Chicago Bears At Risk For Significant Draft Order Drop With a Week 17 Win
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There isn’t much to be said for the Chicago Bears‘ season. It’s been a disappointment to say the least, and the Bears have long been eliminated from playoff positioning. So when relevant teams are battling for playoff spots and home field on Sunday, the Bears will be battling for something different: Draft positioning.
The way it currently sits, the Bears hold the seventh position in the 2015 NFL Draft. They have a remote chance to jump up to the sixth spot. The first tiebreaker that the NFL uses to break ties for draft positioning is strength of schedule. The team with the easier schedule receives a better draft position. If the Bears lose and the Washington Redskins win against the Dallas Cowboys, the Bears would move up into the sixth position.
However, a win against the Minnesota Vikings could throw a major wrench in draft positioning for Chicago. Several teams currently sit at 6-9: the St. Louis Rams, New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons, New York Giants and Vikings. If four of those teams lose and the Bears beat Minnesota, the Bears could potentially jump every team but the Rams and fall all the way to 11th in the draft.
The last thing the Bears need after this terrible season is to fall out of the top 10 in the draft. I’m never one for teams losing games intentionally, and obviously, with Marc Trestman’s decision to start Jay Cutler over David Fales, the Bears are clearly going for the victory; but a win does nothing but hurt the Bears for 2015.
Again, I’m never one to encourage teams to purposely lose; it hurts the integrity of sports, but it’s worth noting that a win could have a negative impact on the Bears’ draft positioning. Sadly, as we enter Week 17, the Bears’ pathetic season has been reduced to this.
Bill Zimmerman is a Chicago Bears writer for www.RantSports.Com. Follow him on Twitter, like him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google.
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