The biggest winner of Week 18, at least among teams not headed to the playoffs, is undoubtedly the Bears.
Chicago lost its season finale, 29–13, to the NFC North-champion Vikings to finish the season 3–14. By virtue of the Texans’ inexplicable, 32–31, win over the Colts, the Bears have earned the top pick in April’s draft. Houston finished the season 3-13-1.
In a draft that’s loaded with quarterbacks, the Bears will not be in the market for one, as Justin Fields took a substantial step forward in his second season as a professional. As such, the Bears are expected to be in a position to either take a non-quarterback of their choosing, or trade back for a haul of picks with a team that’s looking for a new signal-caller. If the Bears keep the pick, it will mark the first time they’ve selected first in the draft since 1947.
That’s before even mentioning Chicago’s cap situation, which is the envy of the league heading into the offseason. The Bears will have over $100 million in cap space to spend in free agency, and Chicago is expected to be a major force in chasing headline free agents.
Here’s a compilation of some of the top tweets from around the NFL world on Sunday afternoon as Chicago clinched the top pick in the draft.
