The Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers are the last two teams alive for the NFC North division title and in Week 17 at Soldier Field on Sunday a playoff spot will be clinched for one of these teams and the game gets started up on FOX starting up at 4:25 pm and could be one of the biggest games on the final day of the schedule and comes after a terrible loss by the Bears when they had a chance to wrap things up.
The Bears have the chance to make the playoffs under first year head coach Marc Trestman and they will have Jay Cutler under center again after he returned from injury and the Packers will finally get some key players back as well, with Aaron Rodgers and Randall Cobb coming back for the final matchup between the two teams this season. Cobb has been out since the game against the Ravens and Rodgers has been out for the last seven games with a collarbone injury and he was finally cleared amid some controversy over the past couple weeks and the Packers come in after losing a tough game to the Steelers. The Bears are 8-7 on the season and have gone 2-3 against the division and they can even up with a win against the Packers and that would put them into the playoffs as the division champions.
The Packers were helped along by the tie against the Minnesota Vikings and the Detroit Lions, who had previously been in the division lead, lost against the Giants last week and that eliminated them from the playoffs. The Bears had the chance to win the division last week, but they lost very badly to the Eagles in Philly and they allowed over 50 points and now they are playing a Packers team that is getting their top players back and the defense has been terrible this season, ranking last in rushing yards allowed per game.
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The Bears have been great on offense in the first season under Trestman and the team is ranked fifth in the league in passing yards per game with 270 yards per contest and one of the biggest reasons has been the play of wideouts Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery and running back Matt Forte has had one of his best seasons as well, rushing for over 1,200 yards. Jeffery has 1,341 yards on the season and Cutler comes in looking to get his team to the playoffs after missing last season. The Packers have a top ranked offense and the rushing attack has been great under Eddie Lacy and now the team comes in after losing to the Steelers and they are ranked eighth in passing offense and seventh in rushing and the team is 7-7-1 on the season after the draw against the Vikings.
