Rozner: Bears believe they're good enough to go to playoffs. They should.

In a league where you don't have to be good to be good, where you only have to beat the bad to be good, the Bears have finally conquered the math.

They are officially proficient, good at beating the bad and some of the worst in the NFL, and that is plenty good enough for now.

Considering that GM Ryan Pace came into this season with a 14-34 record, Bears fans won't get picky about victories.

The Bears are 6-3 and atop the NFC North after winning for the first time in their division since Halloween 2016 — amid Cubs World Series hysteria, when they surprised the Vikings at home — and the collective record of those they have defeated this year is 14-38.

But, as they say, you can only play who's on the schedule and you don't apologize for victories in the NFL.

On paper and in the highlight reel, the Bears were really good Sunday, so good that they're dreaming very big right now with Khalil Mack and Allen Robinson back in the lineup.

“When we play our ball, we're capable of beating any team out there,” tackle Bobby Massie said. “All three phases, we played a heck of a game today.”

Outside of kicker Cody Parkey, Massie was spot on with his assessment.

Mitch Trubisky remains superb at running the football and hitting receivers open by half a football field.

He missed a few when he had to thread the ball Sunday, but there weren't many of those against the woeful Lions while Bears receivers were running brilliant routes.

Still, the Bears' defense is so good when Mack is on the field that maybe it doesn't matter all that much. Roquan Smith is improving every week and the Bears are intimidating when they get both of them going at the same time.

But at some point, Trubisky might have to win a game with his arm in the fourth quarter.

At some point, the Bears might need to run the football.

At some point, they might need Jordan Howard, who carried for 9 yards on the first play of the game and then barely touched the football until the end of the game.

At some point, they might need a kicker to do something other than hit the uprights.

And at some point they might have to beat a really good NFL team.

But what accounts for really good in the NFL these days? There's only a handful of teams and even they can lose on any given Sunday, Monday or Thursday.

“We do need to run the ball. We will have to,” Massie said. “We have a nice stable of running backs and we gotta get them boys going. That's something we need to do.

“Jordan is one of the best running backs in this league. He showed that his first two years here. He's still the same guy. Nothing's changed. We just have to open some holes for him and keep feeding him.”

The Bears were very effective in the no-huddle Sunday — Matt Nagy having his best game as a rookie coach — and Howard said that took the ball out of his hands.

“I didn't really know if I would get it much,” Howard said. “I knew there would be a lot of hurry-up so I knew there was a chance that would happen. Just part of the game plan.

“As long as we win it doesn't really matter. I'm cool with that.”

The Bears looked like a very good team Sunday and they spoke like one after the game.

They believe they should be competing for a Super Bowl this year, which is good, because in the fourth year of a rebuild, anything less than a Super Bowl would be a major disappointment.

They're riding a three-game win streak and they get a 5-3-1 Vikings team at Soldier Field that shouldn't pose a serious threat for a team that believes it's as good as the Bears think they are, and it's a game that could give them a big lead in the division.

The Bears absolutely believe they're good enough and the playoffs are right there in front of them starting with Minnesota next Sunday night at home.

The Bears say there's no excuses anymore. And there shouldn't be.