While taking the NFC North champion | Forum

Chicago Bears to the playoffs for the first time in eight years Riley Ridley Chicago Bears Jerseys , coach Matt Nagy has displayed an energetic personality and aggressive mindset throughout his debut.Even with their postseason position all but set, the Bears refused to let up. They kept the rival Minnesota Vikings out of the playoffs in the process.Fueled by that relentless defense and 109 rushing yards and two touchdowns by Jordan Howard, the Bears beat the Vikings 24-10 on Sunday for their first sweep of Minnesota since 2011.“I love winning. I think it’s fun to win,” Nagy said. “So when you win, whoever it is, who cares? Let’s just play ball.”With the 24-0 win by Philadelphia at Washington, the Vikings (8-7-1) watched the Eagles claim the last wild-card spot and went home wondering what happened to their offense after signing Kirk Cousins for $84 million guaranteed to be the franchise quarterback.Tarik Cohen scored the last touchdown on a short run with 7:46 left to cap a 16-play drive for the Bears (12-4), who posted their best regular-season record since the 2006 team finished 13-3 and reached the Super Bowl. They’ve won nine of their last 10 games and, instead of the Vikings will host the Eagles in the first round.“We’re growing. We’re getting stronger by the week,” Nagy said. “This will be a new challenge for us, but we’re excited. We’ll be ready.”The Bears began the afternoon with an opportunity, albeit unlikely, to get a first-round bye with a victory and a loss by the Los Angeles Rams, who wound up beating San Francisco 48-32. Nagy was unmoved by the big early lead taken by the Rams, though, keeping quarterback Mitch Trubisky in the entire game and only holding out the starters who were already previously injured.“Every time we step on the field we want to win,” Trubisky said. “I think it just shows the maturity of this team that we weren’t looking ahead. We weren’t thinking about sitting out. We just do exactly what’s asked.”After spending the majority of the last two decades trying to keep up with Green Bay, the Vikings have overtaken the Packers only to have their other primary rival, the Bears, surge to the top of the division. Most problematic since coach Mike Zimmer took over has been the struggle to move and protect the ball against Akiem Hicks Chicago Bears Jerseys Stitched , Khalil Mack, Kyle Fuller and the rest of that Chicago defense, which established a franchise record for fewest rushing yards allowed in a season.Done in by three-and-outs on their first four possessions, the Vikings finished with only 164 total yards.“They’re pretty good,” Zimmer said, “so give them credit.”THE CLINCHERTrubisky moved the chains four times on third down during the game-sealing scoring drive, completing three passes and running once for a first down. He took a sack by Anthony Barr that would’ve forced a punt from the Minnesota 45, but a holding penalty on Vikings safety Jayron Kearse gave Chicago a fresh set of downs.“The way we played, we don’t deserve to be in the playoffs,” Barr said.FRUSTRATION APPARENTCousins and Pro Bowl wide receiver Adam Thielen were in a heated argument on the sideline after the Vikings had to settle for a field goal at the end of the second quarter. Zimmer almost cost the Vikings a touchdown when he challenged the spot of a reception by Dalvin Cook, who stepped out of bounds right at the marker.Cousins sneaked for the first down on fourth-and-1, only to have the play blown dead by the red flag. Cook was able to get the first down on the next play.Stefon Diggs, who went over 1,000 receiving yards for the first time in his four-year career, caught a short touchdown pass right after that. Otherwise, the crowd at U.S. Bank Stadium was mostly silent when the Vikings had the ball.