Here’s what we know after seeing the Bears beat the Chargers Sunday at Soldier Field: Chicago is a good team with a good chance of earning an NFC wild-card berth. And San Diego is a bad team in a division that might just be bad enough for them to win.
For the Bears, today’s win was their fifth in a row. Early this season Chicago struggled, but make no mistake: The Bears are very good, good enough to beat anyone in the NFC on any given day. Jay Cutler did a great job of spreading the ball around to receivers Johnny Knox, Earl Bennett and Roy Williams and to running back Matt Forte.
But more impressive was the Bears’ defense, especially the front seven, which held the Chargers’ running game to just 52 yards on 17 carries on the ground. The Bears are playing the kind of physical defensive football that wins big games late in the year. They won’t catch the Packers in the NFC North, but they’re going to be a tough team to beat in the wild card race.
As for the Chargers, it should come as no surprise to anyone who has seen Philip Rivers this year that it was a pair of fourth-quarter interceptions by Rivers that clinched the loss for San Diego. Both passes were terrible decisions, and we should all be used to seeing terrible decision from Rivers, who has a career-high 17 interceptions this season.
Still, the Chargers aren’t out of it in the AFC West. They’re 4-6, but if they beat the Broncos next week they’re in the hunt in their division.
Unfortunately for the Chargers, with the way Rivers is giving the ball away this year, Tim Tebow may be the better passer on the field next week.