Bucs, Bears Choke It All Away

As the Bears trifled away their must-win against the Texans, they didn't know Minnesota would come back to edge the Giants by a point. The Vikings spent the afternoon locked in a tight, tight battle with nothing-to-play-for New York while Chicago spent its entire game trying to make up lost ground. The Bears couldn't get there and lost by seven, sealing up the division for Minnesota and keeping Philadelphia's hopes alive.

The Bucs, with Chicago trailing, kept hope -- a win combined with a Dallas loss would send Tampa Bay to the postseason. And after trailing 14-7, the Bucs charged back and took a three-point lead in the third. But JaMarcus Russell played nearly flawless, Michael Bush ran amok (his new diet: hearts) and Jeff Garcia had a rough time getting the T.B. offense moving. Oakland won by a touchdown, sealed with a sack of Garcia on the final play of the game.

Carolina won a nail-biter over New Orleans to seal the NFC's two-seed, which negated Atlanta's nail-biting win over St. Louis and relegated the Falcons to the 5th seed. The only game that mattered which turned out a bore was New England's must-win over Buffalo, which ended 13-0 Patriots. Great early slate, and it looks like the late set will be exciting as well: Philly leads Dallas 10-3 with a playoff berth at stake, Miami and New York remain scoreless in their battle, and Jacksonville has a 7-3 lead on Baltimore (which serves to keep the Jets alive and the wild-card option available for N.E.). Football, yeah!

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.