LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) -- It seemed so improbable just a few days earlier, the notion that the Chicago Bears would somehow slide into the playoffs.
Well, it still is a long shot, but not quite as long.
Spared from elimination, the Bears remain in contention for the NFC North title and a wild-card spot by rallying to beat Green Bay 20-17 in overtime Monday night in the coldest game on record at Soldier Field. Now, they need to win at Houston today and hope for more help in order to reach the postseason after getting plenty the past few days.
"Two weeks ago, we had all that time off, and everybody sat in front of the TV and nothing went right," quarterback Kyle Orton said. "It was like the exact opposite this week, with everything going our way."
Minnesota lost and so did Dallas, Tampa Bay and Philadelphia over the weekend, keeping the Bears (9-6) in the running for both the NFC North title and a wild-card spot. They still needed to beat Green Bay, and they pulled it out thanks to Matt Forte's touchdown run in the fourth quarter, Alex Brown's blocked field goal at the end of regulation and Robbie Gould's second straight overtime winning kick.
That gave the Bears their third consecutive win, their longest streak since the 2006 Super Bowl season, but even if they make it four in a row, there's no guarantee they'll reach the playoffs. They would need Minnesota to lose to or tie the New York Giants in order to win the division, because the Vikings (9-6) hold the tiebreaker. To get the wild card, they would need losses or ties by Dallas and Tampa Bay.
If the Bears tie Houston, they could still win the division if Minnesota loses, or capture the wild card if Dallas and Tampa Bay go down.
"We shouldn't have to think about what someone else is doing or hope someone does something to help us," coach Lovie Smith said. "We need to do what we can do to help ourselves."
But the fact is they need others to chip in -- such as the Giants.
With the NFC's top seed wrapped up and several players nursing injuries, the risk of going all out would appear to outweigh any possible reward for New York. Then again, consider what happened when the Giants played then-undefeated New England last year.
They played their regulars even though they had a playoff spot wrapped up, and gave Tom Brady and the Patriots a big scare on the final weekend of the regular season before falling 38-35. That loss showed they could compete with the best and helped propel them to the NFL championship.
But what the Giants might or might not do against Minnesota was not weighing on Smith. He had "no thoughts" on that, although he did make one thing clear: Smith disagrees with anyone who thinks Tom Coughlin has some tough decisions to make this week.
"You play to win, period," Smith said. "Last year, we were out of it with two games left in the season. We played every guy we had who we thought gave us an opportunity to win. There was no looking forward to the future and all that. You play every game like it's your last one, period."
"Regardless of how you win, you've still got to win," Gould said. "We've still got a heartbeat."
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