Chicago stuns Philadelphia with a Black Friday breakthrough that suddenly changes the NFC conversation.QQ
Already in Week 13, high-profile teams made statements about what they are and will be this season. Some good, some bad.
The Detroit Lions, Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens might not be the championship contenders they hoped to be. Maybe the Green Bay Packers are. The Dallas Cowboys and Cincinnati Bengals don’t feel they’re dead yet.
The Chicago Bears might have made the biggest statement of all: They’re not going anywhere in the NFC North race.
The Bears got their best win of the season and held onto first place in the division by beating the Philadelphia Eagles 24-15. The Eagles have their issues, particularly on offense, but they came into the game with an 8-3 record with most of the same roster that won a Super Bowl a little more than nine months ago. And the Bears were the far superior team. Chicago never trailed, and it never seemed like the Bears were in any danger of losing.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CHI | 7 | 3 | 0 | 14 |
| PHI | 0 | 3 | 6 | 6 |
The Bears have two head-to-head matchups left against the Packers, who are 8-3-1. Now that Chicago has beaten the Eagles, the Bears should feel confident that they can beat the Packers too. A team with four straight double-digit loss seasons is in great shape to make the playoffs.
It’s a big transformation in coach Ben Johnson’s first year on the job.
Bears get a big win
The Bears had a great record but not everyone believed in their staying power.
The Bears had only one win against a team that had a record above .500 going into the Week 13 games, and that was a three-point win over the Steelers at home last week. They had a series of close wins and a point differential of -3 for the season.
There won’t be much skepticism about the Bears after Friday. They played much better than the Eagles in Philadelphia. They pounded the Eagles defense with their run game to the tune of 281 yards. The defense shut down the Eagles, though Philadelphia fans would gladly tell you that says more about everything that is wrong with the Eagles this season.
From the first half on, it was clear that the Bears were the better team. Philadelphia had just two first downs in the first half. The Bears defense is getting healthier in the secondary and that made a difference. Philadelphia’s offense got almost nothing going, though that has been a season-long trend for the Eagles.
And the Bears were content playing a ball-control game, gashing the Eagles on the ground. That’s part of Johnson’s excellence as a play caller.
Caleb Williams puts the game away
While most of the attention on the Bears’ hire of Johnson focused on what he would do for Caleb Williams, Johnson’s offenses when he was offensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions were devastating in large part because they could run the ball on anyone.
The Bears are turning into that type of offense. They had 142 rushing yards in the first half alone. Early in the fourth quarter both D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai had 100 yards rushing. The Bears hadn’t had two backs with 100 yards in a game since 1985, when Walter Payton and Matt Suhey did it.
