A Viewers Guide for Cheering the Chicago Bears to the Playoffs: Week 12 Edition

After defeating the Green Bay Packers, the Chicago Bears sit at 5-6. With the playoffs just a few weeks away, they are definitely in the thick of the hunt for a playoff spot, but they need some help. So when you sit down on Sunday with your remote control in hand, here’s exactly what to cheer for in hopes of pushing the Bears to the playoffs.

The two critical games have been (*) if it’s too much trouble to read the whole thing.

1:00pm ET: Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-5) at Indianapolis Colts (5-5)– The Colts are irrelevant for the Bears playoff dreams, but the Bucs are not. If the Bears are to make the playoffs with a 9-7 record, they need the Bucs to lose one more game, and as long as the Bears take care of business week 16, they’ll guarantee themselves a spot ahead of the Bucs thanks to the head-to-head tiebreaker. So cheer on Matt Hasselbeck and the Colts on Sunday.

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1:00pm ET: New York Giants (5-5) at Washington Redskins (4-6)- Largely irrelevant for the Bears purposes, but it would be nice for the Giants to take a stranglehold of the NFC East and basically eliminate the Redskins from playoff contention, especially considering the Bears play Washington in week 14. Go Giants, but you don’t have to have your heart in this one.

1:00pm ET: New Orleans Saints (4-6) at Houston Texans (5-5)- Again, like Washington, very unlikely the Saints make any type of playoff push, but with Drew Brees under center, they are always dangerous. Cheer on JJ Watt to terrorize Brees and send them to the brink of playoff elimination.

Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

**1:00pm ET: Minnesota Vikings (7-3) at Atlanta Falcons (6-4)- Say it with me, “Go Vikings!” I’ve gotten plenty of opposition about how the Bears shouldn’t give up hope on the division, but don’t get greedy. The Falcons are one of two big nemesis for the Bears playoff hopes. We need them to lose as many games as possible. If the Falcons finish 9-7 and tie the Bears, there’s no guarantee that the Bears will win the tiebreaker, it’s complicated, you can see my previous article if you want to know how and why. It’s just better if the Falcons can drop to 8-8, so cheer on Teddy Bridgewater and the Vikings, I know every ounce of your being is telling you that you shouldn’t, but trust me, you should.

1:00pm ET: St. Louis Rams (4-6) at Cincinnati Bengals (8-2)- The Rams are one loss away from finishing no better than 9-7, and the Bears own the tiebreaker thanks to that sweet victory in St. Louis. Cheer on the Bengals to take care of business and the Rams will be one less team we even need to consider.

4:05pm ET: Arizona Cardinals (8-2) at San Francisco 49ers (3-7)- I’m not even sure why I’m considering this game because none of these teams really matter for the Bears playoff hopes. The Bears play the Niners in week 13 so they can eliminate them at that point with a win, but I guess for the heck of it, if you want to cheer for the Cardinals to some how tank the last six games and finish 8-8 go for it, but it’s not going to happen, so let’ s pretend I didn’t even bother to write this paragraph.

Jason Bridge-USA TODAY Sports

**4:25pm ET: Pittsburgh Steelers (6-4) at Seattle Seahawks (5-5)- This game is huge. The Seahawks need to finish 8-8 or worse thanks to that dismal performance by Chicago (mostly Jimmy Clausen) in week three. For that to happen, Seattle is going to have to most likely lose a home game before the season is up and this is their best chance. This is one of the biggest games remaining on the schedule in hopes of getting the Bears to the playoffs. Let’s hope the Steelers are on the top of their game and Big Ben, Antonio Brown and company get the job done. Turn off your cellphone and tell your wife to run some errands, it’s time to concentrate. Let’s go Steelers, make it happen!

So there it is, the two big Bears’ allies for week twelve are the Vikings and the Steelers, let’s hope they both finish victorious after their 60 minutes of football. Bear Down!