Bear Digest

Why Suggestion for Long Bears Postseason Run Isn't So Shocking

Rich Eisen's prediction about the Bears making a run in the playoffs isn't so wild considering one fact about his past analysis.

Gene Chamberlain

Caleb Williams taking the Bears a long way in the playoffs isn't a new idea by NFL analyst Rich Eisen.
Caleb Williams taking the Bears a long way in the playoffs isn't a new idea by NFL analyst Rich Eisen. / Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
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It's a bit early for pick revisions but in Rich Eisen's case it really isn't much of a revision to call the Bears a team that will surprise in this postseason.

On his Roku podcast, Eisen's prediction Tuesday called for the Bears to make it within one game of the Super Bowl.

"The one more sleeper team of 2024 is the Chicago Bears making it to the NFC championship game," Eisen said on his podcast. "So what you're talking about, and why I put them there, is because that's one

rung up the playoff ladder than C.J. Stroud made last year. And if you're talking about strides by a rookie quarterback, and that is the bar that C.J. Stroud set last year and unicorn-type stuff, if Caleb Williams can do that and the defense can play the way that they played and the offense can start cooking with Caleb Williams, the Bears making the NFC championship game is the sleeper team that I'm adding to this mix."

This might not seem like a shocker considering how much publicity the Bears are going to draw for being on Hard Knocks in August.

"Nobody is sleeping obviously on the Bears," Eisen said. "They're on Hard Knocks. Everybody is going to be talking about them, but making it as far as I just threw out there, I don't think people are talking about that."

A shocking prediction by Eisen? Hardly.

In this case, it's not even the first time Eisen said something like this. And he's hardly known for being a cheerleader type.

It was Eisen who already suggested the Bears can make the Super Bowl. A month and a half ago on his podcast just before Bears minicamp he floated this idea of a run to the Super Bowl out there. He made it clear then that he felt Williams was a QB capable of this as a rookie.

"I'm thinking more like, you know, (Ben) Roethlisberger," Eisen said then. "I'm thinking more of like (Dan) Marino when they started (out). I'm saying the best-case scenario for the Bears is this kid takes them to the Super Bowl."

So no one should be shocked by Eisen's suggestion of the NFC championship game for the Bears.

In fact, the consistency of his thought needs to be mentioned here. If the Bears really do deliver, Eisen will look like a prophet because he's been saying this now for a month and a half.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.