Bears face a must-win game on Sunday against the Saints
By John Buhler
Coming off their bye week, the Chicago Bears face a critical test on Sunday when they host the New Orleans Saints in what will be a must-win for the Bears.
The Chicago Bears may have a menacing defense but will face a massively important game on Sunday for their standing in the NFC hierarchy. Chicago is coming off its bye in Week 6 after having narrowly fallen to the Oakland Raiders in London in Week 5. The Bears will host the New Orleans Saints in what feels like an early-season, must-win ball game for the Monsters of the Midway.
Chicago is 3-2 on the year, but the Bears find themselves two games back of the archrival 5-1 Green Bay Packers in the NFC North standings. Though they have the head-to-head win over the Minnesota Vikings, the Bears find themselves a half-game back of them in divisional play.
While they’re only half a game ahead of the Detroit Lions in the division, the Lions play the Vikings this week, so unless there is a tie, one of those two rival teams will be getting a win in Week 7. Should the Packers get past the Raiders at home, Green Bay will be 6-1 on the year. Oakland may have won in London, but beating the Packers in Lambeau is a different animal.
So yes, the Bears are in a tough spot and need to prove themselves at home versus New Orleans. Though the Saints are arguably the best team in the NFC, they are beatable because they are starting a backup quarterback in Teddy Bridgewater. While Bridgewater may get another starting opportunity next year for somebody else, he’s not Drew Brees. The Bears need to take advantage.
Regardless of who is starting for them at quarterback, whether that be Mitchell Trubisky coming back from a rotator cuff injury or the career backup Chase Daniel, the Bears need to find a way to get it done to stay afloat in the tight upper crust of the NFC.
A third-place finish in the NFC North may not be good enough to earn the second Wild Card spot in the NFC this year. The Packers are 5-1 but haven’t played their best brand of football and the Vikings are starting to gel as a team at 4-2. We have to believe maybe one Wild Card team will be coming from the NFC North. But as for the rest of the NFC, there are two divisions to worry about.
The NFC West is loaded with the San Francisco 49ers undefeated at 5-0 and the Seattle Seahawks only a game back at 5-1. A loss at home to New Orleans would drop the Bears back to .500, which won’t be good enough for a top-six finish in the NFC. With the way the Carolina Panthers are playing with Kyle Allen at quarterback, maybe they get the other NFC Wild Card spot?
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The Bears can’t lose in a neutral-site affair overseas, go on a bye and then lose at home two weeks later if they want to be taken seriously as a playoff contender. The Bears have a great defense, but Trubisky, head coach Matt Nagy and the rest of the Chicago offense must show up big-time against the visiting Saints on Sunday afternoon. Otherwise, it may get late early.