The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Bears eyeing bye in NFC playoffs
LAKE FOREST, ILL. » Coach Matt Nagy is saving the big celebrations for later.
He opted instead to spend “quality time” at home with his four sons, ate sushi, consumed “one beverage” and kept his eyes on the prizes still out there after the Bears clinched the NFC North.
One he would love, though it probably won’t come gift-wrapped: A firstround bye.
“You wanna ask me if I want the first-round bye, or the No. 1 seed? Absolutely, give it to me right now,” he said.
The Bears completed their worst-to-first turnaround by securing their first division title and playoff appearance in eight years. Even better, they did it by beating Aaron Rodgers and the rival Green Bay Packers on Sunday. But if they’re going to land a toptwo seed and first-round bye, they still have some climbing to do.
The Bears are third in the NFC behind the South champion Saints and West champion Rams with two games to play. They visit San Francisco this week before closing the regular season at Minnesota.
“It’s OK to celebrate and enjoy last night and yesterday,” Nagy said on Monday. “But we have bigger things that we’re trying to achieve. And I think that’s going to be the biggest challenge for us where we’re at is understanding, OK, we accomplished a good goal but that’s not enough.”
The Bears (10-4) simply need a strong finish and some help to catch New Orleans, which entered Monday’s game against Carolina leading the NFC at 11-2. The same goes for the Rams (11-3), though the Bears helped themselves by beating Los Angeles on Dec. 9. Chicago is also two games up on NFC East leader Dallas.
“There’s the ability for us to be, basically, four different seeds,” Nagy said. “Some are slimmer than others. But take that into account, it makes it easy. You go play, and you play to win and nothing changes. You literally control what you can control.”
The way things play out this week could determine whether Nagy keeps his foot on the gas or rests players — particularly those who are banged up — when the Bears visit Minnesota. But if seeds are at stake heading into the regular-season finale, he likely will go full speed.