Most thought and rightfully so that this week's bye week, could be at a most welcome time for the Bears. With many problems that need to be looked at and corrected and many injuries being nursed it seemed welcome, but things did not go good for the Bears.
There were loads of games that directly affected the Bears standings in the NFC play off race. Had any of these teams: San Diego, Kansas City, Denver, Jacksonville, New York Jets and Arizona stepped up, the Bears spot in the playoff race would have been improved. As it were none of these teams won.
Not to say a few teams didn't help out the Bears a little. Cleveland's defeat kept Seattle at 4-4, likewise did Tennesse beating Carolina.
Here is the NFC race as it sits and does not take into consideration tie breakers.
Dallas (7-1)
Green Bay (7-1)
New York Giants (6-2)
Detroit (6-2)
Washington (5-3)
Tampa Bay (5-4)
Carolina (4-4)
New Orleans (4-4)
Seattle (4-4)
Chicago, Philly and Minnesota all sit at 3-5, while Atlanta and San Fran both have 2 wins.
In the end the fact that Carolina and Seattle lost, might have saved this weekend from being disastrous, it certainly didn't help any.
To add to that, Chicago's two NFL all time record holders, Vashar and Hester, who both have missed FG returns of 108 were bested by a punk from San Diego who had one for 109 3/4.
And one other blip of good news, Chicago's linebacker's coach, Hardy Nickerson, has made the official Hall of Fame initial list.