Bear Digest

Bears Hanging in By Skin of Their Teeth

Loss by the Saints to the Rams lets Bears remain in the wild card hunt heading into the weekend.
Gene Chamberlain|
Bears Hanging in By Skin of Their Teeth
Bears Hanging in By Skin of Their Teeth

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Chicago Bears

The next step in a Bears miracle run to the playoffs happened on Thursday Night Football.

One down and about 16 more to go for the Bears.

The first step was accomplished thanks to Matthew Stafford. 

The Rams quarterback threw for two touchdowns and his team took control shortly into the second half before hanging on for a 30-22 victory over the Saints.

As a result, the Rams are 8-7 and currently in the sixth seed for an NFC playoff berth as the second wild card.

The Vikings, at 7-7, currently are in the seventh and last NFC playoff spot.

The Bears can't get into the playoffs as a wild card if they tie the New Orleans Saints at 8-9 and 8-9 is the best the Bears can do. The Bears lost to New Orleans this season, so the Saints own the tiebreaker. The Bears need New Orleans to lose every remaining game because the Saints went into their game with the L.A. Rams owning a 7-7 record.

The Bears are 5-9 and any remote chance they have depends on winning all three remaining games, and New Orleans losing its last two games to Tampa Bay and Atlanta.

Also, the Bears would need:

  • Wins by the Lions over the Vikings twice and Dallas once.
  • Seahawks losses to the Tennessee Titans this week and Pittsburgh next week.
  • Indianapolis to beat the Falcons this week.
  • The Packers beating the Panthers this week but losing to the Vikings next week.
  • The Eagles beating the Giants this week, but the Giants bouncing back to beat the Rams next week.
  • The 49ers losing to the Ravens this week but beating the Rams in the final week.

That's it, then. They'd be in the playoffs. 

And if any single one of those fail to happen, they watch the playoffs on TV like all of us.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

Published
Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.

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