Chicago Bears: Six games that will make-or-break the Bears’ playoffs hopes

The Chicago Bears and their playoff aspirations will hinge on these six games

With just nine days remaining in the year, it’s safe to say that few years, if any, forced change upon society the way 2020 did. From eliminating the NFL’s preseason entirely to restricting fan attendance, nothing could be guaranteed. That is … except for one thing — the Chicago Bears and late-December postseason probabilities.

The Bears haven’t done a Super Bowl shuffle since 1985, instead opting to do the “limbo.” When the NFC seeding allowed for only six postseason teams, we expected them to be No. 7. Now that it allows for seven postseason teams, you can find them at No. 8, scratching and clawing, hoping for help from rivals to sneak in. For all that’s changed, everything in Chicago has remained the same.

This season, the Bears find themselves at (7-7), a mere game away from the seventh and final spot, and a game shy of the Arizona Cardinals (8-6).

That isn’t a complete negative, though. By just winning out, New York Times’ simulations give the Chicago Bears an 81 percent chance at making the postseason.

Assuming they handle their end, they will be needing help from the most unlikely of sources. Over the next two weeks, here are six games that will decide if Matt Nagy and the Bears punch a postseason ticket for the second time in three years.