Bears vs. Cardinals: Chicago wins to stay in the playoff chase

The loss was the Cardinals’ 10th defeat of the season, and it seems likely they’ll drop their season finale against San Francisco next week. For a year that began with so much promise, Arizona really has hit the skids. As SB Nation’s Cardinals blog, Revenge of the Birds, reflected in their post-game story, Week 16 was more of the same from coach Ken Whisenhunt’s bunch.

Revenge of the Birds also detailed a couple of positives to take away from the loss, although they were few and far between.

They took care of the first part.

The Bears rediscovered the defensive prowess that so integrally contributed to their early season win streak, intercepting two Cardinals’ passes and scoring two defensive touchdowns on their way to a dominant 28-13 win. Dane Noble of SB Nation’s Chicago Bears blog, Windy City Gridiron, writes that the Bears’ performance on Sunday was business as usual -- business far too long absent.

Although the AFC already locked in its six combatants for the 2012-13 postseason in Week 16, as many as six teams in the NFC remain firmly in the hunt for a playoff berth following Sunday’s slate of games.

The Washington Redskins also stayed in the thick of the race with a 27-20 win over the Philadelphia Eagles, a win that effectively put Robert Griffin III and his teammates into the No. 4 spot in the conference. The Redskins will square off against an 8-7 Dallas team in Week 17 with both the division title and a playoff berth on the line.

The Cardinals countered with an 82-yard blocked field goal return from Arizona’s Justin Bethel with just two minutes remaining, although it proved too little to late as Arizona’s onside kick attempt went unsuccessful. Now at 9-6 on the year with a regular season finale scheduled in Detroit next weekend, the Bears will enter Week 17 as one of a handful of NFC teams in search of a postseason bid. At the other end of the spectrum the Cardinals dropped to just 5-10 with the defeat, and are now one of three NFC franchises with double digits losses already this season.

Fantasy studs and duds

The best part about this gem is that the fan felt the need to draw a super-sad face. As if the bag wasn’t obvious enough.

Forte has 992 rushing yards on the season and four touchdowns, a disappointment after erupting last year and signing a long-term contract in the offseason. He’s missed two games already due to injury, and the Bears have to hope he’ll come back in Week 17, because there will be a heck of a lot of 9-6 teams battling for the final playoff spots in the NFC.

The Bears losing five of their last six games put them in a bind following a 7-1 start to the season.

The Cardinals finally snapped their season-derailing nine-game winning streak with a win last week and will try to get another one against the Bears. The Bears desperately need a win, but both teams will go into the game without some of their players.

The Bears are 8-6 while the Cardinals are 5-9 this season.

But they’ll still need to win out, and they’ll likely need a little help on top of that. The Bears are in a desirable position if you’re, say, the Cardinals, but they’re on the outside looking in as it stands. They appear to have an easier schedule than some of the other teams, but the Cardinals will be trying to score wins in the final two weeks to potentially save the jobs of some of the coaching staff, and maybe some of the players.

After starting 7-1, the Bears are now 8-6, and they need help to make the playoffs. Their defense was called the best in the NFL early on in the season, and looked to be nearing NFL-record levels of turnovers, but they’ve been few and far between on their recent skid.

Example: Sunday, Dec. 23, 4:25 p.m. ET

University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Ariz.

ESPN’s stable of NFL experts pick the Bears across the board, as do the prognosticators at Yahoo! Sports.

Eight of the nine NFL experts at CBS Sports think that the Bears will walk away with a victory on Sunday. NFL scribe Dave Richard is the lone member of CBS’ football staff who believes that the Cardinals have a legitimate shot at pulling off an upset on their home turf.

The Bears have the edge in nearly every major statistical category and should have no major difficulties in covering the spread, as the offensively-anemic Cardinals should have trouble matching up with the Bears’ relatively strong defense. Arizona’s saving grace may come in pass defense, where they’ve held opponents to just 199.29 yards per game. That bodes well for the Cardinals at home because the Bears have struggled to just 186.4 yards per game through the air to this point in the season.

Chicago will try to snap a three-game losing streak against the spread. The over-under is set at 36.5, and most of the action indicates that the over is the safest bet.