We're now 6-3, but.........

[Mikefive]

It's easy to ask the question... When's the last time we were 6-3? And get really excited. (And we should be.)

However, who have we beaten?

6 wins, against...
Seahawks (4-5)
Cardinals (2-7)
Bucs (3-6)
Jets (3-7)
Bills (3-7)
Lions (3-6)

3 losses, against...
Packers (4-4-1)
Dolphins (5-5)
Patriots (7-3)

Obviously, we haven't beaten anyone who is .500 or better. And we get the Vikings (5-3-1) this week with only 3 sub-.500 opponents in our final 7 games. If we continue to follow the trend, that puts us 9-7 at season's end.

This week is a HUMONGOUS game at home as it gives us a chance to change what has been a perfect trend this season. If we win, it gives us a 1.5 game NFC North lead at 7-3 and having won 4 straight with a 2-1 division record.

Honestly if that happens, I'll actually get REALLY excited about our Bears as I'm sure we all will.

But even at 6-3, I'm having fun, but not getting too whipped up. Coming into this season as I've stated here many times, it's a "growing" season. New coach in his 1st head coaching year. Young, inexperienced QB in new system with a bunch of new targets. Good defense. I predicted we'd end at 9-7 and stand by that.

I think it's easy to look at 6-3 and have delusions of grandeur. So unless we beat the Vikes this week (I won't be picking us), anyone who is head over heels about us being a certain playoff team should cool the expectations with a bit of perspective, starting with... Who have we actually beat?

Unless we knock off the Vikings this week, that is. Then all bets are off.

[EricTighe]

But those three teams we have lost to were only by 11 points. So who cares who we beat and don't we are in the games and that is a plus compared to turning off the game at half.

Plus the Seahawks are better then there record. They hung with the Rams all day.

[Atkins&Rebel]

You were there and saw the way we lost those games. You know who was hurt and missing and who just had bad games, and who made bad calls.

You should know better than to just throw out the general "stats show we haven't beaten anyone yet" post. Unless we lose in convincing fashion to the Vikes, then all bets are off and you can say "I told you so!"

Otherwise, I'm on the "we can beat anyone" train, until we jump a track!

[Bears Whiskey Nut]

The NFL has A LOT of parity right now, except for a few outliers on either end. Any team, can beat any other team, on any given day. Look at the Browns and the Falcons yesterday. Beating a 3-5 , or 4-4 team doesn't mean we didn't beat a decent team. It's HARD to win in the NFL, and especially now with most of the teams being fairly even. You also need to look at the way we are starting to beat some of these teams. The game is over by halftime. Like completely. The Bucs, The Bills and The Lions were a done deal before the break. We were up on the Pats and Packers by double digits at half, but found ways to lose those games (against the two best QB's in the league I might add). This is a good Bears team.

[docc]

^^^^ This..agree

[HurricaneBear]

I think it's easy to look at 6-3 and have delusions of grandeur. So unless we beat the Vikes this week (I won't be picking us), anyone who is head over heels about us being a certain playoff team should cool the expectations with a bit of perspective, starting with... Who have we actually beat?

Im sorry but this is just BS and your a better poster than this. If you want to look at things in a negative light, or is it “realistic”, go right ahead. Not everyone has to temper their expectations like you do. It’s a game that I, and others, watch for enjoyment and don’t get too caught up in. I go into every game hoping we win and if we don’t oh well it wasn’t our week. If we do win, great. It’s all for fun and I have no control over the product on the field so why get too up or down over it? It makes no sense to me so thats not how I watch the Bears. If you need to guard yourself then i’m glad it works for you. But don’t sit here telling people they need to “cool the expectations” and try to justify your own negativity. Everyone here cheers for this team in their own way and their is nothing wrong with that.

[mohner1]

Vikes haven't beaten anyone with a winning record either, hell, they got trounced by the BILLS. They are still considered a quality team. The difference is they get the benefit of the doubt because of last year. Bears were terrible, so we still have to prove it, which is fine with me. We'll prove it, week in, week out.

Bears beat the Vikings and national media will talk about how much worse the Vikes are this year and whats wrong with them.

[Umbali]

Well, you have to play who is in front of you. Bad teams lose the games they should win. We are winning those mostly and lost at least on GB that noone thought we had a chance in hell of winning.

We do need to take care of GB later this year and Minn at least once..a split would be ok. Rams will be tough. That being said part of this whole process is learning how to win.

[Mikefive]

I think it's easy to look at 6-3 and have delusions of grandeur. So unless we beat the Vikes this week (I won't be picking us), anyone who is head over heels about us being a certain playoff team should cool the expectations with a bit of perspective, starting with... Who have we actually beat?

Im sorry but this is just BS and your a better poster than this. If you want to look at things in a negative light, or is it “realistic”, go right ahead. Not everyone has to temper their expectations like you do. It’s a game that I, and others, watch for enjoyment and don’t get too caught up in. I go into every game hoping we win and if we don’t oh well it wasn’t our week. If we do win, great. It’s all for fun and I have no control over the product on the field so why get too up or down over it? It makes no sense to me so thats not how I watch the Bears. If you need to guard yourself then i’m glad it works for you. But don’t sit here telling people they need to “cool the expectations” and try to justify your own negativity. Everyone here cheers for this team in their own way and their is nothing wrong with that.

