Here’s how the Bears can still make the playoffs this year
The Bears still have a road to the playoffs that isn’t all that complicated.
The entire Chicago Bears team turned in their worst performance of the 2020 season Sunday night against the Green Bay Packers. Mitchell Trubisky returned and kept turning the ball over while the defense seemed to give up near the end.
Now the Bears are 5-6 after a 5-1 start. Some fans may not even want to get their hopes up for a playoff berth. But it is still in the realm of possibility with the expanded postseason.
How Chicago can be a playoff team
Let’s start with the obvious. The Bears likely need to win out or at least go 4-1 to have any shot of making the playoffs. A rematch against the Packers is the only game against a winning team so it’s not like the schedule is unbeatable.
Fans are solely focusing on one of three Wild Card spots with the NFC North all but out of reach. Right now the Los Angeles Rams have that No. 5 seed with a 7-4 record. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are No. 6 at 7-5 and the Arizona Cardinals hold the final spot at 6-5. The Bears are in the No. 9 seed with the 5-6 Minnesota Vikings ahead thanks to a head-to-head tiebreaker.
The Rams and Cardinals have two matchups remaining and the Rams taking both could be one path to the Bears getting up past the Cardinals. The Cardinals taking both would be nice as well, but the Rams do hold a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Bears.
The Buccaneers would be a harder team to jump. They have four games remaining and all come against teams with losing records. But there is one factor in the Bears’ favor and that is a win over the Bucs this season. So if Tom Brady and Tampa begin a free-fall, the Bears can capitalize.
Chicago still has a game against Minnesota on the schedule and if they were to win out that would be a big step toward reaching the playoffs.
The main thing here is Chicago needs to go 5-0 or 4-1. Next up is rooting for the Rams to sweep the Cardinals and for the Vikings to lose at least one game before their matchup against the Bears in Week 15. The San Francisco 49ers are also 5-6, providing another team to watch over the final month of the season.
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The Bears have a winnable game against the Detroit Lions this Sunday. Meanwhile, the Cardinals take on the Rams. A Cardinals loss opens up the possibility of several teams sitting at 6-6 in a fight for that newly created No. 7 playoff seed.