Despite their loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday Night Football, the Chicago Bears will still have an opportunity to clinch the No. 2 seed in the NFC in Week 18.
Chicago’s path to the second seed in the NFC is simple. They either need a win over the Detroit Lions or they need the Washington Commanders to beat the Philadelphia Eagles. If either of those things happen, the Bears will snag the second spot.
Bears need win or Eagles loss to clinch No. 2 seed in NFC
In order for the Eagles to clinch the second seed, they would need a win and a Bears loss, as the Bears possess the tiebreaker between the two teams courtesy of their Week 13 victory. In the scenario that the Eagles get the second seed, Chicago would finish with the No. 3 seed.
The top seed in the conference will be determined by the Week 18 matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and 49ers. That winner of that game will be the No. 1 seed in the NFC and secure a bye in the first round of the playoffs.
Securing the No. 2 seed would mean that the Bears would get at least two home games in the postseason – in the Wild Card Round and the Divisional Round, should they make it that far. It also means that if the top seed was to lose in the Divisional Round, the Bears could potentially have homefield advantage in the NFC Championship if they advanced that far.
Considering the fact that the Bears finished 5-12 and well outside of the playoff picture in the NFC last season, the fact that they’re even in the conversation for the second seed this season is pretty impressive and worthy of acknowledgement. It’s certainly not something that many people expected.
Head coach Ben Johnson has done an excellent job in his first season in Chicago as he has already ended a four-year playoff drought. But getting to the playoffs is just half of the battle.
Now that they’ve made it, the Bears will look to secure their first postseason win since 2010 and potentially even make it to their first Super Bowl in nearly 20 years. Securing the No. 2 seed could help in that regard.
