Bears Mailbag: Taking a deep dive into the Wild Card Weekend showdown with Philadelphia

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Is it misguided to be bummed out about Sunday's 52-and-Sunny forecast? There's such a rich history of cold weather playoff games in Chicago and for the first one in almost a decade, the conditions are just going to be downright pleasant. I'm not saying that I want a Tuck-Rule-Game level blizzard but actually that's exactly what I'm saying. For this Wild Card edition of the mailbag, we asked you all for your actual concerns, and the responses were just as wide-ranging as crowdsourcing Twitter tends to be:

ChicagoFan24 (the internet) - Eddie Jackson status for the game?

This one's easy! At this point it's a pretty safe bet to assume he's playing. He was a limited participant in Thursday's practice, though even that was an improvement from the day before. The Bears have preached extreme caution with injuries all year, though it does feel like Jackson's ankle sprain was pretty bad. It'll be publicly called day-to-day all weekend -- I could even see the dreaded 'gametime decision' -- but the guess here is that he plays. Plus:

Charles (Ocean Pointe, HI) - Do you feel it's overrated to talk about inexperience in the playoffs?

Not personally, no. Things get weird in the playoffs. Blake Bortles and the Jaguars put up 45 on the Steelers in Pittsburgh. 28-3 is a thing that exists. I don't think, however, that Eagles being Super Bowl champs or the Bears being pretty green means that Philly has some huge edge. Of course there's value in postseason familiarity, but the Bears should and do still expect to win on Sunday. Most of these Bears are in uncharted waters, and it'll be fascinating to see how the Bears respond, but this is still a 12-win team. That's why on this week's Under Center Podcast, I mentioned that my key to the game was Matt Nagy. If the coaching staff can keep people prepared, they'll be fine. 

Cynv (face of the sun) - 1. Will Bears defense pick Foles off? 2. Who has a bigger day: JHoward or Tarik?

Foles has thrown an interception in 4 of the 5 games he's played in, so I think some of the talk around how secure he is with the ball can be overstated. The Bears have 27 interceptions and had at least one turnover in every game except for the season finale in Minnesota. They *should* pick him off once or twice. 

As for Question 2 - I think it's Tarik Cohen. The Eagles struggle with pass-catching backs, and Cohen is just the more dynamic player - not to mention features more prominently in the Bears' offense. The line of scrimmage is probably the Eagles' strongest on-field advantage, so it wouldn't shock me if Howard has a quiet day. They will need Howard's skillset at some point if they want to make a real playoff run, but Cohen's the better matchup on Sunday. 

Declan (the internet) - How many of this roster’s players would make an all-time Bears fun team? So many fun dudes

I'll say Tarik Cohen and Akiem Hicks. Cohen is a ball of energy, not to mention Club Dub's bouncer. Hicks is the vocal leader on a defense that has multiple Pro Bowlers at each level. There's also something immensely enjoyable about the team's smallest and largest player being two of their most athletic.

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