Dallas Cowboys (6-6)
at
Chicago Bears (6-6)
Dallas Cowboys at Chicago Bears
The Cowboys are looking like a very limited team this season. So what does that say about the entire NFC East division that they play in, when the Cowboys also happen to own sole possession of first place?
Philadelphia should be better. After all, they were Super Bowl champions just two years ago, and won a playoff game last season, to boot. But they keep losing games that they really have no business losing. Washington is on a bit of a roll, but they were horrendous through most of the season, and were out of the playoff picture since before mid-season. And then there are my Giants, who have the longest active losing streak in the league now, and have one of the worst records at 2-10. Like Washington, they have been out of the playoff picture since well before the midway point of the season.
That was not always the case, though. The NFC East was once the toughest division in the league, winning seven Super Bowls in a ten-year span, between 1986 and the 1995-96 season. The Giants won Super Bowls XXI and XXV, Washington won Super Bowls XXII and XXVI, and Dallas won Super Bowls XXVII, XXVIII, and XXX. They were so good that one team that very likely would have won the Super Bowl under normal conditions never even went to the Super Bowl. That would be the Philadelphia Eagles, who had the number one ranked defense against both the run and the pass in 1991. They also had one of the most dynamic quarterbacks in Randall Cunningham, adding some unpredictability and potential explosiveness. Yet, they were the weakest of those four teams, when you look at it from the vantage of actually advancing in the playoffs and winning titles.
So, it is a bit sad to see how far the NFC East has since fallen. This has to be the very worst division in the league right now, with four decidedly mediocre teams. It almost feels like one of those seasons when the division winner (of the NFC East this year) would normally not even qualify for the playoffs, except that they happen to be in a division that makes them look better than they are.
Indeed, the Cowboys hardly look like a powerhouse kind of a team right now. They are losing a lot more games than they should, and just seem incapable of taking advantage of Philadelphia’s current slide. On the one hand, I kept wondering how the Eagles kept blowing chances to finally catch up to Dallas while the Cowboys are on this losing streak. But then again, the ‘Boys have also failed to capitalize on Philly’s losing streak to finally take a commanding lead to become the clear frontrunner in the division.
Meanwhile, the Bears also should probably be better. They like those NFC East teams I just mentioned, can hearken back to a time when they were a powerhouse team. That 1985 team was probably the best NFL team that I have ever seen, hands down. And during that Ditka era, the Bears were regularly NFC Central (not NFC North) division champs, and always seemed to be in the playoffs. They, too, have fallen a long way since then.
But the Cowboys are more likely to reach the playoffs, again, because of the division that they play in. The Bears are in a tough NFC North division, one in which Green Bay leads at 9-3, and Minnesota is closely trying to keep pace at 8-4. That leaves the 6-6 Bears, who enter this game with the same record as Dallas, unlikely to seriously contend for a playoff spot, even if they beat Dallas.
It is a problem that more and more people see. We have already seen teams with losing records qualify for the postseason by virtue of playing in a weak division. And while I am not predicting that the winner of the NFC East will have a losing record, I am certainly not ruling it out as a possibility, either.
The Cowboys look and feel cold entering this game. Maybe they will straighten out their issues and get hot, but they have not shown much in the way of evidence in that regard. Something just does not feel right, and they just are not clicking. Other teams seem to find ways to take advantage against the defense, and the offense just seems incapable of finding any solid rhythm on a weekly basis.
In the meantime, Chicago has come alive in recent weeks, and are looking like they are playing more like they should have been playing since the beginning of the season. This was the Bears team that we expected to see after last year’s impressive 12-4 division championship season, rather than the struggling team that we saw for most of this year.
So, as they enter, it seems to me that Chicago has numerous advantages, not least of which is home field in likely very frigid Windy City, and in a night game to boot. Dallas is not the warmest city during the winter, but it certainly also does not compare with Chicago. That might adversely impact the Cowboys offense, and should suit the Bears more, as they are clearly far more used to it. Plus, that defense can play a physical game, and they should be able to produce a win against the struggling ‘Boys in this one.
My pick: Chicago
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