Over their past four games, the Chicago Bears have won four times, firmly re-establishing the team as one of the legitimate contenders of the NFC. Over their next four games, they hope to keep that momentum going while facing the entire AFC West division. Starting on Sunday against the San Diego Chargers, the Bears begin a four-game span during which they'll play each of division's teams.
And lucky for the Bears, nobody in the AFC West has really played well this season. Most of you have probably heard about the struggles of Philip Rivers by now. The Chargers have lost four straight games. The Denver Broncos are winning games essentially without a real quarterback these days. The Kansas City Chiefs had a nice little winning streak there earlier in the year, but at this point they don't have Matt Cassel and they're bad enough that they lost to Denver last week.
And then you have the Raiders, a seemingly solid team but also one that recently lost to Denver and Kansas City in consecutive weeks. It's reality, it's a division of four mediocre teams, and the Bears have the treat of playing each one in four consecutive weeks.
Which means that Jay Cutler and company have to be absolutely salivating. They've been playing some absolutely fantastic football lately, against some very good teams from Detroit, Philadelphia and Tampa Bay. Now that they're lined up with a schedule that essentially includes one more game against a good team, Week 16 against Green Bay, it's presumably hard for them not envision another postseason appearance in 2012.
For more on Sunday's game, check out Windy City Gridiron, SB Nation's Chicago Bears blog, and Bolts From The Blue, SB Nation's San Diego Chargers blog. Stay tuned to SB Nation Chicago for more updates.