NFL analysts ruin these rankings by leaving off the Chicago Bears

Chicago Bears, Justin Fields
Chicago Bears, Justin Fields / Quinn Harris/GettyImages
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Look, I'm not going to try and convince you that the Chicago Bears are going to be a great team in 2023. What I will tell you is that they will be a good team. This does not mean they are guaranteed to win a large number of games. It's possible they could go from a three-win team to as many as 10, but it's more likely that they fall in that six to eight-win range.

The one area that the Chicago Bears excelled in was the running game. The team finished with 3,014 rushing yards -- the most in the league. The 33rd Team put out rankings of who they believe to be the top seven rushing attacks heading into 2024. Two teams are not on this list that I believe should be and one of them is the Chicago Bears. The other team is the Atlanta Falcons.

How are the Chicago Bears not included on this list?

If you are unfamiliar with The 33rd Team, they are a relatively new NFL media site made up of former players, current players, coaches and more. The site clearly has some weight behind it. The two analysts who came up with the rankings were Charles Davis and Paul Burmeister. How they don't include the Chicago Bears, the leading rushing offense last season, is mind-blowing to me. From a rushing standpoint, Justin Fields plus the backfield of Khalil Herbert and D'Onta Foreman are just as good, if not better than Jalen Hurts and company. That's not half of it though.

How do they look at the New York Jets and think those that team will have a better rushing attack than Chicago? The Packers were outside the top 10 last season in rushing yards with Aaron Rodgers. The Jets are not going to find themselves in a better situation than what Green Bay had last year. Without Rodgers, the Jets were 25th in rushing yards. What makes these analysts think adding Rodgers will help in the running game?

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I am not expecting Justin Fields to rush for over 1,000 yards again in 2023. However, I do expect him to have between 500 and 700. D'Onta Foreman finished last year with 914 rushing yards. Khalil Herbert had 731 in only 13 games as the backup. The Chicago Bears might not finish as the top rushing team in the NFL in 2023, but they should at least be in the conversation when talking about the top seven rushing attacks in football.