Bears 23, Jags 10: Bears Yawn Their Way to Victory in the Bitter Cold

David Garrard's passer rating hovered around the temperature for much of the game. When the players can see their breath, this is definitely not a good thing. He set the tone early with an interception that was so bad it actually appeared he intended to throw the pass to Danieal Manning. Manning nearly takes it to the house, and the Bears score a touchdown two plays later. So there were only two minutes and 24 seconds in this game where the Bears did not lead.

After a 20-3 halftime lead, the Bears offense was very stagnant in the second half. You actually have to go more than a month to find a second half in which the Bears offense was clicking. This concerns me, but you can use the excuse that it wasn't really needed today.

Also concerning to me -- as a Bears fan -- was the poor production in the red zone, in terms of touchdowns. This isn't going to cut it against good teams, scoring a touchdown only once in four red zone tries.

But hey, a win's a win. The passing game worked well, for the most part, and the defense played a very solid all-around game. Matt Forte broke a record. Anthony Adams played very well in taking over for Dusty Dvoracek, who was lost for the season with torn biceps. Most of the second half was boring, but that's because the game was in hand the Jags just couldn't mount any kind of a comeback.

Moving forward, the Bears get the Saints at home Thursday night (you think the Saints are gonna like that outdoor Chicago weather at night?), and then close with the Packers at home and the Texans in Houston. I believe they will win out, as unrealistic as that might seem. The way things set up right now, though, the Vikings would have tiebreaker over the Bears. That means the Bears either need two Vikings losses -- they do have to play in Arizona and against the Giants and Falcons -- or to sneak into the wild card. Believe it or not, 10-6 may not be good enough in the NFC this year. Those losses where the Bears shot themselves in the foot (Tampa, Carolina, Atlanta) will likely cost them a playoff spot.

As for the Jags, they are just trying to compete admirably as they look to next year. With their offensive line in shambles and their quarterback world's worse than he was last year, they just can't live up to the once-lofty expectations.