The downside: lots of injuries (including a season-ender for the first-round pick), several winnable games were allowed to slip away, and the defense was the fourth-worst in team history.

The upside: that Thanksgiving victory against the Packers at Lambeau on the day they retired Brett Farve’s jersey was pretty *&^%$#@ awesome.

In toto: a wash. Hopefully the Bears find a good replacement for likely-to-depart OC Gase, heal well over the offseason, draft wisely, and make some solid signings. There’s greater cause for optimism than there was a year ago.