Bears and Eagles alliance ends with Black Friday matchup

The Chicago Bears are gearing up for a big Week 13 showdown against the Philadelphia Eagles on Black Friday, where it'll be a battle of NFC heavyweights.

So far this season, the Bears and Eagles have helped each other out in a lot of ways. Philadelphia has beaten the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, and Detroit Lions. During that same span, the Bears have beaten the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, and Washington Commanders.

Not only are both teams 8-3, but their division rivals all have one extra loss as a result of the other. The Bears currently lead the NFC North while the Eagles are atop the NFC East.

This fact has become a meme on NFL social media. Even the official Philadelphia Eagles account has chimed in on the joke:

The Bears also addressed the end of the alliance heading into Friday's game.

Given Philadelphia's success over the last handful of seasons, they are seen as a different kind of 8-3 than Chicago. One team has been in Super Bowl contention for a long time, and the other has been a consistent last-place finisher.

Now that "The Alliance" is through, the Bears have an incredibly important test ahead of them. Winning on Friday would do two things for them. The first, and most important, would be them becoming 9-3 and maintaining their first-place stance in the division. The second would be winning over one of the elite teams in the league and making a statement.

One of people's biggest issues with Chicago right now is its strength of schedule. That is a lousy way of evaluating an NFL team because everyone is good even when they are losing, but beating a team like the Eagles would silence the loudest of critics.

The Bears and Eagles unintentionally helping each other out was fun while it lasted, but it had to come to an end when these two came head-to-head.

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This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Bears and Eagles alliance ends with Black Friday matchup