In his Week 1 Power Rankings, Joel Thorman has placed the Chicago Bears at No. 10.
Thorman clearly likes the Bears' trio of weapons on offense: Jay Cutler, Matt Forte, and Brandon Marshall. Marshall, the former Dolphin and Bronco, should be a nice addition to an offense that averaged just 188.2 passing yards per game last season. That made them the seventh-worst passing attack in the NFL.
But Bears fans should also be optimistic about the return of a trio on defense. On Monday, Brian Urlacher, Chris Conte, and Stephen Paea all returned to practice. All three figure to be starters, and are expected to play in Sunday's season opener against the Colts.
Their division rivals, the Green Bay Packers, are ranked at No. 1, while the Detroit Lions came in at No. 9.
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