The Green Bay Packers defeated the Minnesota Vikings 23-10 in Week 16's Monday Night Football matchup, which means the Bears are officially no longer the reigning champions of the NFC North.
Sadly, that title now belongs to the cheeseheads.
It also means the Vikings are locked into the No. 6 seed in the NFC playoffs and have nothing to play for in Week 17's season finale against the Bears. As a result, most (if not all) of Minnesota's key starters will sit out while Chicago fields its cluster of underachieving first-teamers.
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Bears fans wouldn't mind ending the season with a win over the Vikings in the record books, but is it really the best thing for the team? A victory will hurt their already weak 2020 NFL Draft standing and potentially push their second-round pick outside the top 50. It's currently sitting at No. 49.
In addition, there's a chance quarterback Mitch Trubisky will have a high-end performance against a bunch of Vikings backups. The end result will be padded stats and false confidence about his final showing which could spill into the offseason and prevent GM Ryan Pace from adding legitimate quarterback competition to the roster.
Every win matters for a team that's searching for its mojo, even late-season meaningless games. But in this particular year and for this particular Bears team, if finishing 7-9 means a better draft pick and a potential upgrade a quarterback? Go get that L.