The Lions suddenly aren't so formidable and the Bears get them soon for a rematch at Soldier Field. The NFC West is too feeble to yield a wild-card team, and the NFC East has four pretty evenly matched teams that after beating up on one another will leave just one playoff team standing. And the Bears already have a leg up on Tampa Bay and Atlanta, having beaten both. With the first half of the NFL season just about done, the Bears are in as good a position as anybody in the NFC, except the undefeated Green Bay Packers.

Terrell Owens caught 72 passes for just fewer than 1,000 yards last season, which are better numbers than a Bears receiver had in over a decade. Noel Vasquez/Getty Images

The Bears, thanks to Jay Cutler's good sense, have figured out how to help the offensive line keep him upright and in the process score right around 30 points every single week, which is absolutely necessary in today's NFL. In Matt Forte, they've got, as Brian Urlacher said, perhaps the best all-around offensive player in the league so far. Forte's the team's best runner, best receiver, its biggest every-down threat since Neal Anderson. With Cutler and Forte playing the way they have, the Bears appear to be on to something promising. If they could just add a player who could help Cutler and take some of the load off Forte, a veteran who demands defensive attention, a guy who in the second half of the season could score, say, five or six touchdowns, a guy who could run the tough routes and assume the role of a No. 1 receiver, which the Bears still don't have.

Yes, I'm talking about Terrell Owens. Get him. Sign him, or at the very least investigate it thoroughly. T.O.'s better walking in off the street than Roy Williams. And to sign T.O. costs nothing, no draft picks, not a lot of money. Imagine how much more space Forte and particularly Devin Hester would have to operate with T.O. on the field. Imagine how much more effective those screen passes to Forte and Hester would be with T.O. clearing out space in the middle. When we last saw T.O., last season before his knee injury, he was catching 72 passes for nine touchdowns and just fewer than 1,000 yards. That was essentially T.O.'s worst full season. Hell, the Bears go decades without that kind of production from a receiver.

In fact, you know the last time the Bears had a receiver come close to exceeding T.O.'s production in all three categories? Marcus Robinson in 1999 beat him in two and tied him in touchdowns.

Look, we all know the risk involved. T.O.'s history is that sooner rather than later he's going to sabotage his quarterback. Did it to Donovan McNabb, to Jeff Garcia, to Tony Romo. I'm sure I've forgotten a couple of QBs he left as road kill. T.O.'s going to demand the ball and pout when he doesn't get his way. Lovie Smith and Mike Martz and half the guys in the locker room are going to want him out. I'm not suggesting it will be easy, but trying to win rarely is.

There are two conditions that have to exist before a club can take the risk and sign T.O. for the rest of this season.

1. You have to have a solidly entrenched and mentally tough veteran quarterback, a guy who can give nasty right back to T.O. when he starts up.

2. You have to have need.