Since When Did I Become a Bears Fan?

Hearing all the playoff discussion for the NFC North Division race really made my head hurt, mainly because I've had this discussion once already, with a strange pattern of details matching up.

Think back to Week 17 of last year's NFL season. The Cleveland Browns were 9-6, playing a "meaningless" game at home against the San Francisco 49ers. While the Browns didn't really need their win, the 20-7 victory (my first chance to see rookie QB Brady Quinn play football) meant Cleveland finished with a 10-6 overall record.

But it wasn't their game that really mattered. It came down to the final game of the NFL regular season when Tennessee played on the road against the defending Super Bowl Champion Indianapolis Colts.

The Colts were 13-2, but couldn't lose their #2 seed for the playoffs (remember, undefeated Patriots), so they played Peyton Manning and the boys about as much as they needed to so they would stay sharp, then put Jim Sorgi under center.

Tennessee went on to win the game. Cleveland missed the playoffs, even with its first season with double-digit wins since 1994 (and only the second since 1988). And I was forced to hate Jim Sorgi for the remainder of his life. (A recent joke to a friend went something like, "He may be a Badger, but if Sorgi ever makes it to a Madison bar in the offseason, he's getting a haymaker from yours truly. And I can only hope to be wearing my Brady Quinn t-shirt.")

Re-enter Week 17 of this NFL season. The scenario plays out a little differently, but the song remains the same. If Chicago wins, it moves to 10-6. The big problem comes down to the Minnesota Vikings playing against the defending Super Bowl Champion New York Giants (though it is a home game for the Vikes).

The Giants can't lose their #1 overall seed for the playoffs (and are even more banged up than the Colts were a season ago), so be prepared to see Eli Manning and the boys about as much as necessary to stay sharp before David Carr gets under center. (His career full of being sacked is even worse than receiving a haymaker.)

Minnesota will do what it must -- against many Giants backups -- to win the game. Chicago would have an identical 10-6 record, but would lose out on the playoffs based on tiebreakers. There's still the possibility that the Vikings will lay an egg, at home, against the N.Y. Backups. But if recent history has anything to do with it, Bears fans shouldn't get their hopes up.

Plus they still need to win on the road against a Texans team looking to get to 8-8. That's besides the fact that Houston would finish with a 6-2 record at home in building that was badly damaged during hurricane season and caused the team to have a bye in Week Two. Can you say "inspiration?"

Chicago fans: prepare to make a New Year's resolution not to let next season come down to tiebreakers in the final week of the year. Or, at the very least, you should hope that the team doesn't mirror last year's Browns team in all aspects this offseason. Trust me, you don't want that.

Be thankful you'll know your postseason fate by the end of the early games.