The Chicago Bears are indeed in an odd position at this point of the season that they are not used to being in.
Chicago is coming off one of the biggest wins for the franchise after coming back 10 down with five minutes left to beat the Green Bay Packers 22-16 in overtime. The Bears also saw the Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Detroit Lions, helping Chicago officially clinch a playoff berth for the first time in five years.
With a 1.5-game lead in the NFC North with two games left, the Bears need just one win or a Packers loss to win the division and still have the number one seed in the NFC in their sights. Bears head coach Ben Johnson said clinching a playoff spot is just the first step of what the team needs to accomplish the rest of the year.
"That was Step 1," Johnson said via 670 The Score's Chris Emma. "Step 2 is we want to win this division, we want to have at least one home playoff game. And then Step 3 would be clinching the No. 1 seed. So, there’s a lot of things still out there to play for."
Ben Johnson and the Bears are gunning for number one seed
The first goal for the Bears going into Week 17 is to seal the NFC North Division title. They have a Sunday Night Football showdown against the San Francisco 49ers out on the West Coast as both teams fight to stay alive for the number one seed.
Chicago could also have the NFC North wrapped up Saturday night, depending on the results of the Packers-Baltimore Ravens game. If the Ravens can pull off the win, that will give the Bears their first division title since 2018.
As for the number one seed, the Bears will be focused on how the Seahawks finish their season. Seattle needs to lose at least one of their last two games of the season, and the Bears need to win out. If that happens, the Bears earn the number one seed for the first time since 2006.
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This is the biggest final two weeks of the Bears' season in quite some time, as they have a chance to be in a position that no one ever thought they would be. All of this has really been foreign to the NFL and Chicago, but Bears fans aren't going to complain as they want to go for the number one seed.