Bears Mailbag -- If They Qualify, Could Bears Make Noise In Playoffs?

Well, Bears fans, after a wild roller-coaster of a 2020 season that's essentially seen three different seasons in one, the Bears' 41-17 destruction of the Jacksonville Jaguars made it all comes down to this:  Week 17.  Packers-Bears at Soldier Field.  If Chicago wins, they make the playoffs.  Sounds about right, doesn't it?

Of course, the last time the Bears had a "win-and-in" game at Soldier Field against the Packers in Week 17 that also kicked off at 3:25pm CT, the "Aaron Rodgers to Randall Cobb" miracle stunned the Chicago faithful in 2013.  That was Year 1 of the (seemingly promising) Marc Trestman era. Lots of things have changed since then for the Bears and Packers, but one thing hasn't -- Aaron Rodgers continues to strike fear in the hearts of Bears fans everywhere. It won't be any different this Sunday.  The Packers are aiming for their second straight 13-3 finish under Matt LaFleur, the #1 seed, and Rodgers looks absolutely reborn at age 37.  Green Bay's offense has been humming.  They just tore the Tennessee Titans apart at Lambeau Field, 40-14.  They demolished the Bears five weeks ago at Lambeau, 41-25 (the game wasn't as close as the final score). Long story short, the Bears could be in trouble.  Luckily, there is more than one way to make the playoffs.  Even if they lose to the Packers, if the Los Angeles Rams beat the Arizona Cardinals, the Bears are in.  So let's see what happens.

With that, let's reach into this week's Bears Mailbag.  Thanks to everyone who submitted questions.  Follow me on Twitter @DhruvKoul to continue the conversation.

Bears Mailbag

Let me clarify this one a little bit -- I think my confidence in this team will stem mainly from how they perform against Green Bay.  The Bears have definitely looked different the last month -- strategically and schematically, and their execution has improved significantly.  That's all good. Their production, however, has all come against defenses that don't rank highly.  The Vikings' defense was ranked in the Top 10 in Defensive DVOA, surprisingly, and the Bears did a good job against them on the road.  But they were also missing their defensive heartbeat in Eric Kendricks. My point is, there are some caveats with their recent performance, and we need to see them perform well against a good, motivated team (like the Packers are). If the Bears continue to shine offensively against Green Bay, then there's real hope the Bears can make some noise once they're in.  None of the possible matchups they'd face in Round 1 are promising -- in fact, there's a scenario (albeit unlikely) where the Bears could head right back up to Lambeau Field in the Wild Card round.  But then again, playoff matchups are never favorable!