Bears Look To Keep Playoff Hopes Alive

From Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com:

Minnesota receiver Bobby Wade paused wearily and considered the question. Would he watch Monday night's matchup against Green Bay (ESPN, 8:30 p.m. ET), one that could decide the NFC North?

"Yeah," said Wade, who played three seasons in Chicago. "We need the Bears to blow it. Where are they playing? At home? Great. They'll definitely blow it."

Wade made that prediction late Sunday in the Minnesota locker room, where the Vikings were trying to regroup from a 24-17 loss to Atlanta. Wade laughed as he said it, but his point was well-taken: The Vikings and the rest of the NFL gave the Bears a clear opening.

Yes, Chicago's once-convoluted playoff possibilities have grown a bit more palatable as Monday night's kickoff approaches at Soldier Field.

First, the Bears can remain in the division title race with a victory at Soldier Field -- where they are 5-2 in 2008 and 22-9 over the past four seasons. If they can defeat Green Bay, the NFC North race would extend into the final week of the season. (A loss would grant the Vikings the division championship.)

But even if Minnesota clinches the division, the Bears' chances for a wild-card berth are now almost reasonable following losses by Tampa Bay, Dallas and Philadelphia over the weekend. Now, the Bears "only" need four more games to go their way -- including two of their own -- to snatch a wild-card berth:

1. Defeating the Packers.
2. Defeating Houston in the regular-season finale.
3. Philadelphia defeating Dallas at home.
4. Oakland defeating Tampa Bay on the road.

Bears coaches and players were holed up in their downtown hotel Sunday night and unavailable for comment on the day's developments. But last week, coach Lovie Smith made clear that the only outcome his team could do anything about was Monday night's game.

"Any playoff hopes, anything like that [that] we have, is based on us getting a win this weekend," Smith said. "That's the most important thing. ... That's the driving force behind what we're doing."

But any way you look at it, the Bears went 4-for-4 in favorable outcomes this weekend. If the football gods can conspire to repeat that total over the next seven days -- or, in Wade's terms, if they can avoid blowing it -- Chicago will be a playoff team once again.

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