The Chicago Bears won 12 games but did not win a single playoff game. Was this season a disappointment?
After a day to reflect and think of all the things that could have been in the Chicago Bears loss in the Wild Card round it is fair to question how much of a success the season was.
The loss stings, and brings up questions in all phases. Should Cody Parkey stay? Can Matt Nagy win big games? Will Mitch Trubisky take a step forward next season? It also is fair to look back at the season and say that it was a success.
This is a team that oddsmakers pegged for 6 wins to start. They doubled that. The Minnesota Vikings were the team to beat with the new addition of Kirk Cousins. The Chicago Bears beat them twice to knock them out of the playoffs. They knocked out Aaron Rodgers in Week One, and while they did not win, they did clinch the division against Rodgers on the same week they knocked him out of the playoffs.
The Chicago Bears established something. They went from consistent losers to the Chicago Bears of old, a defense and a team that was generally fun to watch. They outshot expectations and put themselves in a chance to raise the ceiling.
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However, the standard has been set now, and the expectation should be to grow off of this game with such a young nucleus.
All summer prognosticators wondered if this team was the 2017 Los Angelas Rams. Those prognosticators would be dead on. The team won the division out of nowhere with their young head coach, old defensive coordinator and second year quarterback.
In that same regard they lost to the former NFC Champion at home in a game where they scored less than 17 points. Sean McVay was criticized for not utilizing Todd Gurley, Matt Nagy got the same with Tarik Cohen.
The good news for Chicago Bears fans is that those Rams did take a step forward and earned a bye the next year. For the Chicago Bears, their 2018 has to be looked at as a success. However, in 2019 expectations have gone up and the team must rise to the occasion.