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Hopefully by now you’ve all done your part as Americans and voted. Whether your candidate wins or not, we need to come together as a country and be the best America we can be.
And that’s about as political as I’m going get on this fantastic evening.
The last time we saw our beloved Chicago Bears, they were taking it to the NFC North leading Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football. Two of the three teams ahead of Chicago in their division lost on Sundays and a 3rd, the Detroit Lions, already lost to the Bears back on week 4.
From a record standpoint, there are only 2 teams with a worse record than the 2-6 Bears and the other 2 win team, the Jacksonville Jaguars, beat the Bears on week 6.
Are the Bears the 4th worst team in the NFL?
Let’s take it to the Power Ranking "experts" and find out what they think.
Here's how a few reputable sites around the interwebs have the Bears ranked. The skinny if from each site unless other wise noted with a "~ Lester" in which case that's me chiming in.
| PUBLICATION | THIS WEEK |
LAST WEEK |
THE SKINNY |
| WCG* | 26 | 28 | The Bears are getting healthier, and the rest of the division looks really iffy right now. We go up a bit for both reasons, but until we win some more games, we are staying near the bottom of the heap. |
| SB Nation | 27 | 28 | They have the Buccaneers at 26, so this Sunday's match-up in Tampa Bay will be a big test for the Bears! ~ Lester |
| PFF | 26 | - | Pro Football Focus has the Bears' offense at #15 and their defense at #19, so are their grades for special teams pulling them down? I really don't understand what those guys do over there. ~ Lester |
| NFL.com | 28 | 28 | It was a bye week in Chicago, which was pure genius from the schedule-makers. Why ruin the city's week-long party celebrating the Cubs' World Series win with the inevitable Bears letdown? You don't want some poor dude throwing up an Italian beef sandwich on his Jerome Walton Rookie of the Year T-shirt when Cutler pulls a Cutler. Hey, Jay looked damn skippy in Week 8, though. It doesn't take Leon Durham's glasses to see that this Chicago team is better than it was one month ago. Next up: at Tampa Bay. That's a win. Da Bears. |
| ESPN | 29 | 29 | 31st: Despite a team with offensive talent in Alshon Jeffery, Jordan Howard and Zach Miller, Chicago ranks 31st in points scored (16.4 PPG). 2004: If the Bears' offense continues to struggle, they could post their lowest offensive ranking in a season since 2004, the season they finished dead last (14.4 PPG) in the league. |
| CBS Sports | 29 | 29 | They need to use the rest of the season to decide if Jay Cutler is their guy next year. He sure looked like it against Minnesota. |
| USA Today | 29 | 29 | After beating Vikings before their bye week, this team could be on cusp of a hot streak ... mainly because they play in Tampa on Sunday. |
| Yahoo | 29 | 29 | Jordan Howard's rushing yards, the past five games: 111, 118, 34, 22, 153. So he might get 125 on Sunday. He might get 25. |
| FOX | 27 | 27 | The last time the Bears played, they looked great with Jay Cutler playing well in his return. Unfortunately, that was two weeks ago and they hit their bye in Week 9. They're still among the worst in the league, but at least they looked capable of winning their last time out. |
* The reason Ken's WCG rankings usually drop a day later than most is he actually watches all the games.
What do you guys think about the Bears' ranking this week?