Losing on Monday night in Pittsburgh was a heartbreaker. Especially in the way the Chicago Bears did. Not by simply being outplayed. More because the referees made a series of terrible calls that gave the Steelers enough opportunities to eke out a 29-27 win. Now the Bears are 3-6. Fans and experts alike believe their playoff hopes are now dead. An easy thing to understand all things considered.
However, the NFL always has a way of making things crazy. As the Bears work to collect themselves during the bye week, the NFC decided to get nuts on Sunday with a series of wild finishes. Some of which might end up having a profound impact on the playoff picture. As things stand, the top five spots in the conference seem to be in firm control. That might no longer be the case for the 6th and 7th ones.
First is the New Orleans Saints.
They hold the 6th spot and seemed on a good trajectory after a big upset of Tampa Bay last week. Then they ended up falling to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. That drops them to 5-4. Adding to the fun is the Atlanta Falcons who held the 7th and final spot when games kicked off but now have fallen out of the picture after an ugly blowout loss to Dallas. Carolina currently holds the 7th seed with a record of 4-5.
That means in spite of everything, the Bears are just one game out of the playoff picture. If they can rebound with a few wins, they might challenge for that 7th seed with teams like Carolina, Atlanta, Minnesota, Seattle, and San Francisco doing the same. The 49ers already have a tiebreaker over them but Chicago has a big opportunity to claim the same over the Vikings and Seahawks in the coming weeks.
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Chicago Bears’ next four games will tell the story
If they want to take control of their destiny in 2021? They’ll have to get past another tough stretch of schedule. Three of the next four games will be played against current division leaders. The Baltimore Ravens, Arizona Cardinals, and Green Bay Packers. The good news is two of those three games will be at home. Unfortunately they’re also against quarterbacks who have been in the MVP conversation most of this year.
As much as Justin Fields has improved over the past few weeks, he’s still a rookie. He can’t be expected to go toe to toe with Lamar Jackson, Kyler Murray, and Aaron Rodgers without help. Will the defense be better? It is possible Khalil Mack and Eddie Jackson could return from their foot and hamstring injuries. That would be a help. Truth be told it is difficult to trust this Chicago Bears team is capable of beating that many good opponents. Particularly given how undisciplined they’ve played most of this year.
Crazier things have happened.
If nothing else, this should at least keep the upcoming game interesting outside of watching Fields develop. An upset of Baltimore might be just the sort of jolt this team needs to get rolling. Head coach Matt Nagy is known for unexpected rallies after long losing streaks. With his job on the line, this might be the biggest one he’ll ever need.
