LAKE FOREST, Ill. – The Bears have a solid 9-4 record with four regular-season games remaining. They’re both in good position to make the playoffs and have a tough road to maintain that positioning down the stretch.
The NFC is top-heavy with tons of parity at the top, as evidenced by what happened on Sunday night. They entered the day as the NFC’s No. 1 seed. A 28-21 loss to the Green Bay Packers knocked them all the way down to the No. 7 spot. There are eight teams, maybe nine if the Panthers rev up, in real playoff contention.
The Bears are contenders. Despite all that has gone right, they are no sure thing. They have three of their remaining four games at Solider Field, including Sunday against the Cleveland Browns.
They also face three other NFC playoff hopefuls in Green Bay, San Francisco and Detroit. Beating those teams provides and record lift and possible tiebreaker advantages.
“We have goals and we know what’s out in front of us,” Bears head coach Ben Johnson said in a Wednesday press conference. “It’s just that awareness that every game matters. Every game matters. That’s where this week, you go from an emotional rivalry game like we just played, this week is equally important. We need this win. We desperately need this win.”
They do need this one on Sunday. And at least one more. It seems like the Bears believe 11 wins will get then into the tournament. That total has been brought up more than once.
That probably won’t win the NFC North. They’ll have to beat Green Bay and Detroit and keep fingers crossed. Getting in the primary goal.
“I look at the playoffs the past couple of years since they kind of changed the playoff format (to include seven teams per conference), especially with this year with the NFC, it’s going to take 11 games to get in, in my opinion,” safety Kevin Byard III said. “With the amount of good and talented teams in the NFC, 10 wins, I don’t think that’s gonna get it done. I think that, last years, Seattle had 10 wins and didn’t get in. I think it’s going to be the same thing this year.
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“…You need to go out there and continue to stack wins. Starting this week, I don’t necessarily want to call it a must win, but we have to keep stacking wins. Like Coach (Johnson) said, getting to nine wins is cool but it’s not going to get us in the playoffs, so we need at least two wins if we want to get in the playoffs and I think three or four to win the division. That’s what we’re focused on. We’re focused on this week and then, obviously Green Bay when Green Bay comes.”
The Bears became contenders faster than many expected. They’ve surged in Johnson’s first season despite playing in a stacked division and conference. While they’ve won tons of one-score games, they proved in a win over Philadelphia and a loss to Green Bay that they can compete with the best. That provides confidence heading into a tough part of the schedule, needing at least two more to acquire a playoff seed.
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We’ve established the milestone’s the Bears consider vital to a playoff berth and an NFC North title. Now they’ve got to execute well enough to reach them, while focusing on individual opponents over the big picture.
That’s a mentality more than anything, about maintaining focus on the details that produce wins.
“We’ve got a good group of leaders that keep the main thing the main thing as we’ve been talking about it,” Johnon said. “It helps when the younger players are hearing that constantly, that they do the best that they can to avoid the distractions. I think it’s harder this day and age than ever before. It’s so easy to get caught up on what’s being said outside of the building, but we just try to keep the focus on how we see it, the truth of what we see and how we can continue to get better.”
Johnson has long vowed that the Bears will play their best football in December. That’s typically not something that happens around here, with late season struggles in good seasons and bad. Let’s use 2020 as an example. The Bears made the postseason that year. They backed into the playoffs that year, going 3-8 after a strong start.
The Bears offensive line and it’s run game have ramped up of late and are playing some quality football. The passing attack needs to find consistency, and defense must continue creating takeaways and playing well on critical downs.
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The Bears’ brand of football is good for the winter, with all games outdoors down the stretch. It also travels well, without a reliance on downfield shots or needing silence on offense to make things work.
The Bears must also perform well at home – they’ve won four straight after stumbling versus Minnesota in the opener.
The Bears have the overall talent to reach the postseason. There’s no doubt they’ve got the coaching and locker-room leaders to achieve that goal.
It’s about understanding the moment and not letting it get too big for a team without much homegrown playoff experience. Cole Kmet is the only 2020 draft pick to play in the postseason – Jaylon Johnson was hurt at that point his rookie year – and kicker Cairo Santos was the only other active Bear to play that postseason.
There are plenty of veterans who have won Super Bowls or made postseason runs, so there’s enough experience around to keep this roster level-headed down the stretch. The Bears have performed well in big moments, but staying locked in with so much attention on this team is mandatory.
That comes down to the practice week over carrying momentum from one game to the next. The Bears understand the assignment and believe they’re poised to finish strong.
“It’’s three playoff spots basically outside of the division, and then you got four or five other teams that’s fighting for whether it’s a division lead, wild card spot,” Byard said. “So we have to be playing our best ball around this time of the year and it starts this week against Cleveland.”
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