Will Ryan Pace be back in 2021? If he’s not, will Ted Phillips have a say in hiring his replacement?
Has Matt Nagy done enough to save his job? And if Nagy is back, should Mitch Trubisky be back, too? Is Chuck Pagano on the hot seat? Will the Bears find a way to keep Allen Robinson in Chicago?
And: Should a playoff appearance really change anything about the future of the Bears?
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These are all fair questions. My colleagues and I have already addressed plenty of them here at NBC Sports Chicago.
But for the next few days, can’t we just talk about the game?
Or games, I guess, since the Bears can make the playoffs not only with a win over the Green Bay Packers, but with a loss by the Arizona Cardinals to the Los Angeles Rams.
We’ll have plenty of time to get back to those big-picture questions about the future of this franchise whenever the Bears’ season ends – be it Sunday evening, next weekend or later into January (or February!).
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But the Bears – a team that lost six games in a row earlier this year – enter Week 17 with a chance of making the playoffs. That’s nuts. The Bears played some awful, unwatchable football earlier in the season. It made you want to turn off the TV and go find something else to do in the middle of a soul-crushing pandemic.
And never once, while watching particularly awful losses to the Titans and Vikings and Packers and Lions, did I expect the Bears’ final game of the regular season to have playoff implications.
So no matter the circumstances or how you feel about the 2020 Bears – hey, they’re playing for a spot in the postseason. It’d only be their sixth playoff appearance since 2000, and would be maybe the most improbable one of that meager total.
“It’s real,” Nagy said. “For us, to be able to fight back to this point right now, because as we know three to four weeks ago it wasn’t looking like this. Our players and our coaches have battled. We’ve all now together put ourselves in the position where you win a football game, last game of the year, and you’re guaranteed to be in the playoffs if you win. That part’s exciting.”
So here are the questions I’m focusing on this week.
Can the Bears keep a lid on Aaron Rodgers and the Packers’ offense? Can Pagano find a way to minimize mismatches against Davante Adams? Can the Bears pressure Rodgers without blitzing? Will Jaylon Johnson play?
And: Can the Bears’ offense score 30 or more points for a fifth game in a row – this time against a Packers defense that’s started to hit its stride in December? Can Robinson win matchups against Jaire Alexander, or get matched up with a lesser cornerback like Kevin King?
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I’m glad to be able to focus on things like that. It’s a good distraction from the pandemic as this horrible year comes to an end. And there will be plenty of time in January and February and March and April to get into the future of the Bears.
For now, though, join me in just focusing on the present. Because the present – a possible playoff appearance – is pretty exciting.
The Chicago Bears. Exciting. In 2020 (ish). Let’s just enjoy that while it lasts and worry about the other stuff later.