Like it or not, and regardless of an outcome Thursday night that has the Bears’ point total in single digits and the Packers’ in the 50s, the Bears already have achieved something meaningful in a season dismissed by many as simply remedial at its outset.
Phil Emery was dismissed as general manager in part because he’d been hired to close the gap between the Bears and Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings. The Bears already have lost to all three within the span of their first seven games, and since the NFL doesn’t grade on a curve - just pass-fail - any sense of progress could be dismissed as illusory.