Everything You Need To Know About The NFC North For Fantasy Football

**Dave Kluge** (0:11)
The NFC North is a loaded division. Any team here can finish first or fourth, and we really have no idea how this one is going to shake up, but we do know that there's a lot of fantasy-relevant players in this division. Today, Jeff Bell and I, we are on part seven of an eight-part series, going through every single division where we go through division by division, team by team, position by position, and player by player. And today, we are going to start with the Chicago Bears. As always, we're going to start with some of the changes from this offseason, and then dig in and get a little more granular from there.
First of all, we got an offensive coordinator change, Pres Taylor taking over for Declan Doyle. In free agency and trades, the Bears lost DJ Moore, Devon Duvernay, Olamide Zaccheaus, Durham Smythe, and Travis Homer. They brought in Khalifa Raymond and Selvin Ahmed via free agency. And then in the draft, they drafted a tight end, Sam Rausch in round two, and then they spent a round three pick on Xavian Thomas. So Jeff, as we always do, we are going to start with the quarterbacks here. Caleb Williams took a big step forward last year, but there were still some accuracy concerns. Is that the main thing that you're focused on going into 2026, seeing if Caleb Williams can shore up that accuracy?

**Jeff Bell** (1:22)
I mean, yeah, that's the biggest thing. It's so interesting on Caleb Williams because public opinion has completely flipped on him, and everybody is in, whereas last summer everybody was convinced he was a bust. But if you looked at the numbers, you would have told people, last summer he's going to have 58% completion. He's not going to hit 4,000 yards passing. Everybody would be like, well, yeah, because he's not very good. And I mean, that's what happened.
He didn't hit 4,000 yards. He had 58% completion. So there's a lot left on the table for him to continue to develop and realize. And he really showed, he flashed that ceiling that, I mean, you and I knew what was there last summer. We were telling people to buy in last summer, but that's how much higher can it go. And a lot of it comes down to, I mean, you're the Bears fan. You know, the two best times to be a fan is when you've won the Super Bowl, but also when you are on the climb, the very first initial ascension and you're going further than expectations.
You keep ascending there. And that's where we are with the Bears. They exceeded expectations last year and everybody is feeling fantastic. He's consuming the media, everything around it. Everybody is really pumped up about this team and primarily Caleb Williams.

**Dave Kluge** (2:38)
And you know, I have felt the climb as a Bears fan multiple times. Rex Grossman, we climbed with Rex Grossman all the way to a Super Bowl. I remember Jay Cutler feeling like we finally got the guy. And still to this day, you know, when I started my Twitter account over 10 years ago, Jay Cutler, apologist was in my bio and I have kept it in there ever since. And then after that, you know, we see Mitch Strabisky come in and people are so quick to forget, like he's just become a meme over the years. But this guy went to a Pro Bowl. He was top 12 in fantasy football. Like he put together a promising season.
We had Matt Nagy, Coach of the Year. It felt like we were on the ascent there. So well, yeah, there is reason to be excited about this team. I mean, it feels different. But there have been a handful of regimes that have felt different over the years. And I think with Caleb Williams, you know, I lead off talking about the accuracy. I just wrote a deep dive article on Caleb Williams.
And it's kind of crazy, like on deep attempts, he was one of the best in the league. He had like, you know, 75 deep attempts. And that was more than any other quarterback. He was second among all quarterbacks in air yards. So he was willing to throw a deep. Six touchdowns on deep attempts was best among quarterbacks as well. But it was everywhere else. On throws behind the line of scrimmage, adjusted completion percentage was third worst. On throws zero to nine yards, he was tied for dead last. And on throws of 10 to 19 yards, that intermediate area of the field, he was fourth worst. So we kind of see this like really weird enigma of a quarterback, where when he rips the ball 20 plus yards, he's hitting the throws, he's hitting big plays, he's scoring touchdowns, but he can't really take the layups in the short to intermediate parts of the field. And I feel like that's really where Ben Johnson's quarterback needs to be able to thrive.