The Chicago Bears officially control the fate of the playoffs thanks to help from the San Francisco 49ers, who faced a 20-12 defeat to the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday.
There have been several playoff scenarios in which the Bears could block that seventh seed in the NFC playoffs, most of them involving the Cardinals slipping in recent weeks.
With Arizona’s loss on Saturday, Chicago has a chance to take control of that seventh place with a victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Someone who was happy to see that Bears’ playoff hopes remain afloat was George Kittle, who grew up as a Bears fan in Chicago.
“I grew up a Bears fan and the fact that I helped Bears a little bit makes me a little happier.”
Kittle also added a “Yes Bears” before resolving the question.
With the Cardinals down 8-7, the chances of the playoffs have increased to 71%, according to FiveThirtyEight. These odds increase to 84% if Chicago beat Jacksonville on Sunday.
But Chicago needs to take care of business in the last two weeks, where they will face the Jaguars and the Green Bay Packers.
There is another scenario in which the Bears can get a place in the playoffs with only one victory in the last two games. They needed cardinals to lose their Week 17 game against division rivals the Los Angeles Rams, another playoff team.