Playoff simulator projects Bears to stomp Packers on Saturday

Football’s not played on spreadsheets or simulators, but it’s always nice to see your team get picked to win a big game. If ESPN’s latest prognostication comes true, Saturday could be a fun night at Soldier Field for the Chicago Bears and their fans.

The Worldwide Leader’s bold predictions for the NFL’s playoff race has the Bears getting revenge on the Packers in resounding fashion in their Saturday tilt and setting them on their way to the playoffs—though not fully punching their ticket just yet.

In the weekend simulator, the Bears “stomped Green Bay” by a score of 31-10, “displaying their threat level to a national audience and increasing their playoff odds to 95%.” The only reason it doesn’t go to 100%: the model has the Lions thrashing the Pittsburgh Steelers 47-10, keeping the Lions in the hunt and setting up a potentially critical Week 18 matchup between the two teams.

But let’s just bask in the Packers bit for a second and imagine what that would look like.

First of all, crushing the Packers to that extent probably isn’t realistic. Even without Micah Parsons, they’re still a very good team, and they had the Bears on the ropes at Lambeau Field early without much effort. Aside from one game in which he got hurt and had to leave early, Jordan Love has never had a big problem with the Bears defense and hasn’t come close to being held to 10 points yet.

Plus, there’s a possibility the Bears will be down Luther Burden III, putting additional strain on their passing game, and also have D’Andre Swift struggling with a groin injury.

That said, the Bears clearly figured something out against the Pack in the second half of that game two weeks ago: they can run the ball down Green Bay’s throat and keep their offense off the field. While that won’t necessarily net them a tremendous amount of points on its own, it could certainly pave the way for a win. If Swift can’t go, the Packers will have the pleasure of having to tackle Kyle Monangai for 60 minutes. Have fun with that.

Plus, thanks to the Rams loss last night, a win would put the Bears back in pole position for the No. 1 seed in the NFC if they beat Green Bay, though they’d likely need to win out to fend off Los Angeles for the first-round bye.

If the Bears do end up with the No. 2 seed, an interesting possibility arises that Chicago will have to face Green Bay a third time right off the bat, which this playoff simulator implies. (Do yourself a favor, and don’t look at that score.)

But first thing’s first: let’s get the Packers out the paint at Soldier Field on Saturday and keep control of the North. If they do, they’re almost assured to make the playoffs. Once they get in, anything can happen—especially if they get to play more than one game at home.

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