I've been saying it to friends for at least three weeks now. The Bears are the best team in the NFL. It's not Matty Ice and the Dirty Birds, or Tom Brady leading the young Pats; it's Jay Cutler, Devin Hester, Julius Peppers and Da Bears.
The first piece of evidence in the other direction most people will point to is the drubbing that New England put on Chicago last week. The answer is this: clearly, New England knows how to play in the snow (they've won their last 11 games played in the white stuff). What did Chicago do after the game? Lovie Smith rallied the troops, turned around, went outdoors on the road on Monday Night Football, and laid a 40-14 beat down on their division rivals, and possibly ended Brett Favre's career in the process.
This Bears team is built for the playoffs. Matt Forte can run over opposing defenses while the Bears shut down the run and dare an NFC team to throw it in Chicago. Jay Cutler has taken big strides this year and cannot only manage the game, but produce key plays when necessary. And then there's Devin Hester, the NFL's all-time leader in return touchdowns, who can change the game and swing the momentum at any moment.
Since the challenging disaster game against Washington, Chicago has been building steam moving toward the playoffs winning six of their last seven games. The Bears have put themselves in position to host at least one playoff game, if not two, and have claimed their first division title since 2006, a season they went to the Super Bowl.
The game against the Patriots can be thrown out the window. New England isn't nearly as good as they looked that day, and the Bears clearly aren't as bad as they looked that day. On a neutral, enclosed field in February, the Bears are the team that can manage the game and knock a team like New England off. The Bears are the team to beat in the NFL right now, and there may not be any teams up to the task.
