I Believe

Before the season began, I thought the Bears could make the playoffs because they played a weak schedule, played in a weak division, had a great defense and had quarterback who was not going to kill you (unlike Jonathan Quinn and Craig Krenzel last year). However, I thought the Bears had no chance of even being competitive in the playoffs because they lacked playmakers on offense. I'm doing some rethinking of my preseason prognosis of the Bears after their 13-3 throttling of the Carolina Panthers, where they got 8 sacks from their defensive line. Yeah their offense isn't that great. Kyle Orton isn't going to throw for 300 yards anytime soon. But he won't have to. As long the defense continues to be as dominant as they have been and Orton limits his mistakes and they control the clock with Thomas Jones and Adrian Peterson running the football, the Bears could go deep into the playoffs. You heard me: DEEP INTO THE PLAYOFFS. You may be wondering what drugs I'm currently on, but think about this: There is no dominant team in the NFC right now. The usual dominant team, the Eagles, are a mess. The Cowboys haven't been exactly lighting it up with their offense and do you think their cement-shoed quarterback Drew Bledsoe would have much of chance against the front four of the Bears. The Giants are still a really good young team and can be prone to letdowns such as their stinker against the pathetic Minnesota Vikings. Tampa Bay has a suspect defense and has Chris Simms at quarterback. The Falcons are are a one-dimensional team on offense and they can't beat bad teams at home like the Green Bay Packers. The Bears have shown they can beat the Carolina Panthers. Finally, the Seahawks are always could for a good choke job even if they currently have the best record in the NFC. Now does this mean the Bears should make it to the Super Bowl or even the NFC Championship Game? Absolutely not. They still have a rookie quarterback, and it's very possible Orton could have a rookie quarterback-esque performance in the wild card round of the playoffs and cost the Bears a playoff win. But unlike their 2001 playoff run, the Bears have a shot to make some noise in the playoffs. Let's hope I haven't jinx them now.