Lance, look up. All the good teams are above you right now.
How early is too early to start looking at the wild card. In a season where two teams from your own division are ahead of you, it's never too early, and that's why we are here.
The Packers are atop everyone, and the Lions aren't far behind. That leaves the Bears a hefty road to travel to make it back to the post-season, and we're going to keep an eye on it every week for the rest of the season.
Hit the jump to check out the top 10 teams in the NFC, where the Bears sit, and what obstacles could get in the way of the Bears.
Rank | Team | W | L | T | Pct | Div | Conf | Non-Conf | Streak | Last 5 |
1 | Green Bay Packers | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1-0 | 5-0 | 1-0 | 6W | 5-0 |
2 | San Francisco 49ers | 5 | 1 | 0 | .833 | 1-0 | 4-1 | 1-0 | 4W | 4-1 |
3 | Detroit Lions | 5 | 1 | 0 | .833 | 2-0 | 4-1 | 1-0 | 1L | 4-1 |
4 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 4 | 2 | 0 | .667 | 2-0 | 3-2 | 1-0 | 1W | 4-1 |
5 | New York Giants | 4 | 2 | 0 | .667 | 1-1 | 3-2 | 1-0 | 1W | 4-1 |
6 | New Orleans Saints | 4 | 2 | 0 | .667 | 1-1 | 2-2 | 2-0 | 1L | 4-1 |
7 | Washington Redskins | 3 | 2 | 0 | .600 | 1-2 | 3-2 | 0-0 | 1L | 3-2 |
8 | Chicago Bears | 3 | 3 | 0 | .500 | 1-2 | 3-3 | 0-0 | 1W | 2-3 |
9 | Atlanta Falcons | 3 | 3 | 0 | .500 | 1-1 | 3-3 | 0-0 | 1W | 3-2 |
10 | Dallas Cowboys | 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 | 1-0 | 2-1 | 0-2 | 2L | 2-3 |
IF THE PLAYOFFS STARTED TODAY
Division Winners
NFC North - Green Bay Packers (#1 seed)
NFC East - New York Giants (#4 seed)
NFC South - Tampa Bay Buccaneers (#3 seed)
NFC West - San Francisco 49ers (#2 seed)
Wild Card Winners
Detroit Lions (#5 seed)
New Orleans Saints (#6 seed)
Week 7 Best Case Scenarios
Well, for starters, and this should go without saying, the Bears have to keep winning football games. What's particularly nice about the match-up with the Bucs is that it will give them another tiebreaker against an NFC opponent who appears to be on a similar trajectory. The Bears are currently behind in tiebreakers against three of the teams ahead of them. Winning some tiebreakers against others is crucial.
This is a list of the games involving teams ahead of the Bears. The winner that the Bears need is in bold.
Washington at Carolina
Atlanta at Detroit
Chicago at Tampa Bay (by way of London)
Green Bay at Minnesota
Indianapolis at New Orleans
Which do you think is likely? Do you think there'll be some adjustments to these rankings next week?