Perhaps my comments were too bossy. Sorry if that's what you got out of it. Of course, everyone has a right to his/her opinion and I didn't mean to suggest otherwise.

Of course, I go into every game hoping we win decisively. But after the final gun goes off and I've had time to ponder what happened in a more emotionless way (and some game days I don't post for a day, so I can cool down), I try to be as objective as I can be and examine my team rationally. This topic resulted from that.

Some fans live off of the emotional high as their approach to supporting their team. My message was to those people to look at all the facts and perhaps choose a more balanced approach in order to avoid devastating disappointment the emotional approach brings when things go wrong, because I don't think the next 7 games will go as well as the last few have.

But maybe I'm wrong. And I did allow for that, when I suggested that with a win next week, all bets are off.

[EricTighe]

Well my emotional approach is Playoff run. If disappointed I will go get some Prozac. Or most likely a couple of kegs of beer until the pain subsides.

SuperBowl or bust baby.

[alexwilkins]

We’re a 1st place team with a 4th place schedule. I’m not complaining.

[Mikefive]

Well my emotional approach is Playoff run. If disappointed I will go get some Prozac. Or most likely a couple of kegs of beer until the pain subsides.

SuperBowl or bust baby.

Consider me a public servant, aiming to decrease your need and costs for drugs and alcohol.

[Moriarty]

It's easy to ask the question... When's the last time we were 6-3? And get really excited. (And we should be.)

However, who have we beaten?

6 wins, against...
Seahawks (4-5)
Cardinals (2-7)
Bucs (3-6)
Jets (3-7)
Bills (3-7)
Lions (3-6)

3 losses, against...
Packers (4-4-1)
Dolphins (5-5)
Patriots (7-3)

Obviously, we haven't beaten anyone who is .500 or better. And we get the Vikings (5-3-1) this week with only 3 sub-.500 opponents in our final 7 games. If we continue to follow the trend, that puts us 9-7 at season's end.

Interesting observation.
That hadn't registered with me.

[wab]

I don’t understand why fans feel the need to explain away success. Is it so it doesn’t sting so bad if the rug gets yanked out from under you?

[Mikefive]

I don’t understand why fans feel the need to explain away success. Is it so it doesn’t sting so bad if the rug gets yanked out from under you?

Doesn't that seem like a pretty rational defense mechanism for a fan of the Chicago Bears?

[46Blitz]

For what's it's worth, they flexed the game to Sunday night this week. Think someone in the NFL thinks the Bears have some potential.

[Boris13c]

allow me complete your subject my way

We're now 6-3, but.........

..... we have 7 games to go so nothing is a given

4 of the games left are against division opponents which I believe will be the most important in determining the Bears fate

I am confident 10-6 or better will be the end regular season result

[Pagan]

I appreciate your slant here Mike, even if I don't necessarily agree with it.

There's a TON of anti~Bears, anti~Trubiski media sewage out there because, unfortunately, humans love them some drama.
We're living in a post~Jerry Springer/tabloid society & quite frankly... the Bears have been bad for a # of years. So some of the level of doubt is certainly expected/warrented.

This is the heart of the whole Grossman/Orton.. Pro/Anti~Cutler debates.
A tendency to knee~jerk react.
Whether it's toward defending hope & optimism or critical realism.

Balance, and in general, is always a work in progress.

My advice is to Hope for the absolute best & expect the rational result.

The Bears are currently 6~3... This current record SHOULD (realistically) be better than what was expected before the 1st game of the season.
All media prediction had the Bears season an average of around 6~12.

I'm betting, as this team's Best fans, we could look back and average our (obviously biased) season predictions at 8~8 or 9~7.

Things have looked MUCH better than previously anticipated... so yeah, our expectations/hope for this season is now obviously better than an 8~8 season!

Every year 1 team goes from worst to 1st..why NOT our Bears?

Let's continue to enjoy the ride.. get crazy & have Super Bowl dreams. Get (momentarily) caught up in the excitement!
At the same time though... remember that you're not a 1 year wonder fan. This young team WAS recently built & built to win More than 1 year.
We're ULTIMATELY still looking for growth & improvement THIS year = everything else that happens this year is a bonus

[Mikefive]

I appreciate your slant here Mike, even if I don't necessarily agree with it.

There's a TON of anti~Bears, anti~Trubiski media sewage out there because, unfortunately, humans love them some drama.
We're living in a post~Jerry Springer/tabloid society & quite frankly... the Bears have been bad for a # of years. So some of the level of doubt is certainly expected/warrented.

This is the heart of the whole Grossman/Orton.. Pro/Anti~Cutler debates.
A tendency to knee~jerk react.
Whether it's toward defending hope & optimism or critical realism.

