensive line in decline.”

Check out his entire column at http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/peter_king/05/16/ranking/index.html?eref=sihp