For many of the 2025 season, it was simple to double down on doubting the Bears.
Right here they’re, locked right into a top-3 convention seed and elevating the NFC North champion flag, squaring up with probably the most dominant staff within the NFC this decade Sunday evening and I nonetheless cannot.
Cannot get previous the protection that could not defend a two-score lead towards J.J. McCarthy.
Cannot get previous the sensation the Packers will win a attainable third assembly.
Cannot dismiss the concept that it may not matter what number of factors the Bears quit if that is the Caleb Williams we expertise in his first NFL postseason.
For 4 quarters at San Francisco, Williams largely seemed like the subsequent Mahomes, Josh Allen, Aaron Rodgers or some mixture therein.
We all know Matthew Stafford and the Rams usually are not a staff you’d invite for wild-card weekend. However if you’re stack-ranking quarterbacks within the convention playoffs as of this morning, who has it higher than the Bears within the NFC?
We’ll wait.
Do not promote us Jalen Hurts. Did you watch the continued pattern of toe-dragging offense from Philadelphia within the second half at Buffalo?
Solely the weird and unlucky name to go for the win at residence after dominating the Eagles within the second half by Payments coach Sean McDermott saved Hurts from being roasted within the postgame scrum.
As of this writing, Jordan Love is not even OK’d to take part in a playoff sport. And if his line stays ragtag happening the highway in two weeks, this can be a troublesome promote.
Baker Mayfield? Pfft. Examine that fourth-quarter completion chart towards the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
Panthers QB Bryce Younger hasn’t graduated from the child’s desk. Fifty-four passing yards on Sunday in a attainable hat-t-shirt-and-trophy sport is embarrassing.
If Seattle has to win on the highway to succeed in the Tremendous Bowl, g’luck to the Seahawks’ protection making an attempt to maintain up. We all know by now Sam Darnold higher be at residence for the most important video games of the 12 months or Seattle is cooked. We will rewind to Sunday at Carolina, when Darnold stepped in it with each ft and had the Panthers on the verge of fielding a punt down 17-10 earlier than Jaycee Horn’s brutal facemask penalty flipped all the fourth quarter.
This is not the primary rodeo with Sam, He is Not.
Did you see Darnold within the Week 18 regular-season finale final season? The Lions whiplashed Darnold and the Vikings and his 43.9 completion share in that loss despatched Minnesota to play the Rams (in Arizona as a consequence of wildfires) within the wild-card spherical. Darnold was sacked 9 occasions, intercepted as soon as and the Vikings by no means invited him again due to it.
We’re open to the likelihood that Brock Purdy, aided by the crutch that’s Christian McCaffrey, is the perfect of the passers nonetheless going within the NFC. He had greater than 295 passing yards for the third sport in a row and accounted for 5 whole touchdowns for the second consecutive sport.
He is doing it with out a reputable No. 1 huge receiver. Tight finish George Kittle did not play Sunday evening.
And Purdy has been Tremendous Bowl good earlier than.
For the primary time since 1998, the playoffs are set to start in two weeks with no Manning, Tom Brady or Mahomes.
Possibly in the end it is Allen’s time.
Or are we about to see the times passed by pantheon of NFL quarterbacks re-racked with the daybreak of a brand new period?
We. Cannot. Wait.
