The Bears are bad.  They’re awful.  They’ve lost five games this season and in three of them they outplayed their opponent significantly.  The other two are the poorest defensive efforts of the last twenty-five years.  The Bears make more mistakes than any other team in the league while seemingly lacking in all fundamental areas of the game.

And they’re one game out of the wildcard race.  Whatever the reason – and there are many – that is a fact.  The Chicago Bears are one game out of the wildcard race.  They are tied with San Francisco and Carolina at 4-5.  They are chasing the Giants, Philadelphia, Green Bay and Atlanta at 5-4.

I’m not making an argument for the Bears making the playoffs.  No Bears team has turned me off more than this one.  But Atlanta is playing the Giants this week and one of those teams is getting a fifth loss.  So if the Bears were to defy what will certainly be long odds and beat Philadelphia at home on Sunday night, they would find themselves right in the thick of the playoff race.  (They also have a home game against the Packers left.)

Do I believe the Bears are going to make this happen?  No.  I won’t be able to come up with a single reason the Bears should beat the Eagles.  But the NFL stars have aligned and allowed this porous excuse for a ballclub to have a tenth life.  The question is will they take advantage?  The answer has been “no” for three years.