CHICAGO (670 The Score) -- Bears coach Matt Nagy had his request granted, with the Soldier Field stadiums operations crew turning off the out-of-town scoreboards. He didn't want to know what was happening in Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon.
But Nagy and his team left themselves with no choice but to wonder what the score was at SoFi Stadium. The Bears failed to control their destiny in losing 35-16 to the Packers at home but still snuck into the playoffs by virtue of the Rams' 18-7 win against the Cardinals.
As he walked off Soldier Field to the stadium's northwest tunnel, Nagy learned from a Bears public relations member that they were still going to the playoffs. Chicago landed the No. 7 seed in the NFC and will play at second-seeded New Orleans in the wild-card round next Sunday at 3:40 p.m. CT. The Bears and Cardinals each finished at 8-8, but Chicago held the tiebreaker with a better record in common games.
"It’s OK to feel like crap right now," Nagy said after the loss, relaying his message to the team. "We put a lot of time and effort and energy into winning this football game. It sucks when you lose.
"We wake up tomorrow morning and that thing is in the rearview mirror."
The Bears didn't earn their way into the postseason by any means, capping a second straight 8-8 regular season by losing to star quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the rival Packers again. There was no statement from the Bears that they could be a contender and no proud victory in a big game, but Chicago found its way in with the final seed due to the playoff field expanding from six to seven teams in each conference.
In a season of uneven play, the Bears finished an even .500 and with their Super Bowl hopes bleak, even if they do have a chance with a playoff berth. Reaching the postseason doesn't validate the Bears, who were never a complete product over 16 games. They started 5-1 against lesser competition before losing six straight games and then reeling off three wins in a row.
The Bears had an opportunity to legitimize their late spurt but disappointed, letting Rodgers light them up for four touchdowns while quarterback Mitchell Trubisky and the Chicago offense faltered in the red zone. The Bears did nothing Sunday that offered hope for a playoff run.
"It's a weird feeling," Trubisky said. "Obviously, disappointed from the game, but finding out the news that we got in, I think we just got rewarded for the work we put in the last couple weeks and even though (Sunday's game) didn't go the way we wanted, we're in the playoffs and that's really all that matters.
"Just the way this season went, all the ups and downs and everything in between, us being in the position we're in now, we're very fortunate. A lot of that is credit to the team sticking together and hard work across the board. We earned this, and we got to take advantage of it. I'm looking forward to it."
With 11:27 remaining in the game, the Bears trailed 21-16 and faced a fourth-and-1 from the Packers' 25-yard line. They had converted on their previous four attempts on fourth down but failed on this one when Trubisky rolled to his right and threw incomplete to top receiver Allen Robinson.
That play left Nagy still simmering after the game. The Packers then embarked on a 12-play, 76-yard touchdown drive as they scored twice late in the fourth quarter after the Bears' fourth-down miscue. Nagy declined to discuss the details of that play, but he seemed to indicate it wasn't run as designed.
It was one of many moments from the game that stayed with Nagy after he walked off Soldier Field on a bittersweet evening. The Bears blew their chance to earn a playoff berth but made it in anyway.
"Now we go," Nagy said. "Now we go. These guys believe that anything can happen for them."
"Anything can happen when you get in the playoffs. Anything."
Chris Emma covers the Bears, Chicago’s sports scene and more for 670TheScore.com. Follow him on Twitter @CEmma670.
