The Mailbag is back! I know you have had no idea what to do with yourselves while it’s been gone. But don’t fret, it has returned. Feel free to come up to me with a print copy of the mailbag, and I’ll sign it for you, no charge. Someday you can retire with the money you’ll make when you sell my autographed mailbag column. You’ll have to name your Beverly Hills mansion, “The House that Sam Built” and isn’t that really what this is all about? That’s a question for your mailbag.

Eric asks: Will the Cubs win the World Series this year?

No. They will absolutely not win the World Series this year.

Yeah, I know, I’m a White Sox fan, so of course you’ll be skeptical, but I have my reasons. 

Sure, they brought in Jon Lester, Miguel Montero, Dexter Fowler and have a whole bunch of talented, young players, but this year won’t be THE year. Needless to say, Lester was a huge signing, because you get one of the best pitchers in baseball and an instant No. 1 for your rotation. I just see a lot of their success hinging on the development of their youngsters. We saw highly touted infield prospect Javier Baez strike out about a thousand times when he came up to the majors last year. Jorge Soler looked great last year in limited time and they do have some solid young pitching to build around. 

That being said, there are so many question marks with guys who haven’t even played a game in the major leagues yet. 

Joe Maddon was a great hire, and if every young player on the Cubs played to his level of hype, they would win the World Series. Baseball doesn’t work like that. The Cubs finished in last place a season ago. Let’s see if they can improve from that before we start talking about winning the World Series. 

Alif asks: If John Fox couldn’t win with a team that was clearly better than the Bears, what makes you think he can win with the Bears? 

My eyes bled when I watched the Bears last season. The team gave up on the coaching staff, the fans gave up on the team, and nothing seemed to go right. Big changes were essential, and they made them. 

They got rid of the entire coaching staff along with general manager Phil Emery. They needed a head coach and early on there weren’t any great names out there. All of the sudden, Broncos’ head coach John Fox and team president John Elway decided to mutually part ways. 

Many felt that Elway wasn’t happy that Fox couldn’t take the team to the next level. I chalk that up to more of an aging, injured Peyton Manning. This was a golden opportunity for newly hired general manager Ryan Pace to get an experienced, successful coach. There were a couple other candidates out there, but nobody near as experienced as Fox. 

Since being hired in Chicago, Fox has brought in former 49ers defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, who will maintain a top-five defense this year despite tons of injuries in San Francisco. On the offensive side, Fox reeled in his former offensive coordinator Adam Gase from the Broncos. Both Fangio and Gase were in the mix for head coaching jobs, but decided to come to Chicago with Fox. 

The NFL draft isn’t until late April, but Fox in his short time as the Bears’ coach has already made his team better. 

The Bears are still years away from being great, but Fox has laid the foundation early-on. To go back directly to the original question, Fox had success with the Broncos. He didn’t win the Super Bowl, but he got them there. Emery and Trestman left this team in shambles after last season, both on and off the field. 

The Bears need a guy who can rebuild their reputation. Fox is that guy. He has found success with Peyton Manning, Jake Delhomme, and Tim Tebow. Maybe he can do the same with the seemingly uncaring Jay Cutler. Even if Fox doesn’t end up having success in Chicago, I don’t think anyone can look back and say Pace made the wrong decision with the hire. 

Kevin asks: What are the Bears’ biggest needs now that they’ve hired a GM and a coach?

I’ll go with another Bears’ question since it goes along nicely with the last one. 

They have their GM, they have their coach and, but they need a lot more before we can start talking about playoff contention. This is a team that will have to have multiple successful drafts to rebuild on an aging roster. They still don’t have a quarterback for the future, unless you think Cutler is that guy, in which case I disagree with you. Let’s just say for the sake of argument that Cutler is the guy they still need to improve on just about every defensive position. 

Their big signings from last year were Lamarr Houston, Jared Allen and Willie Young. Houston trashed the fan base and followed that up by tearing his ACL on a sack celebration in a blowout loss. Allen looked like he’s just about out of gas. Young was the most successful of the three. He showed an ability to get to the QB, but he suffered a torn Achilles near the end of the season. Kyle Fuller looks like he’ll be a solid player down the road, but there just isn’t much else there on defense. 

They have what it takes on offense, and most of those struggles were due to ineffective coaching. Assuming Brandon Marshall returns, they still have two of the best wide receivers in the NFL with him and Alshon Jeffery. 

They have a solid offensive line when healthy and Matt Forte has at least one more year as an elite running back. I believe they actually addressed their biggest need when they hired Fox. They got a guy who has coached before, and had lots of success in the NFL. That was a huge break for the Bears, and lets just hope they can build from there.

Sam is a senior in Media. He can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @Sam_Sherman5.