There is a number in the standings that explains this Bears season as well as any other, and it's not the 7-2 that's holding the Bears in first place in the NFC North at the moment. Chicago is currently 4-1 at home at Soldier Field. The only home loss of the season came in Week 2, after a rainy and messy day in Chicago. Since then, nobody has come into Chicago and left with a win, and the teams that tried weren't soft touches.
The building has hosted the season's biggest nights
Philadelphia came on a Monday night in September, and the Bears beat the Eagles with veteran quarterback Case Keenum. New England came on a Thursday night in front of a national audience, then Caleb Williams and Luther Burden III dominated the game. Tampa Bay came on Sunday night in primetime, it was an ugly one, but the Bears managed to walk away the victor despite their offensive shortcomings.
Three different standalone windows, three different scripts, and all with the same outcome.
None of this is the Soldier Field that everyone is used to. For years, this was the building where the Bears lost the games that mattered in front of everybody, where the crowd turned early, and the visiting teams played the fourth quarter in near silence. Now the noise lasts all four quarters. The defense gets its third down stops with the crowd at full volume, the offense feeds off of the energy in stead of shrinking from it.
The timing matters, too. The next game in the building is New Orleans following the bye in Week 10. If the Bears win that game, not only have they held onto first place in the NFC North, but it also means the Bears have swept the NFC South.
The reward at the end of the tunnel is a playoff game at Soldier Field in January. Chicago football in January, in the cold, in a building where the home team has lost once all season. For a fan base that has watched that scene belong to other cities for a long time, that's no small thing. Soldier Field looks to be a fortress once again, and it appears to be booked all winter.
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