The Chicago Bears did the job. Despite all the doubts about whether they belonged on this stage, they stunned the Green Bay Packers with an 18-point comeback, capped by a 25-point 4th quarterback. Caleb Williams was brilliant with two touchdown passes and the defense made the stops when they needed to. For the seventh time this season, the Bears rallied to win in the 4th quarter. Thanks to this result, they will advance to the divisional round. It was only a matter of determining their next opponent and when they play.
Information quickly arrived a few hours later. San Francisco stunned the Philadelphia Eagles 23-19, setting up a rematch with the Seattle Seahawks next week. That means the Bears will host the Los Angeles Rams and old nemesis Matthew Stafford at Soldier Field. The only thing left to determine is the date. Here is where things get interesting. Since both teams played on Saturday this past weekend, it felt logical that they would do the same next weekend. Instead, the NFL pulled a surprise, scheduling them for Sunday.
This is a significant development for two reasons. One is that it gives the Bears an extra day to prepare and heal up after that slugfest on Saturday night. Second, and perhaps most important, is the weather forecast.
The Chicago Bears are aware that Stafford hasn’t performed well in extreme cold.
He’s played his entire career either for a dome team (Detroit) or a warm-weather team (Los Angeles). This means he hasn’t played many games in extreme cold. When he has? Let’s just say it hasn’t been pretty. In nine career games where the temperature was below 20 degrees, he is 1-8 as a starter with 14 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Chicago has played two such games already this season, falling to Green Bay 28-21 and crushing Cleveland 31-3. Caleb Williams had four touchdowns and one interception in those contests.
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Does this guarantee a win for the Chicago Bears? Of course not. The Rams are a very good team with an excellent head coach. Stafford is one of the toughest quarterbacks in the NFL. He has way more playoff experience than most quarterbacks left in the playoffs. The Bears better not expect the weather to do the work for them. However, they can absolutely use it to their advantage. If they can deliver some good hits and play physical, L.A. may retreat into a shell. Stafford isn’t at his best in those conditions.
It could prove decisive.
