The Bears' Fourth Quarter: So close to being exactly what I expected

I suppose that I am perhaps entitled to feel somewhat disappointed by the Bears closing out the season with consecutive losses when a win in either one of the two final games would have resulted in this year's team winning the NFC North and going to the playoffs in Marc Trestman's first year. The fact that the defense was so abysmal on a legendary level probably spared fans the additional embarrassment of a nationally televised playoff loss. Of course, I'm the guy who picked the Lions to win this year's Super Bowl, so I'm still more saddened that after having such a golden opportunity this season, Detroit somehow found a way to screw it up. 

And so yet another year ends with Green Bay heading to the playoffs while Chicago stays home. There was certainly a lot to like about the improvements that Trestman made to the Bears offense this season,  but there is going to be a lot of much-deserved focus on improvements to the other side of the ball this off-season. The Sunday night blowout loss in Philadelphia was incredibly humbling, but the game-winning Aaron Rodgers TD toss in the season finale was again the result of a defensive lapse. We could sit here and marvel on how very close the Bears to winning the division this season, but truth be told, we should feel fortunate that the team was able to hang around in post-season discussion for as long as they did because of the lackluster competition. In any other year, the division should have been wrapped up in Week 14. 

There's some people who will ask why we should be commending Trestman for going 8-8 when Lovie Smith was fired after finishing 10-6, but I'd still feel like the needle is pointing up for Chicago going forward despite the win-loss record. 

I'm sure to continue harping on how I had said in my pre-season predictions that Aaron Rodgers would get hurt and Detroit would capitalize on a soft schedule. At least I was right on the former. So instead of making the most of Green Bay's struggles this year with almost half the season spent without the star QB, neither the Bears nor the Lions finish atop the standings. As far as it concerns Chicago, I had no expectations that this team would make the playoffs heading into the year and I cannot say I realistically envisioned the team going very far even if it had won either of those last two games. So my disappointment is rather muted, and I'm now looking forward to seeing what players the team brings back for next year. Rest assured, I feel fairly confident that the team will not only be in a position to contend again in 2014, but actually make some noise in those playoffs.