Balance, and in general, is always a work in progress.

My advice is to Hope for the absolute best & expect the rational result.

The Bears are currently 6~3... This current record SHOULD (realistically) be better than what was expected before the 1st game of the season.
All media prediction had the Bears season an average of around 6~12.

I'm betting, as this team's Best fans, we could look back and average our (obviously biased) season predictions at 8~8 or 9~7.

Things have looked MUCH better than previously anticipated... so yeah, our expectations/hope for this season is now obviously better than an 8~8 season!

Every year 1 team goes from worst to 1st..why NOT our Bears?

Let's continue to enjoy the ride.. get crazy & have Super Bowl dreams. Get (momentarily) caught up in the excitement!
At the same time though... remember that you're not a 1 year wonder fan. This young team WAS recently built & built to win More than 1 year.
We're ULTIMATELY still looking for growth & improvement THIS year = everything else that happens this year is a bonus

Actually, post-Mack trade, the average prediction here was 9-10 wins, leaning toward 10 IIRC.

[Boris13c]

I'm betting, as this team's Best fans, we could look back and average our (obviously biased) season predictions at 8~8 or 9~7.

mine was 10-6 (which you can look up), which I am sticking with ... but now leaning towards 11-5

so screw all the negative nancy's

[crueltyabc]

I don't even think the Vikings are very good. I think we've played some bad teams and some average teams. The only good teams in the league are Saints, Chiefs, and Rams and we're only playing one of them before the playoffs so basically no matter what happens this season our record is "suspect" or something?

We have a good offense, a great defense, and bad special teams. 6-3 is about right

[Mikefive]

Bears are 3 point favorites at home.

[thunderspirit]

Bears are 3 point favorites at home.

Meaning Vegas sees the two teams about even, as home is usually good for +3.

[Middleguard]

Bears are 3 point favorites at home.

Meaning Vegas sees the two teams about even, as home is usually good for +3.

Meaning Chicagoans have more money to waste than Minnesotans.

[southdakbearfan]

I would expect the line to move towards even by game time.

MN, as much as I hate them, have a lot of talent. Their downfall is their offensive line. Good defense, good receivers.

Could be a tough game.

[docc]

Will be a tough game..but competitive..
Should be fun Sunday night..

We got us a TEAM now..

[JMHJD2017]

6-3

I damn good!

We got defensive ends for days baby! Were gonna be very competitive. The Linebacker crew is gud too

[Pagan]

I appreciate your slant here Mike, even if I don't necessarily agree with it.

There's a TON of anti~Bears, anti~Trubiski media sewage out there because, unfortunately, humans love them some drama.
We're living in a post~Jerry Springer/tabloid society & quite frankly... the Bears have been bad for a # of years. So some of the level of doubt is certainly expected/warrented.

This is the heart of the whole Grossman/Orton.. Pro/Anti~Cutler debates.
A tendency to knee~jerk react.
Whether it's toward defending hope & optimism or critical realism.

Balance, and in general, is always a work in progress.

My advice is to Hope for the absolute best & expect the rational result.

The Bears are currently 6~3... This current record SHOULD (realistically) be better than what was expected before the 1st game of the season.
All media prediction had the Bears season an average of around 6~12.

I'm betting, as this team's Best fans, we could look back and average our (obviously biased) season predictions at 8~8 or 9~7.

Things have looked MUCH better than previously anticipated... so yeah, our expectations/hope for this season is now obviously better than an 8~8 season!

Every year 1 team goes from worst to 1st..why NOT our Bears?

Let's continue to enjoy the ride.. get crazy & have Super Bowl dreams. Get (momentarily) caught up in the excitement!
At the same time though... remember that you're not a 1 year wonder fan. This young team WAS recently built & built to win More than 1 year.
We're ULTIMATELY still looking for growth & improvement THIS year = everything else that happens this year is a bonus

Actually, post-Mack trade, the average prediction here was 9-10 wins, leaning toward 10 IIRC.

You're probably correct on that, but I I may have underestimated the mean of our predictions.

Either way.. it still speaks to my point AND why I Love our little slice of Chicago Bears heaven!

Most of the members here can ultimately make independent, logic based evaluations... all while still being admittedly biased with the love of this team

[Umbali]

So heres the thing for me. I will be really pissed if we lose the Vikings game. If at the start of the season you told me we would be a wildcard team I would have been very happy. NOW tho, I want the DIVISION!

[Knuckles]

Will be a tough game..but competitive..
Should be fun Sunday night..

We got us a TEAM now..

Agree but man it's so hard to not fall into the normal Bear fan mode thinking that we will blow it somehow. It's been like that for so long I forgot what it felt like to be confident in the Bears LOL. I mean hell I was 16 the last time I felt confident and pride in the Bears... I'm 48 now

Well, it feels good to actually want to watch the games instead of just watching them because it's the Bears.

I think they have a legit chance to win out with exception to the Rams game which I believe will be a close game but maybe next year will be the time we can be at that level.

It's a good time to be a Bear fan.