The Chicago Bears are coming off of an emotional win on the road against the Green Bay Packers on Monday night football and now the team sits in a three-way tie with the Detroit Lions and the Pack atop the NFC North division and after hitting a midseason slide, Marc Trestman and company are firmly back in it.
The Bears started off the season hot with three straight wins to begin the season, but then the trouble started, as they hit a skid of three losses in four games and now they finally changed it around with a win over the Packers at Lambeau Field. The team needed the win badly, as they had been 1-1 in the division and that first win was by one point against what is now a 1-7 Minnesota Vikings team and moving forward they have three more divisional games to go. The Bears are not doing any one thing particularly well, but they are doing a good job of giving their quarterback time in the pocket and that is a huge change from when Lovie Smith was there.
New coach Marc Trestman turned over the offensive line, with every starter leaving apart from the center and the team added Kyle Long in the draft and he is looking like one of the best last picks of any team. The Bears played well at the end of things on Monday night and of course the injury to Aaron Rodgers helped as well. The team now has the chance to make things happen in the NFC South and that means another win is needed this weekend against the Detroit Lions on Sunday.
The two teams will be playing for the second time this season and this time around the game will be at Soldier Field and that could turn the tide for the Bears. Josh McCown has looked good in two games since taking over for Jay Cutler and the win against the Packers was his first true start after coming in against the Redskins when Cutler was injured. The team has a tough schedule the rest of the way, but it isn't anything impossible and the toughest games will be coming up after home matchups against the Detroit Lions and Baltimore Ravens.
The team has to play four of the next five after that game on the road and in the middle of that the team is home against the Dallas Cowboys on Monday night football for their second trip on ESPN this season. The team will play the Rams and Vikings before the Dallas game and then they face off against the Cleveland Browns and the Philadelphia Eagles after that. The game against the Green Bay Packers in the final matchup of the season in Week 17 now has some added significance as it could help decide the division.