The Chicago Bears are one of the hottest teams in the NFL right now. After winning a wild 22-16 overtime game against the Green Bay Packers on Saturday night, the Bears are now on the cusp of clinching their first playoff berth in five years. However, they haven’t earned a postseason spot just yet.
At 11-4, the Bears could clinch a spot as soon as Sunday if the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Detroit Lions in a game that kicks off at 4:25 p.m ET. That would be the ideal scenario for the Bears, because then they wouldn’t have to sweat anything out over the next two weeks, and there’s at least one scenario that could have them sweating a lot between now and Week 18.
The NFC has been so crazy this year that the Bears have two very realistic scenarios in play over their final two games: They could either end up as the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC or they could miss the playoffs entirely. Seriously. The Bears could still miss the playoffs.
First, let’s start with the good news for Bears fans and take a look at the path for Chicago to win get the top seed in the NFC.
- Bears have to win out (at 49ers in Week 17, vs. Lions in Week 18)
- Seahawks lose ONE of their final two games (at Panthers in Week 17, at 49ers in Week 18)
That’s it. The Bears need just three things to go their way and if that happens, they’ll be the No. 1 overall seed. The Bears don’t have to worry about the Rams because even if Los Angeles wins its final two games to finish 13-4, Chicago would win the conference record tiebreaker over them (The Bears would also win that same tiebreaker over the Seahawks at 13-4).
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The only problem with this scenario is that if the Bears beat the 49ers in Week 17, San Francisco might not have anything to play for in Week 18 against the Seahawks. The best case scenario for the Bears would be that the 49ers need to win in Week 18 to clinch a playoff berth.
Now that the good news is out of the way, let’s check out the bad news. Here’s how the Bears could COMPLETELY MISS THE PLAYOFFS:
- Bears lose their final two games (at 49ers, Lions)
- Lions win their final three games (Steelers, at Vikings, at Bears)
- Packers win their final two games (Ravens, at Vikings)
If this happens, then the Bears will be out of the playoffs. The Lions and Bears would both be 11-6 in this situation, but Detroit would win the head-to-head tiebreaker to finish on top of the Bears.
That would be Chicago’s nightmare scenario and if it happens, the 11-6 Bears would become just the third 11-win team in NFL history to miss the playoffs. The Bears can avoid this situation by winning just one of the their final two games, which would allow them to clinch the NFC North. They can also avoid the situation if the Lions lose to the Steelers on Sunday, which means everyone in Chicago will be rooting for Aaron Rodgers, probably for the first time in their life.
