The Chicago Bears need … Khalil Mack to go off. A year ago, the Bears thought their biggest issue was finding a kicker who wouldn’t yack on his cleats come playoff time. Chicago then regressed all over the place in 2019 en route to a 8-8 third-place finish in the NFC North. Mitchell Trubisky was the easy guy to blame for the team’s struggles, but that’s a little too neat. The defense wasn’t nearly as dominant as it was during its 12-4 season of 2018, and Mack — the unit’s unquestioned centerpiece — finished with just 8.5 sacks, the second-lowest total of his career. Mack was still a handful, but the opposition was able to neutralize him some with double- and triple-team blocking assignments. Enter Robert Quinn, the big-money, free-agent acquisition who will be asked to take some of the spotlight off Mack. If Quinn can replicate his 2019 production in Dallas (11.5 sacks), a healthy Mack should return to the Defensive Player of the Year conversation. This Bears team needs a truly great defense to matter in 2020.

The Pittsburgh Steelers need … Big Ben to still be Big Ben. Ben Roethlisberger was the franchise rock in Pittsburgh for a decade and a half before an elbow injury ended his 2019 season after two weeks. Mason Rudolph and Duck Hodges both failed to spark the offense when given their opportunities, and the Steelers — somewhat curiously — have so far opted against upgrading their depth chart behind Roethlisberger, now 38 years old and coming off reconstructive elbow surgery. It’s perhaps notable to take a look at a couple other future Hall of Fame quarterbacks who entered the league in the same year as Big Ben. Eli Manning lost his job to Daniel Jones and retired in January. Philip Rivers is starting over in Indy after a turnover-marred 2019 campaign spooked the Chargers into starting over with Justin Herbert. If Roethlisberger’s ’04 draft compadres couldn’t duck Father Time, what chance does Big Ben have? Every player is different, of course, and — who knows — Roethlisberger could end up rejuvenated by the time off. It just feels like a substantial roll of the dice in Pittsburgh.

The Carolina Panthers need … to be right about Cam Newton. After back-to-back seasons were compromised by injuries, Carolina decided to get out of the Cam Newton business. In March, the team announced it had given Newton permission to seek a trade (a farce rightly called out by Cam), then cut ties with the former MVP when no trade suitors materialized. Newton currently resides in limbo, the travel and team facility restrictions of a COVID-19 world no doubt playing a role in his continuing unemployment. Cam will get work eventually, and one can imagine the competitor in him has been gifted with a full tank of motivational fuel. The Panthers pivoted to Teddy Bridgewater, a perfectly fine system quarterback who lacks the dynamism of a healthy Newton. If Bridgewater is steady and the Panthers win, Carolina fans will have no problem with the team’s decision to move on from the greatest player in franchise history. But if Bridgewater struggles? If the Panthers aren’t winning? And if Newton finds a starting job elsewhere and returns to his old ways? It will be seen as one of the great organizational gaffes in recent memory. Forget “Keep Pounding” … I’d recommend keep praying.