Heading into the regular season, the Chicago Bears were not a popular pick to make the postseason and considered to be in “rebuilding” mode. The Bears did make this season somewhat interesting a couple of weeks ago by upsetting the Green Bay Packers on Thanksgiving and placing themselves in a position to make the playoffs. Unfortunately, inconsistency has been this team’s biggest problem and most peoples’ predictions of the Bears have almost become reality after the Bears lost to the Washington Redskins last weekend.
With nothing to lose at this point in the season other than football games, the Bears can start playing the role of “spoiler” against the Minnesota Vikings. While the Bears should ideally position themselves for a high draft pick, Minnesota has three meaningful games left on their schedule as they currently hold the last wild card spot in the NFC.
But why should the Bears position themselves for the draft when they can be a part of their division rival’s potential choking process down the stretch? I would much rather see the latter, at least for this week.
In order for the Bears to win, Jay Cutler has to play a turnover-free game. This may seem obvious, but the Bears cannot squander opportunities to score touchdowns, especially now that field goals are rather hard to come by considering Robbie Gould’s disappointing season. Both Martellus Bennett and Marquess Wilson were placed on season-ending injured reserve earlier this week, and it would be doubly impressive if Cutler could manage to keep the Bears competitive in this game without two key weapons on offense.
It will be interesting to see how a Teddy Bridgewater-led offense, which ranks second worst in the league in passing yards per game, fares against the Bears’ potent pass defense that ranks second best. The Bears should definitely game plan for Adrian Peterson, a traditional Bear-killer. Chicago’s defense is not nearly as bad as last season’s historically terrible defense, but they still rank towards the bottom in opponents’ rushing yards per game.
Although Chicago will probably lose this game, it can still put up a fight. Ten of the Bears’ 13 games played have been decided within a single possession. Chicago has an impressive road record at 4-2, but many would be surprised if the Bears can be spoilers starting this week.