Division champs- again! Bears 23, Minnesota Vikings 13

The Bears clinched their second consecutive NFC North championship today. But this year, it's not going to be enough.

Rex has really got to get his act together before the playoffs. After losing our one and only playoff game to a team we'd beaten during the regular season last year, this season is going to be a failure if we don't at least get to the NFC title game. In fact, anything less than a trip to the Super Bowl will be hard to sell as a successful season, division championship or not.


But for now, the mission is securing the top seen in the NFC. Worrying about a Super Bowl berth can wait.

I'm a Grossman backer. His talent is enormous. But he has to stop throwing those ill-advised passes. Rex has all the talent in the world, but he's in a position right now in which potential doesn't make up for a lack of performance. The pressure to bring in Brian Griese at some point is only going to grow until we start seeing the Rex Grossman we saw during the first five games of the season.

But for now, I'll soothe my anxieties with some music.

ADDENDUM: Uh-oh. Put those Super Bowl plans on hold.

Tommy Harris hurt his knee, and Nathan Vasher his hamstring.

These could be a huge losses- huge enough to be a much greater threat to the Bears' Super Bowl hopes than Rex Grossman's performance at quarterback. There is no Brian Griese backing up either of them.

ADDENDUM II: Harris had an MRI today on his knee. His injury is said not to be season-ending in nature; Nathan Vasher will be evaluated later in the week.