Bears win the NFC North: Caleb Williams does not care who you are

Why the Bears win the NFC North

The Chicago Bears win the NFC North. They are not in first place today. The Minnesota Vikings are 6-1, the Bears are 6-2 and the Detroit Lions are 5-2. Neither Minnesota nor Detroit finishes ahead of Chicago.

Start with the scoreboard. Chicago has 214 points, the most in the division. Detroit has 203, Green Bay has 171 and Minnesota has 140 in seven games. The Bears carry a +6.8 average scoring margin through eight games, per Last Call game data.

They are hot, too. Chicago is 5-1 over its last six games and has won three straight. And it did this after Caleb Williams missed time with an injury earlier in the season, with Case Keenum and Tyson Bagent winning games in his place.

What Caleb Williams said on the hot mic against Seattle

After Chicago's first touchdown on Monday Night Football, a sideline mic caught Williams saying he does not care who the Seahawks are. Then he played like it. He went 24 of 34 for 247 yards and no picks against a defense many people rank as the best in football.

The Bears beat the defending champs 34-17 on the road. They scored more points on Seattle than any team since the Los Angeles Rams last December, and they held the ball for over 35 minutes. A quarterback who talks like that and backs it up in Seattle is a quarterback who wins a division.

Can the Vikings and Lions hold off Chicago?

Minnesota has the best record and the thinnest offense. The Vikings have scored 140 points, 74 fewer than Chicago with one fewer game played. Their defense is the real thing, but their first loss came Sunday, 19-15 in Detroit, in a game where they could not score enough.

Detroit can score, with 203 points. It has also given up 180 in seven games, and that is the most in the division. The Lions can outscore anybody and lose to anybody.

The NFC North is the best division in football right now, at 22-8 overall. Nobody is walking away with it. That is why the best offense and the hottest team has the edge. The consensus NFL power rankings already have Chicago tied for third, ahead of Minnesota at sixth and Detroit at eighth.

The case against the Bears

Here is the fair side, and it is a real one. Chicago is 0-2 in the division. The Bears lost 9-3 at home to Minnesota and 31-7 at Green Bay, and a tiebreaker fight starts from a bad spot at 0-2. Minnesota and Detroit are both 2-1 in the division. DraftKings still has the Vikings as the favorite at +164, with the Bears at +184 and the Lions at +280. Chicago has also scored 59 of its 214 points in one game at Carolina.

How the Bears win the division from here

The 0-2 is also the opening. Chicago still has four division games left: at Detroit on Thanksgiving, Green Bay on Christmas Day at home, Detroit at home on Jan. 3 and at Minnesota in Week 18. The Bears are 6-0 outside the division. Detroit and Minnesota both still have to see them.

It starts Sunday night against Tampa Bay at Soldier Field, then a Week 10 bye. Win the games in front of you and Week 18 in Minnesota decides it. The Bears win the NFC North. Tell us we are wrong.