Hub Arkush: Next four games remain important for Bears

Regardless of what the schedule says there is an air of inevitability and resignation that surrounds an NFL team when the season is effectively over.

Halas Hall was dripping with it again Wednesday.

Forget mathematical possibilities and miracles, the Bears’ 2021 season is over. All that’s left to go to work for now is pride and jobs. Every player and coach on the team knows it and are struggling to come to grips with it.

Yet what that means is the four games remaining to be played are the most important games of the season.

Why do they matter?

For starters, there is absolutely nothing to be gained from losing.

As out of hand as this has gotten, a four-game season-ending win streak would do nothing to lessen the mandate or quell the screams for sweeping change.

Your first round pick in the draft, currently No. 5 ,belongs to the New York Giants as part of the ransom you paid for Justin Fields. So who cares if it drops into the mid-teens?

And losing does absolutely nothing to make a club more attractive to free agents.

Perhaps most importantly to ownership, most of Bears Nation that claims to be done buying tickets, concessions and logo items are actually full of beans, but these last four games will have an impact on future revenues lost or gained.

Beyond that there are actually benefits to be earned over these last four games that far outweigh the money train and even winning.

NFL seasons never really end so much as they bleed into each other and constantly set the table for what comes next.

The goal is to become a championship contender, that is always eventually decided by the players and that work will begin this coming Monday night against the Minnesota Vikings.

Regardless of how the decision was made, the team made a choice to sacrifice this season by giving Justin Fields experience in situations he clearly wasn’t ready for but hopefully would grow from.

As recently as Sunday night, 11 games into his evolution, he still wasn’t a very good quarterback although he did appear to cross a significant hurdle in understanding how and when to pull the ball down and run with it successfully and safely.

Part of the problem is he’s faced one of the NFL’s toughest schedules: six games against clubs currently fifth or higher seeds in the playoffs, two more against teams holding or tied for sixth for seventh seeds, the Steelers, who are just a half game out of the playoffs, and, of course, two with the Lions.

In Minnesota (twice), the Seahawks and Giants over the next four games, he will face the NFL’s 25th-, 32nd- and 19th-ranked pass defenses.

This is a chance for Fields to shine and for Darnell Mooney and Cole Kmet to become his best buddies. There should be real cause for concern if they don’t all at the least take some significant steps forward.

The Vikings are also just 27th vs. the run, the Giants 25th and Seattle 22nd.

If, in fact, the Bears are set for the future at running back with David Montgomery and Khalil Herbert, and there is as much promise on the offensive line as many think there is, the next four games are the perfect time to prove or debunk those thoughts.

Do the Bears face a rebuild or the much more palatable reboot?

Regardless of who eventually makes those decisions, these next four game tapes will be their guiding light.

The defense is more problematic.

There is little question it will be built around Khalil Mack, Roquan Smith, Jaylon Johnson, Robert Quinn and Eddie Jackson, but where does the other half come from?

How far do the Bears go to re-sign free agents James Daniels, Bilal Nichols, Tashaun Gipson, Deon Bush, Alec Ogletree and Jakeem Grant?

As unlikely as it seems they would be back, what’s next for Allen Robinson, Akiem Hicks and Jimmy Graham?

You never know if there are new decision makers in place. Regardless, there are millions of dollars on the table for each.

This much is certain, there is a reason they play these games and the next four are huge for any Bear that wants to continue to work in Chicago or anywhere in the league.