With a chance to sneak into the playoffs, what the Chicago Bears need now
is a Christmas presence
When Cairo Santos was needed to double the Chicago Bears’ lead from three points to six with a minute remaining Sunday, he approached his 42-yard field goal attempt the same way he had his previous five kicks that afternoon — with the calm of a bomb squad technician.
“I ask for opportunities to come out and show my importance,” Santos said.
Just like every other kick, he reminded himself: Snap. Hold. Boom!
Right down the middle.
“I try to keep it simple,” Santos said. “Less thinking and more doing. When I take that approach, the better I typically kick.”
It’s a mindset.
When the Bears offense put together its plan for Sunday’s game with the Minnesota Vikings, running back David Montgomery knew he was going to get another opportunity to demonstrate the impressive resurgence of the rushing attack.
The Vikings were committed to keeping two safeties deep for much of the game, intent on keeping the Bears’ passing game in front of them.
Said quarterback Mitch Trubisky: “They’re asking you to run the football.”
Asked and answered. Montgomery took the ball
“Make it count,” he said. “Let’s not regret giving me that many carries.”
It’s a mindset.
When the Bears defense needed fourth-down stops Sunday — fourth-and-1 in the second quarter, fourth-and-1 again in the fourth quarter — they dug in and grew determined not to budge.
Bilal Nichols stuffed Dalvin Cook for no gain. Brent Urban harassed Kirk Cousins into a frantic incompletion.
Two Vikings turnovers on downs.
Even on another shaky and somewhat concerning day in which the Bears gave up 407 yards and 27 points, the defense found a little something extra in crucial situations. “Just attacked,” linebacker Danny Trevathan said, “and made plays.”
The Bears weren’t about to leave Minnesota with their eighth loss in the past 11 games. Collectively, they focused. They made it count. They attacked and made plays.
It’s a mindset.
And it’s now a mindset these Bears must take to sunny Florida, into a crucial Week 16 date with the Jacksonville Jaguars, with a chance to keep their playoff hopes alive.
They need an intense focus on the now, attention to detail in every Zoom meeting and an investment in every practice rep. They need to dial in on a comprehensive game plan to dominate the Jaguars.
There’s no reason for the Bears to revisit that exhausting
It’s also a trap for anyone inside Halas Hall to spend even a minute this week imagining a potential win-and-in season finale with the Green Bay Packers on the first Sunday of 2021. There’s critical business to take care of before that showdown is even possible.
To that end, Bears coach Matt Nagy isn’t worried about his team’s Week 16 mentality — at all. Nagy is not anxious in the least that this holiday week will become a distraction, not concerned that his team will look at the Jaguars’ abysmal 13-game losing streak and succumb to a human-nature urge to prematurely decompress.
Nagy got some timely help this past week in keeping his team’s attention. The New York Jets and Cincinnati Bengals, two downtrodden teams with a combined 23 losses, pulled off majors upsets of the Los Angeles Rams and Pittsburgh Steelers, respectively, important reminders that the road to the playoffs can become a minefield.
Said Nagy: “You can see what it means to play in the NFL.”
Nagy has also kept his own messaging with the team consistent, making sure to differentiate between realistic goals (like earning a wild-card berth) and actual achievement. To that end …
“We haven’t done anything yet,” he said. “So that’s the way we approach this thing. We fought through that six-game losing streak. We’re currently on a two-game winning streak. But that means nothing.”
Nagy wanted his players and coaches to separate disappointment and opportunity and reminded everyone that the Bears still had a chance to reach the postseason if they could steady themselves, dig deep and pick off four consecutive wins.
Two down …
“But,” Nagy said, “you can’t get to four without three.”
Trevathan and Allen Robinson. Eddie Jackson and Khalil Mack. Akiem Hicks and Cody Whitehair. Charles Leno. Trubisky. And now a new emerging leader in Montgomery.
“With the way he’s playing,” Nagy said, “his leadership skills are coming out through his actions. Guys are seeing that.”
Montgomery’s quiet confidence and competitive toughness are exactly what the Bears need as fuel for these final two games.
So what if the Bears do as expected and get to three wins in a row? What if they follow and get to four? Why has the idea of this team reaching the postseason become so conflicting and so confusing for so many?
Viewed in its entirety, 2020 has been majorly disappointing for the Bears. The last 16 months have been unsatisfying as a whole. No one has forgotten that on a high-voltage and enthusiastic weekend in June 2019, at that jam-packed
Remembrances of past glory seemed to foreshadow triumphs soon to come. There was a sincere belief shared that weekend by coaches, players, executives, fans and past legends that these Bears were entering a four- or five-season window in which they could be legitimate Super Bowl contenders.
Instead? Since that exhilarating pep rally, the Bears have lost as often as they’ve won, a run-of-the-mill 15-15 stretch that has put this passionate football city through the wringer.
Letdowns. Failures. Too many defeats. So many empty promises.
That’s partly why so many people around Chicago are having trouble embracing this recent playoff push, as real as it has become.
Still, none of those justifiable sentiments should matter to the Bears themselves, to the players and coaches, a group who is wisely choosing to compartmentalize.
The first 14 games? All the incredible highs and extreme lows? Ancient history.
That finale next week with the Packers? Not even remotely important. Yet.
With a little more than a week left in the regular season, the Bears readily acknowledge that their 7-7 record and current playoff chances are unsatisfying, not exactly where they’d hoped to be. But they can also understand how to put all their attention on their immediate future.
Christmas presence, remember?
That mindset demands that they focus first on Thursday’s practice and Friday’s, then Saturday’s walk-through, and finally Sunday’s must-win affair with the Jaguars.
Now it’s about taking care of business.
“This is what you play for,” Trubisky said. “You play for an opportunity to get into the playoffs.”
After Sunday’s victory over the Vikings, Trubisky praised the combination of excitement, camaraderie, intensity and focus he felt in the locker room.
“We had a bad streak going there,” he said. “But we knew if we stuck together and battled as a family and just kept leaning on each other that we could make a run. Now we’ve put ourselves in a position to do so.”
What the Bears do with this opportunity remains to be seen. But they are certain they have the right approach and the right collection of people to give this a swing.
“No matter what has happened this season, in the locker room guys have held their composure,” Robinson said. “Guys have tried to get better. Guys have tried to do everything necessary to put ourselves in this position.”
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