It’s a great time to be a Chicago Bears fan.

The Bears are now in possession of the No. 1 seed in the NFC after the Los Angeles Rams lost 31-28 to the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.

Chicago played earlier this week, facing the Philadelphia Eagles on Black Friday. The Bears won 24-15 on the road at Lincoln Financial Field, improving to 9-3.

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The main reason the Bears have the No. 1 seed is their conference record compared to the Rams’. Chicago is 6-2 against the NFC, while Los Angeles is 4-3.

This means that as long as the Bears finish with the same record as the Rams, they will have the top seed come playoff time.

However, a tiebreaker won’t matter if the Bears don’t win the NFC North.

Chicago currently sits atop the division, but has a key game against the Green Bay Packers next Sunday, who are right on its tail at 8-3-1. The Packers beat the Detroit Lions 31-24 in their last game on Thanksgiving.

The remaining schedules for the Bears and Rams are similar, with both teams facing a majority of NFC opponents. Four of Chicago’s five games are against NFC teams, while all five of Los Angeles’ are within the conference.

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The Bears must face the Packers (Dec. 7), the Cleveland Browns (Dec. 14), the Packers again on Dec. 20, the San Francisco 49ers (Dec. 28) and then the Detroit Lions (TBD). The Rams take on the Cardinals (Dec. 7), Lions (Dec. 14), Seahawks (Dec. 18), Atlanta Falcons (Dec. 29) and the Cardinals (TBD) again to end the regular season.

The games against the Lions and Cardinals at the end of the season don’t have a set date yet because they could still be flexed.

The great thing about this is that the Bears control their own destiny. Winning out or just keeping pace with the Rams would secure the NFC’s top seed.

As fans know, getting the top seed would also mean that the Bears would have a bye in the first round of the playoffs.

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For now, the Packers will be the Bears’ primary focus. The first meeting of the season will take place at Lambeau Field, a place where Aaron Rodgers lost twice to the Bears.

Rodgers is no longer there, but the Packers have still not had a tough time beating the Bears with Jordan Love under center. Rodgers was traded to the New York Jets ahead of the 2023 season, but Green Bay is still 3-1 against Chicago since then.

Sunday’s game will have huge NFC North implications and will kick off at 3:25 p.m. CT on Fox.