How will Mack affect the predicted win total?

[Nelly]

6 or 7 wins would be hugely disappointing. I believe we win 9 or 10 before mack. Now I expect 11 or more and div crown. This team improved greatly in all area's and that was before landing Mack. I'm more excited about Nagy and Mitch then Mack.

I thought we were maybe an 8 win team without Mack if things broke well for us. That mostly included Trubisky showing that he's quite a good quarterback as a sophomore. Mack increases that by 2 wins but adds considerably more certainty and upside. The major upside still lies with Trubisky, but Mack filling the only hole we had on defense means this defense can keep us in games against anyone.

I can't remember a team ever improving as much as the Bears figure to have improve this offseason short of signing a star quarterback in free agency.

1. The upgrade in offensive coaching staff can't be understated. Nagy might not be a great head coach and might not be the best play caller in the league but we definitively had a bottom 3 offensive coaching staff and system last year. Nagy + Helfrich alone is a massive upgrade.
2. Every team has injuries, and we could end up being bitten by the injury bug again. But Kyle Long in particular looks to be finally healthy, which is huge for the O line. He's a top 5 guard in the league when healthy and hasn't been in 2 years.
3. Our best receivers from last year aren't even on NFL teams this year. The upgrade in pass catching is astronomical. Allen Robinson is one of the best young receivers in the league. Anthony Miller looks like Antonio Brown Jr. so far. Gabriel is a top-popper and Burton is a very good pass catching tight end. Kevin White being healthy and Javon Wims translating a great preseason to regular season would just be bonuses. Has any team in the last 10 years improved their pass catching talent more than the Bears did from one year to the next?
4. Trubisky is the big question mark. The coaching staff + experience + natural progression suggests he'll improve, just a matter of how much, but he will improve based on the drastic improvement in pass catchers alone. Very minor as well but bringing in Daniel as a mentor and a guy who knows the offense was a savvy move from Pace.
5. The defense was top 10 in a couple important categories. Fuller was a revelation, Amos and Jackson turned into really good safeties and Hicks/Goldman was a force in the middle of the line. No important players from the defense last year were lost. As stated, Mack fills the only hole we had in a big, big way... to the point where people are forgetting about how good Roquon Smith could be. Plenty of draft pundits said he's got a really good shot at being the best defensive player in the draft from the jump considering he was the best defensive player in college football last year.

No one had a better offseason than the Bears and it's not even close. And while the Bears only won 5 games last year, they were in a lot of those games. The arrow is pointing way up.