The bye was good for the Bears early in the year because they were playing poorly. I think a loss to the Packers and having basically 20 days without meaningful football can put the Bears back in the funk they were in early on.

They are going to have to fight their way through the playoffs like they have the whole second half. I say they finish out the year on a high note (how pumped will they be beating the Packers twice and possibly keeping them out of the playoffs?)instead of resting guys and then coming out flat in the playoffs. If an injury happens, it happens. No one expected anything out of them so why not keep doing what they’ve been doing the whole second half (minus NE of course), winning games and bringing that momentum into their next game. If the Bear train loses steam i can’t see them winning a playoff game.

And why would a decision to rest his starters make you decide now that he’s a loser? Either you think that way already (and many of us do) or it would make the most sense to see how he manages that first playoff game.

Personally, I was on the bandwagon to fire him at the beginning of the season, and I don’t think he is a great game manager, but the one thing you have to give Lovie credit for is that his players truly respect him. Look at Coughlin in NY (and how his players are abandoning him), Phillips in Dallas, even Childress in Minnesota (could you really blame him for dragging Favre back?). The Bears players have never given up on Lovie. And I think now that he has surrounded himself with experienced game managers, he has insulated himself from making the kind of in-game mistakes that he has traditionally made.