NFL Power Rankings Wild Card Weekend Edition: Focus on The Chicago Bears
Published by Rob Belote on January 7, 2011
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
Doing power rankings is tough, but because of the limited number of games on an NFL schedule, it’s one of the only ways to get an idea for which teams are better than others, accounting for factors other than just their records.
At my site—www.GuysNation.com—I do a weekly power ranking of all 32 NFL teams. It’s a hugely subjective process in which I account for a team’s strength of schedule, margin of victory, good wins and bad losses.
Now that the playoffs are here, that doesn’t mean the power rankings have to stop. There’s still the final opportunity to rank the teams who didn’t make the playoffs, as well as the first of a couple more chances to rank the teams involved in the postseason bracket.
So where did the Chicago Bears rank?
As one of the playoff teams, they are definitely in the top 12. From there, I took far more into account than just the teams’ records. I also consider how they fared against other teams currently in the playoffs, their recent record, and how they match-up against in the first round of the playoffs.
Having won the NFC North with one of the top two records in the conference, Chicago doesn’t have to play in a Wild Card Weekend matchup. Does that mean they should automatically be ranked in the top eight?
I’ve had some people tell me that the Bears deserve a top-four spot in the rankings given that only three other teams get first-round byes.
Did I buy into either of those bits of logic? The Steelers were 7-1 down the stretch, but they were only 3-3 on the season against fellow playoff teams. Where amongst the final 12 did Chicago end up?
For the complete rankings and analysis, check out the article on my website, www.GuysNation.com! Unlike Power Rankings you see elsewhere, your comments could help persuade me to rank your team better after Wild Card Weekend!
You also might like the dueling picks article for the NFL Wild Card Weekend on GuysNation.com, a feature where the games this weekend are predicted by 5 different guys, sharing their perspectives, started by another author on my site (who just happens to be a LIFELONG PHILADELPHIA EAGLES FAN, so you KNOW he’s got a high opinion of his opinion!).
Read more Chicago Bears news on BleacherReport.com
