If the Chicago Bears' 100th season is going to include a playoff berth and run at a Super Bowl, as many predicted it would in the preseason, they'll need to even up their record to 5-5 Sunday night against the Rams in Los Angeles. If they fall to 4-6, roll the credits.
Sadly, if the experts are proven correct, it's on to 2020.
According to NFL Pick Watch, 86 percent of experts polled are taking the also-underachieving Rams in Week 11. It'll be a strange and twisted battle between two first-round quarterbacks — Jared Goff and Mitch Trubisky — who will compete for the right to be called less of a bust by the end of the game.
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The Rams are favored in Vegas, too (-6), making the Bears the ultimate underdog.
Bears fans would love to say an upset is coming, but it's hard to find any player on the roster who'd spark that kind of confidence. The quarterback has been terrible, the offensive line will need divine intervention to stop Aaron Donald, and Khalil Mack has gone into early hibernation. And let's not forget Eddie Jackson, who apparently has forgotten what it means to make a play on the ball.
Add a less-than-100% healthy David Montgomery and a tight end group that's down its "top" two players and the odds stack higher and higher against Chicago accomplishing their second win in a row.
If the Bears can somehow pull off the upset, they'll face the Giants and Lions in Weeks 12 and 13 in what should be two games they can win. A four-game winning streak isn't out of the realm of possibility, but it all depends on their ability to keep Goff in his pit of miserable play on Sunday night.