Bears Have to Enjoy How Championship Sunday Turned Out

Bears fans enjoyed the result of the NFC championship game in particular and championship Sunday in general.  

At least if the explosion on social media was an indication, they did.

The obvious reason is they beat the NFC champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers and did so even without the quarterback they used to make their three-game "run" at season's end to get into the playoffs. And the Packers lost to the Buccaneers in the NFC title game. 

Then again, the Bears lost twice to Green Bay and how does that make them any closer to playing in a meaningful game again?

There is some logic behind thinking the Bears look a little closer to a title game after what happened—very little logic, but there is some.

The Bears defense did hold Tampa Bay to 19 points back before wearing down later in the season thanks to their own offense's incompetence and also losing Roquan Smith, Jaylon Johnson and Buster Skrine due to injuries later.

The strength of the Bears is defense and while Tampa Bay got over the hump by bringing in Tom Brady this year, it was really defense that played the vital role in getting the Buccaneers into the title game and eventually winning it.

Tampa Bay's defense was able to overcome Tom Brady throwing three interceptions, which is a rarity.

So it is possible to win with defense, as Tampa Bay proves. They were the No. 1 run defense in the league, sixth overall. Their offense wasn't bad either, ranked seventh, but they couldn't run the ball well at all. Even the Bears were better at running this season than Tampa Bay, which ranked 28th. 

So if the Bears continue to have trouble with their own running attack, they can also take heart in what Tampa Bay accomplished without one.

Another positive for the Bears and negative for Green Bay is the Packers have been in two straight NFC championship games. It's entirely possible it becomes more difficult for the Packers to reach such lofty status next season. Making it to a conference title game more than two years in succession during this century has been rare, unless you're the New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs.

Also, with the loss Aaron Rodgers is now another year closer to retirement. He will turn 38 next season. Age didn't seem a factor for Brady on Sunday, but then again Brady has six rings and maybe a seventh while Rodgers has only one.

Finally, there is that whole Matt Nagy and Kansas City thing still. The Bears run the offense he learned under Chiefs coach Andy Reid, and here they are back in the Super Bowl for the third straight year. 

It was the same offense used the previous year by the Philadelphia Eagles to win the Super Bowl under Doug Pederson. 

So someone using the Chiefs offense has been in the Super Bowl three of the last four years.

Then again, the Bears don't quite have the quarterback and it seems in this case it's the man and not the system which makes the great offense.

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