I know that’s a dangerous thing for S3 to do, but, nevertheless, that’s what I’ve been doing.

Much has been made on how soft the schedule was, but something clicked in my head. No, it wasn’t a flash back from an acid trip in the ‘60’s. It was more along the lines of how the NFL makes up the schedule from year to year. It also plays into BS’s least favorite term: parity.

What the NFL does is arrange the schedule so the least performing teams get a softer schedule. It occurred to me that rather than the Bears playing down to their opponents maybe it was a real refection of how good they are. So I took a look at last year’s records.

Two of the Bears’ three losses came against teams that were less than .500 last year: Washington and Seattle. The Bears themselves were less than .500 last year. Of the 8 wins, only three came against teams that were less than .500. The other five wins were against teams that went 53-27 last season for a .663 percentage.

Are we looking at this team through the wrong end of the telescope?

SouthSideSlim - 29 November 2010 07:18 PM

Are we looking at this team through the wrong end of the telescope?

I think we’re looking at a team that in consecutive weeks had its quarterback beaten like a pinata.  Closing at home with the Patriots, Jets and at the Packers has me looking at a 2-3 finish.

dui_attorney - 29 November 2010 08:41 PM

SouthSideSlim - 29 November 2010 07:18 PM

Are we looking at this team through the wrong end of the telescope?

I think we’re looking at a team that in consecutive weeks had its quarterback beaten like a pinata.  Closing at home with the Patriots, Jets and at the Packers has me looking at a 2-3 finish.

And I tend to agree with you. Still, what would we think if we beat two of those teams and ended up 4-1 down the stretch? This is coming from someone that thought we might go 0-fer.

I would tend to agree that 2-3 is likely (beating the Lions and the MDQ but losing to the Jets, Patriots and Packers). But then again, even with a 2-3 finish, they’d still end up 10-6 which is usually good enough to win a playoff spot. Although finishing 2-3 doesn’t usually bode well momentum-wise going into the playoffs. Either way, I still don’t think they get past the first playoff game.

You ask what if they go 4-1? Or even 3-2? Well, that would put them in a hell of a position playoff-wise. I really doubt that’s going to happen though. While some may scoff, going 0-5 or 1-4 is also very possible too. Which would mean either 8-8 or 9-7. 8-8 would definitely mean no playoffs, 9-7 would be a very slim chance.. but likely means they’d miss.

I don’t know that 10-6 gets it done this year with the Saints, Giants and Packers vying for a playoff spot along with the Bears.  Bears need to take care of business by beating the Lions and Vikings, a find a way to win 1 out of 3 against the Pats, Jets and Packers.

My guess is, they’ll get it done, but it’s only a guess.