Could Chicago Bears Win Division in 2017?

The Chicago Bears could win the division in 2017; it’s not impossible.

First of all, the title of this article is “Could the Chicago Bears win the division in 2017?” Could. That is the key word here. This article does not say “The Chicago Bears Will Win the Division in 2017.” Could and will are two very different words. So before the comments section is filled with hate, keep in mind that this article is only mere fun speculation. That’s all.

That being said, could the Bears win the division? It really isn’t impossible. It’s unlikely. It’s very unlikely. But let’s break down whether it’s possible.

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The Bears sit at 3-5, so if we are going to be realistic about this, if the Bears get red-hot and have a great second half, they can’t possibly do better than 9-7. The Bears certainly aren’t going to win in Philadelphia and they have two tough road games with Minnesota and Detroit. For the sake of argument, let’s say the scorching Bears split the road games within the division. If they do, is it impossible to say the Bears can’t win home games against Green Bay, Cleveland, San Francisco, Detroit and a road game at Cincinnati?

I understand that they are still the Chicago Bears and they will inevitably shoot themselves in the foot in one of those games, but they are white-hot, remember? They went 6-2 in the second half (and 8-4 under the rookie QB). This isn’t the old Bears, this is the new Bears! So if things fall in place like that and the team finishes 9-7, would that be enough?

Let’s look at the three other teams in the division. Let’s start the conversation with the Packers. Aaron Rodgers is on the IR. And with that, let’s end the conversation with the Packers. They are a dreadful football team, they won’t win another 2 or 3 games all year. They are out.

Now, how about the Detroit Lions? Detroit is 2-0 in the division, which means the Bears would have to beat them twice to win the tiebreaker, otherwise Detroit needs to finish 8-8 for the Bears to jump them in the standings. The Lions have a home game with Cleveland this weekend which should earn them their fifth win, but if the Bears go 9-7 that means they would lose at Soldier Field the following week to drop to 5-5. Let’s say the Bears split with the Lions, that means the Lions would pick up a win against Chicago in week 15 and we can confidently say that Detroit will beat Green Bay at home in week 17. That’s 7 wins. The other three games for Detroit are road games against Cincinnati, Tampa, and Baltimore. Detroit certainly won’t go 3-0 in those games, but they could go 2-1. That would get them to 9 wins which the Bears can’t have, so hopefully, for the Bears’ sake, they manage to lose one more of those three to drop to 8-8. It’s not far-fetched, this is the Lions after all, not the Patriots.

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Now let’s examine the Vikings. The Vikings are 6-2, no way they can fall far enough down. Or can they? They start off this week on the road against Washington. The game is basically a pick’em. Washington is a scrappy team that is better than their record. Loss. 6-3 for Minnesota. Next up is a home game with the Rams. The Rams are a great story and their high-flying offense against the Vikings stingy defense will be fun to watch. The Vikings better win that game because they have three difficult road games after that squaring off against Detroit, Atlanta and Carolina. Minnesota isn’t great on the road. They’ve only played two road games this year, their only true road win was the squeaker in Chicago. They could easily drop those three. Suddenly, if the Rams win in Minnesota, the once impressive Vikings team falls to 6-7. The Vikings can recover with a home game against the Bengals and a road win in Green Bay. That brings them back up to 8-7, with a week 17 game against the Bears.

If somehow it plays out like that, the Bears will be in Minnesota with a chance to win the division in week 17. Is the scenario far-fetched? Absolutely. But it’s not crazy, and before you say there is no way the Vikings can finish 2-6, keep in mind Sam Bradford is on IR, Case Keenum is playing very well for Case Keenum right now but he is, well, Case Keenum. As for Teddy Bridewater, no one really knows what he is right now coming off that injury. Want more ammo? Last year the Vikings started off 5-0 before they finished the year 3-8.

So, could the Bears win the division in 2017. Yes, they could. Will they? Almost certainly not, but the opportunity very well could present itself as long as the Bears continue to improve and don’t shoot themselves in the foot.

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