3 NFC North Stats that emphasize the Chicago Bears' work is just getting started
In the past three weeks, the Chicago Bears overcame the turmoil that followed the slow start to their season and cemented themselves as relevant NFC playoff hopefuls. Now sitting at 4-2 heading into their bye week, the Bears are playing a brand of football that most fans and local reporters expected given the hype and excitement the offseason generated.
The Bears' recent play, spearheaded by what looks to be the rapid development of their number one overall selection and rookie quarterback, Caleb Williams, should be caveated with the fact that these performances have come against three of the worst pass defenses in the league. However, on the flip side, the Bears have physically dominated their opponents on both sides of the line of scrimmage in these games, leading to blowouts in the latter 2: a clear mark of a strong, ascending football team.
The Bears are currently stuck in the middle of the NFC pack (and bottom of the NFC North). They have a strong record, but it is yet to be determined whether the Bears are actually good or if the issues that plagued them early this season are still there and currently being covered up by their recent opponents' inability to exploit them.
Their next few games may not provide any clear insight into this question either, as they take on weak defenses in Washington, Arizona, and New England. While each of these games is sure to provide interesting storylines, namely the quarterback matchups, the Chicago Bears should expect to win 2 of these 3 games. This would give them a 6-3 record, surely in prime position to make a run to the playoffs. Enter: The NFC North.
Similar to the Bears, the remaining teams in the NFC North have all started this season off to the races. As Week 6 concludes, the Vikings remain in first place in 5-0, while the Lions and Packers each moved to 4 wins, matching the Bears. The Bears will play all 6 of their division games in the last 8 weeks of the season, which is when we'll find out what this Bears team is really made of. However the Bears being currently 4th place in their division should not diminish the quality of the season they've begun putting together - they just happen to be in a division that is off to a historic start to a season...and one team, by rule, has to be fourth.
The following are three NFC North stats that show how dominant this division has been to start the season and further emphasize why this Chicago Bears season won't have truly started until those division matchups get under way later on this season.