Bears climb to No. 5 in the NFC after last-second win over the Buccaneers
The 7-2 Bears beat Tampa Bay 27-24 on a walk-off field goal and climb to the No. 5 seed in the NFC before their bye and a Nov. 22 game against the Saints.
The Chicago Bears head into their bye at 7-2 and in the No. 5 spot in the NFC. They got there by beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27-24 at Soldier Field on Sunday. Lester A. Wiltfong Jr. of SB Nation laid out the updated conference picture after the Sunday night game, and Chicago has one of the best records in the NFC, behind only San Francisco at 7-1.
The win took some work. ESPN reported that Caleb Williams threw four interceptions, two of them on back-to-back possessions that let Tampa Bay score just before and just after halftime and climb out of a 14-0 first-quarter hole. Baker Mayfield ran in a two-point conversion that tied the game at 24 with 2:51 left. On the final drive, Williams found Colston Loveland for 38 yards, and Cairo Santos made a 38-yard field goal as time ran out. ESPN also listed cornerback Tyrique Stevenson with a thumb injury.
A 7-2 team sitting fifth comes down to the seeding rules. Division leaders take the top four spots no matter their record. Minnesota (6-1) leads the NFC North on winning percentage, which puts Chicago at the top of the wild-card group. Carolina, at 3-5, holds the No. 4 seed as the NFC South leader. Behind the Bears, Detroit (6-2) and Green Bay (6-3) hold the last two wild-card spots, so all three wild cards currently belong to NFC North teams. Seattle and the Rams are next at 5-4. Minnesota plays Buffalo on Monday night. A Vikings loss would leave them at 6-2, a game-and-a-half ahead of nobody, and would put the division race within half a game of Chicago.
What it means for the Saints game
Chicago has won four in a row: Atlanta, New England, Seattle and now Tampa Bay. Its only losses are the 9-3 home loss to Minnesota and the 31-7 game at Green Bay. Over nine games the Bears have scored 241 points and allowed 184, a margin of plus-57, and they are 4-1 at Soldier Field. The last three wins came by a combined 19 points, though, and the 59-37 opener at Carolina pads the scoring totals.
After the bye, the Bears host New Orleans on Sunday, November 22, on Fox. The Saints are 3-5 and 11th in SB Nation's NFC list, in the group still chasing a playoff spot. On paper Chicago has the better team, and a home win would keep it ahead of Detroit and Green Bay in the wild-card standings. The bye also gives Williams two weeks to clean up the turnovers that nearly cost them against Tampa Bay. Stevenson's thumb is worth watching as the week goes on.
The Bears have more wins than Carolina and the New York Giants, the teams seeded third and fourth. Their path back into the top four runs through Minnesota, not the wild-card race. They still have a home game left against the Vikings on the schedule after losing the first meeting, and the seeding will be settled in that division race.