Last season, Bayern Munich ended the first half of their Bundesliga seasons with 14 wins, three draws, and zero losses, for a point total of 45. This year, as the German top-flight league heads into winter break, the Bavarians aren't undefeated-having dropped a game at the beginning of December against Borussia Monchengladbach. However, Munich is nevertheless ahead of where they were last year, taking 46 points from a record of 15 wins, one draw, and one defeat. Needless to say, Bayern Munich are dominant once more as the year comes to a close, and seem destined to pick up a fourth consecutive German title come May.

The Season so Far

Indeed, other than their 1-3 loss against Monchengladbach on December 5th and a 0-2 loss against Arsenal in an October Champions League match, the Bavarians have been nearly perfect all season long. In the Champions League, the heavyweight German football club won their group and were drawn against Juventus for the round of 16; in the DFB Pokal, they're on their way to the quarterfinals after eliminating Wolfsburg and Darmstadt 98 in successive rounds. In the Bundesliga, they're eight points above the nearest challenger and almost 20 points ahead of the majority of the field.

The Bundesliga has been particularly good to Bayern Munich this fall, with the defending champions showing little strain even in their supposedly "tougher" matches. Borussia Dortmund is back in the title race this season after an off year in 2014 2015, but still paled in comparison to the Bavarians, losing 1-5 when the two teams met in October. Bayern also dealt a tough blow to 2014 2015 league runners-up Wolfsburg in September, when Robert Lewandowski scored an unprecedented five goals in nine minutes to give his soccer team another 5-1 victory.

The Remarkable Robert Lewandowski

Speaking of Lewandowski, the Polish striker has had a truly remarkable season so far, with his record accomplishment in the Wolfsburg match signifying the peak of a terrific year of football. Last season, in his first year with Bayern Munich, Lewandowski was already impressive, scoring 17 goals in the Bundesliga and 25 across all competitions. This season, he has already nearly matched that, with 15 goals in the domestic league and 23 overall.

In almost every regard, Lewandowski is one of the top forwards not just in Germany, but in the world. In the Bundesliga, he's the second most prolific scorer of the season so far, trailing only behind Borussia Dortmund's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who has tallied 18. (For the record, Bayern's Thomas Muller is third among Bundesliga scorers, with 14 goals so far.)

In the Champions League, meanwhile, Robert Lewandowski is second in goal tallies so far, having contributed seven of Bayern's goals throughout the group stage. The top scorer in the UCL is Cristiano Ronaldo, with 11. Muller tallied five.

The End of an Era

Add the 13 goals that Lewandowski scored for Poland in the Euro 2016 qualifiers (or, for that matter, the nine that Muller scored for Germany), and it's clear that these two are among the five or 10 best forwards anywhere in the world of football right now. Sure, Barcelona gets more talk for having a stacked offense, and Ronaldo always steals some of the glory, but Bayern Munich has enough firepower to take on any other soccer club in the world.

The question is, with Pep Guardiola now having confirmed that he won't be back at Allianz Arena next season, can the Bavarians send him off with a trophy run for the record books. At this point, a Bundesliga title seems like a foregone conclusion. Borussia Dortmund will contend again someday, but as evidenced in their precipitous loss to Bayern in October, they simply aren't on the same level. With the Guardiola era coming to an end, though, can Munich also pick up a DFB Pokal title and a Champions League trophy, to see him off with a treble victory?

Only time will tell, of course, but for now, you can root for the Bavarians and celebrate Pep Guardiola's remarkable run with the club by picking up a Bayern Munich shirt at Soccer Box!