This Sunday the Chicago Bears will face the Green Bay Packers for the 182nd time in franchise history. With the winner going to the Super Bowl, the stakes are higher than ever. But after looking at the Bears' season, they should be grateful just to be there.
Take a look at their regular season. The Bears started the season with a win at home against the Lions, after the much discussed Calvin Johnson touchdown was overturned as the clock ran out. They followed up with a win over the struggling Cowboys in week 2, beat the Panthers in week 5, the Bills on a neutral site in week 8, the Dolphins week 10, the Lions in week 12, and the Vikings (outside, without Brett Favre or Adrian Peterson) in week 15.
Thats not to say the Bears didn't have any impressive wins (they did beat the Packers once and the Jets in week 16), but rather that a mix of an easy schedule and a little luck helped them get where they are. Losses to the Patriots and Packers this season are the perfect example of their subpar performance against good teams. Even more telling, they lost to the Seahawks and Redskins in consecutive weeks in October.
Now, of course, you can't blame a team for taking getting it done with the schedule they were given. After all, they don't choose who they play. They stayed healthy, and got it done against who they were told to play. Hats off to them for that. But if the Bears can pull it off one more time and make it to the Super Bowl, they should be thanking their lucky stars.
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