Bears head coach Ben Johnson is predicted to win six games this season. AP

THAT SOUND OF THE SEASON — the approaching NFL regular season:

It's not cicadas. It's not crickets. It's certainly not the sounds of silence.

It is the sound of pro football touts — relentless, larger in number than ever, generally more hollow than waiting on the possible 2054 release of “Happy Gilmore 3.”

(Netflix's current “Happy Gilmore 2” came 29 years after the original 1996 premiere of “Happy Gilmore.” Adam Sandler — in any decade — remains an acquired taste.)

BUT THE GRID-GOOSING '25 opinions and projections are out there, flooding contemporary electronica. The certainty of most presenters makes TV preacher Joel Osteen look timid.

Around Chicago, the critical number is 8½.

That's the dead-center wager

See Full Page