00:00I always like to play the win-lose scenario, right?
00:02Well, we'll start with Chicago, Craig, right?
00:04Three-point favorites tonight.
00:05Win, keep Chicago two back in Minnesota.
00:085-0 Vikings hosting 2-4 Indianapolis.
00:11They're a complete mess.
00:12Vikings are at home.
00:13You got to consider, you know, Minnesota's almost a touchdown favorite.
00:17The Vikings are going to win that.
00:18So the win would keep Chicago two back.
00:20Okay.
00:21A loss, though.
00:22You know, listen, there's 10 games left after tonight.
00:25I get that.
00:26But a loss would drop Chicago three back, and they lost to the Vikings already.
00:31So they really would be three-and-a-half back.
00:33They get to play them again, but that loss was in Chicago.
00:36So they got to play Minnesota in Minnesota.
00:39Not saying the division race is over, but, boy, it's tough to overcome a three-game deficit.
00:45Really, again, three-and-a-half would only tend to play.
00:48It's almost like do or die if the Bears want to win the division to win this game tonight.
00:53Yeah, I think so.
00:55The playoffs, not even close because of the rest of the NFC being horrible.
00:59But, I mean, the NFC is just, I mean, it's really hard to find two or three teams that
01:03you really trust.
01:04But, you know, for the division, Scott, yeah, I think that that's reasonable to think.
01:08It would almost require, you know, rolling off five, six in a row, including a game against
01:13Minnesota.
01:14And I think most people look at the Vikings and say that they're not fraudulent in terms
01:19of a playoff team.
01:20And they're not fraudulent in terms of maybe even winning a division.
01:23But I have a suspicion that we're going to get to December and January.
01:27And they'd be a very light home favorite, I think, in the first game that they played.
01:31And I think a lot of people would probably take the other side, no matter who they played,
01:34because they just don't look that good.
01:36It's just their defense has really kept them in games.
01:39They've been so dominant that they haven't needed an offense.
01:41That changes in the playoffs.
01:42I think you need to score three touchdowns in the playoffs to win.
01:45But I think that's a fair point that you make.
01:47If the Bears were to lose tonight, the division would be an extreme long shot.
01:52But I look at that entire division, and, you know, certainly I would not expect every team
01:57in the division to make it.
01:58But it is turning out maybe to be the best division in the NFC at this point.
02:02I mean, the West is definitely not it.
02:04The South is definitely not it.
02:05And the East wouldn't even have to talk about it'd be lucky to have one team make it.
02:09And one team has to make it from the East.
02:11And that's it.
02:12So North, without a doubt, best in the NFC.
02:16And then, by the way, I probably don't even, I think the Vikings are probably the second
02:19or third best team in the NFC, in the division.
02:22But they do have the best record right now.
02:24You could realistically, right now, if the playoffs were to start today, and obviously
02:27they don't, and there's a long ways to go.
02:29But right now, all four teams in the NFC North make the playoffs.
02:33That's where all the wildcard teams come from.
02:35That's how bad, like even Seattle.
02:37Yeah.
02:37You know, three and three.
02:39And then Seattle's got, you know, Kansas City, albeit at home.
02:41I mean, they could fall to three and four.
02:43You know, even if the Rams win, they're three and four.
02:46And at this point, I can't count on the Rams beating anybody, right?
02:49If they can't beat Arizona at home, you certainly can't automatically say they're going to beat
02:53the Raiders in Las Vegas.
02:54So the NFC, Craig, we could have literally, I brought this up on other shows, we could realistically
03:00have not only one, but two teams with losing records win their respective divisions in the
03:08NFC East and the NFC South.
03:10That's never happened in the NFL before.
03:12Yeah.
03:13I mean, I would agree with the East.
03:15I do like Carolina.
03:16I think they, I think last week was the pushover, not the top, but the pushover that for me,
03:22like them, them, I don't care them going on the road and beating anybody the way that
03:25they did to Philadelphia last week.
03:27And I know Philadelphia was playing with a ton of guys out.
03:30I do think Carolina has separated themselves from the rest of the division.
03:33I would anticipate, and I'm guessing their win total right now on, on the betting totals
03:37is probably nine and a half, which, which seems about right, or nine, which gives them
03:4010 wins that gets them in.
03:42But yes, the East, you're a hundred percent right.
03:44I mean, Scott, we're going down to the last week of the season.
03:48I'm going to guess with somebody in the NFC East having seven wins.
03:51And if they win, winning the division, meaning getting to eight and getting to eight and nine.
03:56I think, I think that's going to happen this year.
