It didn’t look very good early on, but the Chicago Bears defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 41-17, to take a hold of the final Wild Card spot in the NFC. The Bears now need a victory against Green Bay in week 17 OR an Arizona Cardinals loss to the Los Angeles Rams next week.

The offense started the game off with 10 75 yard TD drive ending with a Jimmy Graham reception TD. The next drive they were able to get down to the 1 yard line after a PI call in the end zone. Then they tried to get cute against a very bad defense. They ran a fly sweep with Cole Kmet at the 1 yard line that lost 4 yards. Then a David Montgomery run for 3 yards. Next they tried a fade to Allen Robinson that was just a little out of the reach and incomplete. Settling for a FG. Twitter was a blaze with scrutiny and confusion. Next drive was a 3 and out, followed by an interception by Mitch Trubisky in the end zone. Luckily the defense forced an INT, and the Bears were able to get a FG before half. 13-10 at the half against a team trying to tank is not at all what was envisioned. However, coming into the 3rd quarter the flood gates opened. 3 3rd quarter TD’s for the Bears. 2 rushing and 1 passing to Jimmy Graham. It was 41-10 after 3 quarters and Nick Foles took over in the 4th quarter. The running game took a minimal step back but still looked good. Trubisky threw an ugly INT, but mostly looked OK overall. David Montgomery eclipsed 1,000 rushing yards and Allen Robinson now has 100 receptions on the year. Final stats: 391 total yards, 263 passing and 128 rushing. 2-2 on 4th down, 6-12 on 3rd down.

The defense looked like Swiss cheese early on, giving up large chunks of yards to Jacksonville. Until the hunkered down and forced an INT before half. Later on a 2nd INT for Roquan Smith really brought out the fire. The Bears defense gave up 279 total yards, 203 passing and 76 rushing. Forcing 2 turnovers, but only 1 sack. Which has been a recurring issue this year. Minimal pass pressure, hanging the linebackers and defensive backs out to dry. The bend but don’t break mentality only works if the offense can sustain the success they have had. There needs to be more urgency in the pass rush all around. Also, they need to stop putting Robert Quinn in coverage on out routes to tight ends. Let’s see if they can get the job done next week against Green Bay and will the Bears into the playoffs.

Cairo Santos is Mr. Automatic having made 24 FG’s in a row and consistently making XP’s. Pat O’Donnell is having a very good punting season and DeAndre Carter may be the PR the Bears have been looking for. A good solid ST unit to have no worries about (knock on wood).