NFL Power Rankings, Week 8: Eagles collapse in fourth quarter during loss to Panthers

11. Chicago Bears

After all of that hype from early on in the season when they looked like one of the top teams to beat in the NFC, the Chicago Bears have now lost two tough games in a row to put themselves at the bottom of the NFC North with the Detroit Lions at 3-3. It was one thing to lose a tough game in overtime during Week 6 against the Miami Dolphins, but Sunday’s loss to the New England Patriots was a painful reminder how this team may still be a work in progress, which is fine.

Chicago was viewed as one of those teams that seemed capable of making the leap to being contenders during the 2018 season after all the improvements from the offseason along with the potential showed at times last year. However, in order to be viewed as a top contender, a team like the Bears needs to come up on the winning end of contests like Sunday instead of losing by single digits.

The fact that Chicago has lost three games by seven points or less shows how much growing this team still has to do, but this doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be viewed as a contender. If anything, it’s up to the Bears to turn things around before it’s too late to prove to the rest of the league they do in fact have what it takes to compete with some of the best, including the Patriots.