CBS Power Rankings Take Bears Disrespect to Mt. Everest Levels

What do the Chicago Bears have to do to get some respect in the national NFL community? This team just went 12-4. They won the NFC North rather handily and made the playoffs. Yet more than a few people are trying to pass it off as nothing more than a fluke. A freak happenstance that came courtesy of a great defense and a fortunate schedule.

Even so, power rankings to this point at least gave them a decent position in the top 10. Well, throw that right out the window. Pete Prisco of CBS Sports took the dismissal of the Bears to new heights in his power rankings ahead of the season. It starts obviously enough with the defending champion New England Patriots leading off at #1. After that? It goes downhill fast.

His choice for #2? The Green Bay Packers. Yep. The team that finished 6-9-1 last year and just got done replacing half their coaching staff is viewed as the second-best team in the NFL. It gets better though. Prisco has the Bears situated at the #12 spot. The team he has sitting ahead of them at #11? The Cleveland Browns.

A team that hasn't had a winning season since 2007 is considered better than one that won almost twice as many games last year.

Chicago Bears won't have to worry about motivation going into 2019

Normally when a team who went to the playoffs, they have to go into the next year with much higher expectations from the media at large. It doesn't look like this will be the case for the Bears. There seems to be a genuine sense out there that it's not possible for them to duplicate what they did last season. Not with Aaron Rodgers still in the division.

It's almost like the team is starting off from the same spot they were at last year. Nobody giving them a chance. Matt Nagy and the coaches used that to their advantage last year. Don't think for a second he won't do so again. The scarier part is Mitch Trubisky isn't wet behind the ears anymore. He's fully engrossed in this offense with an even bigger, more diverse arsenal of weapons.