CHICAGO -- The Chicago Bears (8-8) live to fight another day.
Despite suffering yet another lopsided 35-16 loss to Aaron Rodgers and the archrival Green Bay Packers, the Bears backed into the seventh and final NFC playoff spot by virtue of the Los Angeles Rams knocking off the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.
The Bears travel to No. 2 seed New Orleans for the opening round of the playoffs. The Saints beat the Bears 26-23 on Nov. 1 at Soldier Field.
The Bears would have preferred to punch their own postseason ticket, but getting there alone carries with it a certain degree of significance.
Chicago has now reached the playoffs two of three years under coach Matt Nagy, which is no small feat when you consider the organization's spotty postseason history. The Bears have only one playoff victory since 2006, and prior to Nagy's arrival in 2018, the Bears spent four consecutive years in the basement of the NFC North.
Nagy's job is probably safe. General manager Ryan Pace can probably breathe a little easier.
The fate of quarterback Mitchell Trubisky is unknown. Trubisky managed Chicago's relatively conservative and balanced offensive attack fairly well versus Green Bay, but the former second overall pick is obviously in a class way lower than the game's elite quarterbacks.
The Bears are sure to be heavy underdogs against New Orleans, but they have won three of their past four and battled Green Bay until the wheels fell off late in Week 17.
It might be a stretch to call the Bears dangerous, but Nagy's team has played mostly resilient football since snapping a six-game losing streak.
At the very least, the Bears should make it somewhat interesting.
QB breakdown: Trubisky played a mostly mistake-free game until a late interception. His best throw came when he heaved a 53-yard bomb to Darnell Mooney. The Bears need more of those deep strikes if they hope to upset the Saints -- although Mooney's status for next week is uncertain after he suffered a fourth-quarter ankle injury.
Encouraging trend: David Montgomery (22 carries, 69 yards and a touchdown) continues to run hard. The Bears had nowhere near the amount of rushing yards as in previous weeks, but the commitment to the run kept Rodgers off the field for long stretches. Really, the only way to get best of Rodgers is to keep him on the sidelines.
Discouraging trend: Where is the pass rush? The Bears had one sack (Khalil Mack) against Rodgers, a recipe for disaster. The Bears better have more than one sack if they want to beat Drew Brees next weekend. Chicago is still waiting on veteran Robert Quinn. The high-priced ($30 million guaranteed) offseason pick up finished the regular season with one sack.
Injury alert: Inside linebacker Roquan Smith left the game because of an elbow injury. Smith is one of the Bears' best defenders, and they missed him sorely in pass coverage. Not having Smith would be a huge blow against the Saints.
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