Because that's the thing about sleepers: Nobody should be able to predict them. Last year, the Chargers came out of nowhere. The year before, Carolina. In 2001, New England and Chicago. When you hear people throwing the word "sleeper" around for teams like Arizona and Cincy, those are NOT real sleepers. You need to choose someone from this putrid group: Redskins, Giants, Bears, Bucs, Niners, Raiders, Titans, Browns, Bills and Dolphins. I'm telling you, one of those nine teams will make the 2005 playoffs, and everyone is going to say, "Oh my God, how did that happen????"
So here's my pick: The Chicago Bears. Easiest schedule in the league. Inferior division and conference. Underrated running game. One All-Pro receiver in Muhsin Muhammad. A defense that has a chance to crack the top-five, helmed by some playmakers (Briggs, Urlacher, Harris, Tillman) and what could turn out to be the best secondary in the league (now that Mike Brown is back). A sizable home-field advantage, especially in November and December. Very good coach (Lovie Smith) who had them playing hard in October and November until their quarterbacks did them in. And best of all, NOBODY is talking about them. In fact, Sports Illustrated ranked them 32 out of 32.
What's the big problem here? The quarterback. They're playing a fourth-round rookie (Kyle Orton) who's loved by the coaches and players ... but he's still a fourth-round rookie. So here's my question: Even if he's hit-or-miss, it's not like he's going to be much worse than Kyle Boller, Bledsoe, J.P. Losman, Patrick Ramsey or half the crappy starters in the league. Anyway, that's my 2005 sleeper -- I think they're going 10-6 and losing by 30 points in the first round of the playoffs. You heard it here.
(And if they finish 4-12, you didn't hear it here.)