LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) -Even as their prospects dwindled the past few weeks, the Chicago Bears insisted 10 wins would be enough to get to the playoffs.
Well, they still have a shot at 10 wins. And they’re not out of the postseason race, either.
So the Bears (8-6) will be playing for more than just pride when Green Bay visits Soldier Field on Monday night, thanks to some huge breaks over the weekend.
The biggest was this: NFC North leader Atlanta losing to Minnesota. That kept the Bears in contention for the division title, although the Vikings hold the tiebreaker. And the wild card remains a possibility after Dallas, Tampa Bay and Philadelphia lost.
Even so, Chicago could win its last two games and still miss the playoffs, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. If that happens?
up pretty good,” tight end Desmond Clark said. “I’ll probably look back on it if we don’t make the playoffs, like everybody else is going to do, and say, ‘Woulda, coulda won that Atlanta game; woulda, coulda won that Tampa Bay game. Would have been in the playoffs.’ But at this point right now, my mind frame is the best we can do is 10-6. That would be good enough for me right now.”
Usually, that’s good enough to make the playoffs. Only five 10-win teams have missed the postseason since the league instituted the current format in 1990, but to hit that number, the Bears would have to do something they haven’t accomplished since the 2006 Super Bowl season: win more than two in a row.
The Bears are coming off back-to-back wins over Jacksonville and New Orleans and have won three of four since the Packers blasted them 37-3 at Lambeau Field.
Green Bay (5-9), meanwhile, has dropped four in a row since beating Chicago to forge a three-way tie for the NFC North lead, a dramatic fall. It started with a 51-29 pounding by New Orleans and continued with three close losses to Carolina, Houston and Jacksonville. The Packers dropped those games by a total of 11 points and followed a similar pattern in doing it.
away.
“We didn’t make the plays to win them, and that’s the thing we’re dealing with right now,” wide receiver Donald Driver said.
The pass rush has been inconsistent, the run defense ineffective. And injuries have hit as hard as any tackle the Packers have delivered, with Charles Woodson moving from cornerback to safety because of Atari Bigby’s nagging problems. It all explains why a defense that was expected to take the lead with Brett Favre gone ranks 24th overall.
“In the heat of it, you’re supposed to win every game, dominate every game,” defensive end Aaron Kampman said. “That’s the reality, and that’s our mentality. It doesn’t matter who they are or what we do, that’s the kind of mentality we want to have. We just haven’t been able to impose that as much as we’d like, and we’ll obviously be seeking to do that again on Monday night.”
The Packers did just that the last time these teams met.
They held Chicago to 234 yards and racked up 427, while handing the Bears their most lopsided loss, but Kyle Orton is in better shape now than he was that day. Bothered by a sprained ankle that kept him out of the previous game, the Bears’ quarterback threw for just 133 yards and completed just four passes to his wide receivers.
off at all. I think his timing right now is so much better.”
For the Bears, time is running out.
They expected to contend for the NFC championship after going 7-9 last season, but they’ve been unable to sustain any momentum. They failed to protect leads in losses to Carolina, Tampa Bay and Atlanta, and now, they could miss the playoffs even if they win their remaining games.
“I think 10-6 is a good record whether you make the playoffs or not,” Orton said. “For our team to be able to get to 10-6 would be a great way to end the season.”
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