Mini-Bye Open Thread

Bears have 11 days between games. SEA, their next opponent, plays on Sunday Night Football, so the Bears will have a full +3 days of rest advantage. Typically, it is closer to 2.5 when teams playing at noon on Sunday. So the Bears get the longest possible rest advantage outside of a real bye week that you can get.

Thru the first 7 weeks, the Bears are 5-2, and have weathered the storm of injuries. They are 13th in Passing Offense, 2nd in Rushing Offense, and 5th in Total Offense. On defense, they are 20th against the Pass, surprisingly 6th against the run, and 11th overall. They are also 8th in Scoring Offense and Scoring Defense.

Right now there are 4 teams in the top 10 for Scoring Offense and Defense: SF, JAX, KC, and CHI. Pretty good company, a combined record of 19-4.

The good news is only one of those teams is on their remaining schedule: JAX in Week 13 (in CHI).

After the SEA game, the Bears get TB, their real bye, then NO. At a minimum, that should be 7-3 with a shot at 8-2. In that same window, MIN has @DET, BUF, @GB, and @SF. At best, that is probably 8-2, but could easily be 6-4 with 3 tough road games and BUF at home. So either way the Bears could be headed to DET for Thanksgiving in 1st place in the North.

The crazy part is the NFC North champ will almost assuredly play one of the other NFC North teams in the Wild Card round. The sweet spot seems to be the 5th or 6th seed as those teams will play the NFC East Division winner (currently NYG at 3-2-1) or the NFC South winner (currently CAR at 3-2). The #2 Seed is more than likely going to be the NFC North winner who would play the #7 seed which is currently DET, and projected to be GB again.