“They knew what the implications were from this game,” Hicks said, “and we took it from them.”INJURY REPORTBears: With WR Allen Robinson (ribs) already held out of the game, WR Anthony Miller (shoulder) was hurt on the first drive and didn’t return. WR Taylor Gabriel (ribs) was injured a little later, leaving the Bears with only three WRs.Vikings: With CB Xavier Rhodes (groin) sidelined for the game Riley Ridley Jersey 2019 , rookie Holton Hill was in the starting lineup for the third time this season. Hill was targeted often, including a 40-yard reception by Gabriel at the goal line that set up the second TD by Howard despite tight coverage on the difficult catch.UP NEXTBears: Host the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles in the NFC wild-card round of the playoffs next Sunday, 30 years after the “Fog Bowl” game at Soldier Field. The Bears beat the Eagles 20-12 to advance to the NFC championship game that day with little to no visibility.“If we keep doing what we’re doing,” Trubisky said, “hopefully we can do something special.”Vikings: Stay home for the playoffs for the third time in five years under Zimmer. They’ve won two postseason games, both in the division round, in 14 years. You did it. You finished another fantasy football regular season and if you’re reading this, you maybe even got your team into the playoffs. We started with 60 Bears fans looking to conquer the fake world in our Windy City Gridiron Tournament and the playoffs mean we have cut the field down to 30 for the ultimate crown.A quick recap of what is at stake. Each of the five division winners will collect a reward from the OSS-extraordinaire Whiskey Ranger. You’ll have a unique souvenir of your accomplishment to brag to your friends about. The grand prize, however, will be awarded to the division winner who scores the most points in the Week 16 Championship Games. A game within a game. Finally, the plan is to choose the top players, in a super secret formula, to start a champions league for next year’s tourney. I’ve asked each of the 4 staff commissioners to join me and writing a recap of their regular season and give a preview for the playoffs. Once again, thanks to everyone to participated and good luck to all except my opponents in the Payton Division!Payton Division - Jeff BerckesI’ve been very impressed by the competitiveness of the Payton Division all year. The league started to take shape pretty early on as the top half of the league broke away from the bottom half early. As a result, there wasn’t any real drama leading up to this week as the top 6 teams were just jockeying for playoff seeds. I was happy to avoid Trubiscuits&Gravy in the first round as the squad led by Patrick Mahomes and Todd Gurley probably has the best roster in the division. Further, because of seeding, Trubiscuits&Gravy would have to play BigMack Sacks in the second round - a team led by Drew Brees and Saquon Barkley. Yours truly needs to navigate a slightly more reasonable path to the championship game against a Zeke Elliot-led squad and then the amazing tandem of Alvin Kamara & Christian McCaffrey. Despite losing Kareem Hunt and James Conner, I think the Peanut Punchers are up to the task. Championship Prediction: Trubiscuits&Gravy over the Peanut PunchersButkus Division- Lester A. Wiltfong Jr.Congrats to the playoff teams in the Butkus Division, 1) Nathaniel’s Team, 2) Miller Time Womens Riley Ridley Jersey , 3) License to Khalil, 4) Rage Against Shaheen, 5) A Millers Attack, 6) Big Mack Attack. but I don’t see anything stopping the top seeded Nathaniel’s Team. Patrick Mahomes, Adam Thielen, and Ezekiel Elliott has been huge for him all season. The 3rd seeded License to Khalil scored the most points this year, but I’m still picking Nathaniel’s Team to win it all.It’s been a fun year, and seeing one winner crowned from so many divisions will make this league champ stand above the rest. Halas Division - WhiskeyRangerHalas Division has been super competitive this year, living up the the legacy of it’s namesake. As evidence of that, 4 playoff spots were still up for grabs as of week 13, and 7 teams still had a shot at them. You know it’s a competitive league when only 3 teams have been eliminated from the playoffs in week 13. But, competitive as it was, only 6 teams get to advance. Champaign Cubbies (Password is Taco) and Myself (Midway Turf Monsters) earned a 1st round bye, and a bit of breathing room at 11-2 and 10-3 respectively. Nomad30 (Zero Effort), finyards (Polk High Panthers), Bear Nuts (Bear Nuts), and BearAnBullsSoxOhMy! (Mitch N’ Biscuits) will battle it out in week 1, and with 1 win or less separating all these teams (they are all either 8-5 or 7-6), it looks to be a hard fought round.It’s anyone’s guess how this