Playoffs!!!

[Bears4Ever_34]

22 minutes ago, Pixote said:

I'm sure Detroit will have plenty of motivation.

Question: If they win out, and GB drops their next two, doesn't that give them 2nd place in the NFCN?

If yes, does that put Detroit in as #7 seed?

Yes, but GB isn't likely to lose out. That's why I said they'll probably be eliminated before the week 18 game.

[adam]

If SF loses to IND, the Bears should be favored the last two weeks.

SEA has to play in CAR, and then in SF to close out the season. They just have to lose one of those for the Bears to have a shot at the #1 Seed. 

LAR should easily win out against ATL and ARZ to finish 13-4 and 8-4. So depending on what SEA does, they could end up as a 13-win 5-seed playing an away playoff game in CAR or TB. 

GB @ CHI (3rd meeting in 6 weeks)
SF @ PHI 
SEA/LAR @ CAR/TB (CAR beat LAR, TB beat SEA)

The Divisional Round could then look like:

PHI/SF @ CHI (Week 13 or 17 Rematch)
LAR @ SEA (3rd meeting in 10 weeks)

NFCC: CHI @ SEA or LAR @ CHI (This would be crazy, because the 5th seed would have to travel to the East Coast for the Wild Card, then to SEA/LAR for the Divisional round, then potentially to CHI for the NFCC. 

 

No matter the outcome, the #1 seed is more than likely playing the #5 Seed in the Divisional Round, which should be SEA or LAR, unless the 6 or 7 seed wins in the Wild Card round. You only want to have to play the #1 seed or the #5 seed, not both because they could be the top 2 teams in the conference.

[adam]

I didn't like the fake ranking systems that just used "feels" to figure out how good teams are, so I made my own. On the left I have a raw score, then on the far right, a weighted ranking. The Bears are 10th raw and 5th weighted which takes into account turnover differential. I am adding Explosive Differential next to make it even more refined. However, without knowing the outcome beforehand, Rams being #1 and Jaguars being #2 (after beating DEN) feels pretty good. Does any team look out of place?

Just based on tiers, LAR is in their own tier, then JAX, SEA, HOU, and CHI are probably in Tier 2, followed by BUF, DEN, and NE. 

[Stinger226]

At first I wanted SF to lose but I hope they win so we knock them out of the potential first seed. That's a playoff game next week.

[adam]

10 hours ago, Stinger226 said:

At first I wanted SF to lose but I hope they win so we knock them out of the potential first seed. That's a playoff game next week.

SF jumped up with that win. Now it is #5 CHI vs #8 SF. A Bears win and they would move into the top 3, an SF win, and they would move into the top 5. Huge game.