Bears named most likely playoff crashers

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It turns out Mike Ditka isn’t the only person who believes the Bears still have a shot at the NFC North.

ESPN’s Bill Barnwell listed the Bears as the team most likely to crash the playoffs.

Who’s that coming around the bend? The Bears were a league laughingstock after getting beaten down by the Packers, Cardinals and Seahawks as part of an 0-3 start, but much of that run came with Jay Cutler injured. Cutler is back and has been part of the solution this year, having posted a 71.4 QBR since returning to the lineup in Week 4. That’s the fifth-best QBR in the league over that time frame. The vaunted defensive coaching combination of John Fox and Vic Fangio is also beginning to whip the D into shape; the Bears have allowed 20 points or fewer in four of their past six games.

Ditka said he still believed the Bears could win the division even before Chicago beat St. Louis last weekend.

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Winners of two consecutive games, Chicago’s schedule actually sets up pretty nicely. The Bears get the Broncos sans Peyton Manning, and then have games against NFL bottom-feeders San Francisco, Washington, Tampa Bay and Detroit down the stretch.

Their final five opponents are a combined 20-25.

But according to statistics site numberFire, Chicago has less than a one percent chance of winning the division, and just a four percent chance of making the playoffs.

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