Division, and this Tournament Cheap Riley Ridley Jersey , will shake out between now and week 16... but one thing’s for sure. It’s gonna be fun to watch!Championship Prediction:Bear Nuts over Midway Turf Monsters (Injuries finally catch up to a deep Midway Turf Monsters team, and they drop the most important game of the year in a shoot out between Todd Gurley and CMC).Sayers Division - Patti CurlI’m going to rip off the band-aid. I’m not in my division’s playoffs. I could make excuses—like Yahoo autodrafted my first pick while its leaky-garbage app was “loading” the draft room for several minutes—or make petty observations—like I scored more in total points than two of the playoff teams—but instead I will graciously congratulate the playoff contenders for their fine performances. This weeks match-ups look to be nail-biters. First up, Punching Peanuts—who rode Gurley, Mahomes, and a cast of scrubs into the playoffs—will face ShowMeThemTDs—who’s name refers to what may have a decent pun referring to female secondary sex characteristics the first time I heard it, but this isn’t the first time I’ve heard it. TDs made the prescient decision to start Isaiah Crowell over Derrick Henry and has Aaron Rodgers at quarterback. Calling this game is hard, because Gurley will be useless against the Bears, but Rodgers...eww. I suppose it will be annoying for Packers fans if Rodgers has a career high game the week after being eliminated from the playoffs, so I’ll side with TDs in this one.Hurricane Ditka takes on Bear Jordan with a Rivers/Keenan Allen stack and a side of Alvin Kamara. Bear Jordan has the more balanced squad, and despite having that name without Jordan Howard on his team, I think he pulls this off unless the Rivers Allen connection explodes . I’m not worried about that—I think that Bengals defense is enough games after firing their defensive coordinator to really hit its stride this week.Of our two Byes, Swaggy Nagy sits on top with a wealth of running backs featuring Christian McCaffery, David Johnson, and Philip Lindsay. Zero Dark Ten can rest on his laurels this week knowing he has three Bears starting on his troop—Jordan Howard, Anthony Miller, and Tre Burton.Championship prediction: Bear Jordan vs Zero Dark 10. Watch out Bear Jordan: ZD10-locks and his three Bears will be facing the SF defense in week 16.Ditka Division - Sam HouseholderNormally no one cares about your fantasy team, so this venue is a little different for me but I still hate to share a ton about my team. But I’m too proud not to share: This season has been one of the biggest single turnarounds for a fantasy team of my own. I was slow out of the gate but after starting 4-4 I won the last five in a row to win the regular season and earn the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. Unbelievable. My squad (On a Winning Tarik) is led by Cam Newton, Christian McCaffrey and DeAndre Hopkins.Now, that doesn’t mean my competition hasn’t been stiff. Right behind me in the seeding and also earning first-round byes are BlackDragon1628, led by Carson Wentz Youth Akiem Hicks Jerseys , Adam Thielen, Julio Jones and Melvin Gordon. In the third spot is It’s (A.) Miller Time (Webb Slinger), who has Patrick Mahomes, Rob Gronkowski and Devante Adams. The final bye belongs to Kiss My Butkus (sandersonjared), who boasts Saquon Barkley, Odell Beckham and Stefon Diggs. Is he a closet Giants fan?KMB actually earned a bye despite a losing record (6-7) to show just how tough this division was, living up to it’s namesake.Trubisky and Whiskey (9-4, Dr. Acula III) clashes with Bill’s Elbow Chop (8-5, Bill Cartwright’s Elbow) highlight the round one games. Neither team has wow QBs (Jameis Winston and Josh Allen, respectively) but T&B has Ezekiel Elliott, Tyreek Hill and Phillip Lindsey while BEC has Travis Kelce, Alvin Kamara and Courtland Sutton.I Khalil You (BigPoppa77) and Hold My Ditka (StellarPete22) should also be a good match up with Khalil You featuring Aaron Rodgers, Calvin Ridley and Tarik Cohen while My Ditka has Phillip Rivers, Michael Thomas and Antonio Brown.Thanks again to everyone and good luck in the playoffs. Hit the comments below to discuss your playoff dreams or hit us up on Twitter @gridironborn @opinionbear @wiltfongjr @whiskeyranger29 @samhouseholder