Playoff Picture

[adam]

After climbing as high as the WC2, the Bears are outside looking in now (on the bubble), tied with LAR and SF at 4-4. The 3 WC teams at the moment are MIN 6-2, PHI 6-2, and GB 6-3. So there is already a 1.5 game gap between the Bears and the last WC spot. 

Just looking at the schedule, even if the Bears play decent, beat NE, then split the last 8 for a 5-4 record, that is a 9-8 record which I don't think will be enough for the playoffs.

Passing GB is the only chance and GB would have to go no better than 3-5 down the stretch to finish 9-8 AND CHI would have to gain the tiebreaker against them or outright better record to tie them with 9 wins. The most realistic scenario is having GB go 4-4 to finish 10-7, then the Bears miraculously finish 6-3 AND either win the h2h against GB or have a better div/conf record.  

The concern is also that SF and LAR are getting healthy and they will be in the mix, along with ARZ since the non-division winner will be in the WC hunt. So in reality 10-7 is not a playoff guarantee either. ARZ already holds the tiebreaker and I assume SF will too. The Bears will hold the h2h tiebreaker against LAR. 

So with the last two losses, they have realistically knocked CHI out of realistic playoff contention. They would have to do a complete 180 and play like a completely different team from what they have so far, and led by Flus and Waldron, I don't think that will happen.