Struggled with a stomach virus this week so the content was a bit lighter than usual. Three final thoughts on today’s game:

1. It would be hard to make an argument for the Bears 2013 postseason hopes should they lose at home today. Even though the game has no tiebreaker implications, they can’t fall deeper below the Lions in the division or the Niners/Panthers in the wild card race and expect to make up ground on the road over the next month plus.
2. What if Josh McCown puts together another four brilliant quarters executing the offense? What if the sample size grows from six quarters to ten quarters and a nearly game-saving drive against the Lions? At what point does the conversation switch from “this guy really is a good caretaker of the offense” to “this guy really runs the offense well” or even “maybe this is how the offense should look”? Nobody has been as big a Cutler supporter as myself over the years but at a certain point data is data.
3. If the Bears defense can’t win a match-up like this at home – no run game, turnover-prone/flaky passing game, punt heavy offense – they have very little shot to win the battles coming further down the schedule. I have three expectations from the defense today. (1) Jon Bostic continues to evolve into the Bears future middle linebacker. (2) Zack Bowman plays a few solid quarters at corner before, of course, getting hurt. (3) Torrey Smith is limited over the top by a resurgent Chris Conte.