Bears 35, Seahawks 24, Final Score: Chicago Advances To NFC Championship Game

For one week, the Seattle Seahawks looked like a half-decent NFL playoff team. Then they ran into the Bears at Soldier Field.

The Bears built a 21-0 lead in the first half as snow swirled in Chicago, then held on as Seattle mounted a comeback that was too little, too late, winning their NFC divisional round playoff game 35-24 and earning the right to host the NFC Championship Game.

In that NFC Championship Game, the Bears will host their hated NFC North rivals, the Green Bay Packers, in only the second playoff meeting the two teams have ever had. The last time they met, in 1941, the Bears won 33-14 to win the NFL’s Western Division and move on to the NFL Championship Game.

Against the Seahawks, Jay Cutler was excellent. He threw for 274 yards and ran for 46, scoring two touchdowns each through the air and on the ground. Cutler and a Bears defense that limited Seattle to seven points through three quarters — a hurry-up attack and some deep throws helped Matt Hasselbeck score 17 fourth quarter points, but never got the game back to single digits — were more or less all the Bears needed on the day.

That might not be enough against Rodgers and the red-hot Packers, but the Bears did hold serve at Soldier Field against the Packers this year.

For more on this game, check out our Bears blog, Windy City Gridiron, and our Seahawks blog, Field Gulls.