CHICAGO _ In the corner of the play sheet Matt Nagy uses on game days are the words "BE YOU" in bold, capital letters, a reminder from the Bears coach to himself to stick to his philosophy while directing the offense.
It certainly would be appropriate if Nagy found space on the laminated card to add the word "FINISH" because that's exactly what his Bears need to do. They have led in the second half of all three losses, twice in the fourth quarter, and at 3-3 they will need to finish strong in the remaining 10 games for a shot at the playoffs.
"What does that mean _ finish?" Nagy said. "Finish is easy to say, but is that just in the game? Is that on Sunday when you start playing? OK, 'Now I have to turn the finish button on, I have to finish.' No, the finish button starts throughout the week. You have to practice and always finish in practice. You have to watch tape, and don't half-ass it. Watch it the whole way through and finish it. There are little things. It has to be done in the preparation part, and that translates to the field. If you don't do it in preparations, that won't happen on the field. So the communication part from me to the players, from me to myself, is we all have to have that finish mentality."
The Bears likely need to win seven of their final 10 games to reach the postseason for the first time since the 2010 season. Ten victories does not guarantee a playoff berth _ the 2008 Patriots went 11-5 and stayed home _ but since the current playoff format with four division winners and two wild cards from each conference was adopted in 2002, 45 of the 54 teams to have a 10-6 record made the playoffs.
At 9-7, it's a much greater crapshoot. Twenty teams that have finished 9-7 reached the playoffs in the last 16 years, but nine of those were division winners, and the Bears might be hard-pressed to win the NFC North at 9-7. Remember that if the Packers and Vikings finish with the same number of victories as the Bears, they will win a tiebreaker because the Packers and Vikings tied in their first meeting of the season.
Nagy surely wants to keep the focus week to week for his young team, but why not glance ahead at the remaining 10 games, ranking them from most difficult to least. For what it's worth, the Bears' three victories have come against teams that are a combined 7-12 while their three losses have come versus teams that are 12-7-1. The remaining 10 teams on the schedule have a 31-33-3 record.
