Bears Popularity in Rankings Rises

The power rankings have not only hoisted the Bears but also their coach and quarterback after three wins in last four games.

The power rankings theme became an echo with the Bears' win over the Detroit Lions, as almost everyone began writing about Matt Eberflus.

Virtually everyone sees the improved Bears as needing to keep Eberflus as head coach now. Based on past success rates of these polls, it probably means nothing.

However, the really interesting and daring comment came from NFL.com's Eric Edholm.

Yes, he went there, the "P" word.

"It's wild to say aloud, but if they win the final four games, the Bears have a decent shot of making the playoffs," Edholm wrote.

Keeping the coaching staff, keeping Justin Fields, those are fine and legitimate themes.

But playoffs? It's OK to insert Jim Mora's classic GIF here.

The problem with thinking playoffs for the Bears is the huge crowd of teams still ahead of them, many of which beat them. The Saints and Tampa Bay are ahead of them in the wild card race and beat them. They only split with the Vikings and lost to the Packers.

It's way down the list of tiebreakers but strength of schedule is one of them and the Bears have played one of the easiest schedules in the league, which works against a team in this case.

The Bears wrote their 2023 record when they lost four straight to start the season, including the terribly painful loss to Denver after they led by 21.

For the rest of this season their goal will be focusing on the improvement they should have been showing earlier in the season if they had everyone on defense healthy both in preseason and offseason.

The Lions finished 2022 with no playoff spot but the promise of good things to come and now stand to reap this reward in postseason, if they can keep from putting Jared Goff on the field in a cold-weather game.

Ryan Poles has a few roster spots yet to improve for next season and this could become apparent Sunday when they are in Cleveland against a really strong defense.

However, one can only wonder what would have happened this year if he had simply acquired a pass rusher for Eberflus like Montez Sweat before the season started. The impact of Sweat's overall play has been dramatic.

NFL.com: 23rd

Edholm has "keep the gang together" fever. "I presume the win also made it more likely that Fields, Matt Eberflus and Ryan Poles all are back next season for a team that suddenly has some serious momentum," he wrote.

SI.com: 23rd

Conor Orr even has them elevated out of the dredges of the league and has no desire to see changes, unless it's the head coach.

"A few weeks ago, I wrote that Matt Eberflus shouldn’t be back for the 2024 Bears," said Orr. "I still think he’d be a tough sell for me, especially if, say, Ben Johnson wanted the job."

By the way, Eberflus just totally shut down the offense coordinated by that red-hot coaching candidate, Ben Johnson, and in the first game he did the same for 3 3/4 quarters.

CBS Sports: 23rd

They moved up three spots with the win and Fields is the focus for Pete Prisco rather than Eberflus or Poles. "Justin Fields is playing much better and making the team's decision about his future a tough one. Just keep him," Prisco urged.

ESPN: 23rd

The Bears climbed three spots and Courtney Cronin points to one of Eberflus' favorite talking points: takeaways. The Bears are second in interceptions now. "The Bears have nine interceptions since Week 10, which is the most in the NFL during that stretch," Cronin wrote.

USA Today: 24th

Nate Davis has them up three places, as well, and points out how the defense since Montez Sweat arrived has "...ranked among the league's top five."

Montez Sweat has 3.5 sacks in 5 games for what has been a top-five @ChicagoBears defense since he was acquired before Week 9.

Difference maker 😤 pic.twitter.com/zlB04HgMva

— NFL (@NFL) December 12, 2023

Fox Sports: 24th

Even David Helman seems convinced as he has moved them up five spots since last week and stopped talking trash about them.

"Since the Bears traded for Montez Sweat, they're in the league's top 10 in most of the meaningful metrics," Helman wrote.

It all makes the comments of know-it-all Michael Lombardi, the commentator said to have great personnel insight because he was a front office guy once, seem a bit incorrect.

Please address Michael Lombardi and his weirdly aggressive take that Poles made a huge mistake trading for Sweat on the next Hoge and Jahns.

— CJ (@BearChiDown) December 12, 2023

Yahoo Sports: 23rd

Up two spots and Frank Schwab asks the question everyone has: "If the Bears are showing progress and winning games, why change coaches?"

Pro Football Talk: 23rd

They're up two spots but actually only tied with the Giants for that spot. Mike Florio must owe a favor to the DeVito Family. "Justin Fields is going to make it very hard for the Bears to trade him out for a rookie," Florio wrote.

It's easier at this point for the Bears to do this than to get of Eberflus, because he has an entire defense playing at a top level. Fields' play has been improved but still only middle of the pack in terms of NFL QBs except if you're looking at it from a fantasy football standpoint, which means absolutely nothing.

The Sporting News: 23rd

By saying "The offensive line and defense still need more work for them to be a playoff team next season," Vinnie Iyer leaves off the need for a wide receiver. QBs do not live by one wide receiver alone and Darnell Mooney hasn't gotten it done this year. He's a free agent, besides. They need a huge threat as a No. 2 if they're keeping Fields. They need MHJ.

The 33rd Team: 20th

The Bears have reached a high point here for all polls. Since they fell into the dumpster early in the season, no one has had them rated this high. They're up two spots in Ryan Reynolds' rankings and he says they have been impressive in winning three of their last four but adds, "Perhaps more impressive is that Chicago has played 120 minutes against Detroit, and dominated for 118 of them."

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