We tend to think about the “magic number” as a baseball thing, but it’s applicable here in the football realm.
The Chicago Bears’ magic number to clinch a spot in the postseason is 1.
A win against the Green Bay Packers next week at Soldier Field will lock it up. As would a loss by the Arizona Cardinals against the Los Angeles Rams. It’s that simple. Because after throttling the Jacksonville Jaguars by a 41-17 score on Sunday, the only thing left for a Bears team controlling its own destiny is win again next week.
They won, so they must keep winning.
Seriously. We’ve made it this far, why not finish the job?
In order to do so, they’ll need more good than bad from Mitchell Trubisky. Chicago’s QB1 completed 24 of 35 passes for 265 yards, tossed two touchdowns, and finished with a 97.9 passer rating. He added a score on the ground for good measure, which served as a nice reminder that you can score red zone points more efficiently when you play to a player’s strengths. Now, let’s speak nothing of that inexcusable red-zone interception before the end of the first half.
The Bears will need to continue to lean hard on David Montgomery, who rushed for 95 yards on 23 carries. Montgomery added a ground score, making it seven total touchdowns in his last five games. The heavy doses of Montgomery throughout really set the tone for this game, as they have for most of this late-season run. More … please?
As for the defense, they hung in tough. The “D” came up with just one sack, but snagged two interceptions (both by Roquan Smith) and came up with six pass break-ups. They’ll need to be better next week if the Bears are to make it into the playoffs.
In the end, the Bears are now where we wanted them to be after that 5-1 start — in control of their own playoff livelihoods. We can discuss future considerations and needs down the line. In the meantime, you play to win the game. They won this one, so they must do it again a week from today.
"now" - Google News
December 28, 2020 at 04:15AM
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They Won, So Now They Must Win - bleachernation.com
"now" - Google News
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