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(SportsNetwork.com) - The Detroit Lions are still in the mix to be the No. 1 seed in the NFC heading into the postseason. Then again, theres also a slim chance theyll be out of the playoff picture altogether. Detroit takes another step toward a playoff berth and its first-ever NFC North crown, as it goes after a fourth straight win in a road test against the hapless Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. The Lions can clinch their second playoff spot in four years before they even take the field on Sunday if Philadelphia loses to Washington on Saturday. A win over the Bears would net the same result for the Lions, who could also clinch their first division crown in 21 years with a win coupled with a Green Bay loss to Tampa Bay. Its right there in front of us, defensive end Jason Jones said. Everything broke right for the Lions in Week 15. First, the Buffalo Bills pulled off an upset of the Packers, then Matt Praters late field goal helped the Lions pull out a 16-14 victory over the Minnesota Vikings to move them into a tie atop the division with the Packers. Detroit actually holds the tiebreaker over Green Bay at the moment given its win over the Packers earlier in the year. The Lions will visit Lambeau Field in Week 17, likely with a chance at securing their first division title since winning the NFC Central in 1993. Were not taking any game for granted, any play for granted, said Matt Stafford, who threw for a season-low 153 yards in the win over the Vikings. Its not going to be pristine every time, but were going to fight tooth and nail for wins and that showed up again today. Its the first time the Lions reached 10 wins in the first 14 games of the season since the Lions started 10-4 in 1991. Chicago, meanwhile, is no such playoff position after a lifeless, 31-15, shellacking at the hands of the New Orleans Saints on Monday. And now the team is in complete disarray. Shortly after the loss reports started to circulate that head coach Marc Trestman may be out of a job at the end of the season. Then, on Wednesday it leaked that the Bears would bench starting quarterback Jay Cutler in favor of Jimmy Clausen, who hasnt started a game since 2010. The bottom line is that this is a business based on winning and losing, Trestman said. We cant sugarcoat it. We are disappointed that were not playing well enough to win. Cutler turned in another subpar performance against the Saints as he threw for just 194 yards on 17-of-31 passing with two touchdown passes and three interceptions for the Bears, who have dropped their last three games. Overall, I just feel that we need passion to come from certain places and I dont think the passion is always there all the time, Bears tight end Martellus Bennett said. The Lions have won three straight over the Bears including a Thanksgiving Day triumph when Stafford threw for 390 yards and two scores. They havent won consecutive contests in Chicago since a six-game run from 1968-73 WHAT TO WATCH FOR Detroit only managed 233 total yards versus the Vikings, but could be in store for a big bounce back this week considering the Bears have given up 35.3 points and 438.0 yards over their three-game slide. Chicagos defense has given up a league-high 409 points, 19 more than the Tennessee Titans, who have allowed 390. In fact, theyve given up 251 points in the first half alone. To put that into perspective, three teams havent surrendered that many in 14 full games, led by the Lions with 238 and followed by the Seahawks (242) and Cardinals (244). Speaking of the Lions second-ranked defense, they havent allowed more than 17 points in three straight games and five of the last six. That doesnt figure to change against a Bears team that will go with Clausen, who has completed three of his nine pass attempts this season. Before this season, the former Notre Dame star hadnt appeared in an NFL game since playing 13 for the Carolina Panthers as a rookie after he was taken in the second round of the 2010 draft. Cutler, meanwhile, has started all 14 games in his sixth season for the Bears, completing 66.1 percent of his passes for 3,640 yards, 28 touchdowns and an NFL-high 18 interceptions. He has fumbled 12 times, losing six to lead the league in overall turnovers. Our whole football team isnt where it needs to be, Trestman said. Nobodys happy about it. Jays not happy about it. We all can do better. Even without Cutler the Bears still have some offensive firepower with wide receiver Alshon Jeffery, Bennett and running back Matt Forte. You look at a guy like Alshon Jeffery, safety Glover Quin said. He can make tough catches. He can go deep on you. You look at Bennett. He can move the chains. You look at Forte. Hes a Pro Bowl player. Hes a big-time running back. You look at all those things. They can throw it. They can catch it. They can run it. OVERALL ANALYSIS Its all there for the Lions taking. All they need to do is win and they are in the playoffs. With a regular season-ending game in Green Bay next week, the Lions know theyd be better off taking care of business this week. As for the Bears, well, what can you say. They looked like a team that had packed it in last week. Now, theyll have a quarterback who hasnt started a game in four years. Its getting ugly in Chicago and it figures to be worse after Sunday. Sports Network predicted outcome: Lions 35, Bears 6 Marshall Faulk Jersey .J. - Percy Harvin is ready to go, and theres no question in his mind hell be playing Sunday. Custom Indianapolis Colts Jerseys . Every. Single. Game. Thats 1,230 in total to cover the regular season. The man is Corey Sznajder, a soft-spoken 23-year-old Salisbury University grad who lives in Annapolis, Maryland and has been charting zone entries and zone exits throughout the NHL. I love big projects, he said. No kidding. At the 2013 Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, I met Eric Tulsky, who presented research on the value of controlled zone entries (short answer: about twice as valuable to enter with control of the puck rather than dumping it in) and Sznajder had charted a couple hundred games that were included in that study. http://www.officialindianapoliscoltspro.com/Malik-hooker-colts-jersey/ . The two-time former Formula One champion downplayed his third-place finish three weeks ago in China and said progress is going slow for Ferrari as it tries to make up ground on Mercedes. Marvin Harrison Jersey . Others describe it as taking the parrot for a walk. Pat McAfee Jersey . But qualifying for her first Scotties Tournament of Hearts after years of falling short in tough Manitoba provincial championships is as good as consolation prizes get for the 29-year-old from Winnipegs Fort Rouge Curling Club.SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau found the perfect way to celebrate their new contract extensions. Thornton scored his second goal of the game with 1:30 remaining in overtime to lead the San Jose Sharks to their sixth straight win, 3-2 over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night. Marleau also scored as the two longtime Sharks shined one day after signing three-year deals that will keep them in San Jose through the 2016-17 season. "For me and Patty both to score, its a great night for us," Thornton said. Antti Niemi made 20 saves and Joe Pavelski and Matt Irwin had two assists apiece as the Sharks overcame a 2-0 deficit to get their third six-game winning streak of the season. "Theyre our guys, and we need them when were down," Irwin said. "Jumbo got us to within one and Patty tied it up and obviously Jumbo won it in overtime. Theyre our guys. Its just kind of ironic what happened." Matt Cooke and Keith Ballard scored for the Wild, who built an early lead on the opener of a four-game road trip but still lost for the ninth time in their past 10 trips to San Jose. Darcy Kuemper made 29 saves as Minnesota lost for just the fourth time in 12 games this month. "We got a point against a good team in a tough building to play," Ballard said. "For the most part we played a fairly solid game. We werent the best at times. But we hung in there and even after they got those two quick goals, I thought we responded pretty well. We just couldnt find the time to get the third one tonight." Thornton and Pavelski combined on the game-winning play by causing a turnover at the blue line. Pavelski then fed Thornton, who beat Kuemper with a wrist shot from the top of the circle to end it with his ninth career overtime goal and first since Nov. 26, 2008, against Chicago. Pavelski assisted on both of Thorntons goals in a bit of a role reversal after Thornton helped set up many of his 19 goals in the previous 21 games. "Ive been teelling Pav, Youve been scoring too much.dddddddddddd Start passing the puck. And he finally listened," Thornton said. "I dont too often, but Pav just made two good plays and luckily I put them in." The Wild struck first on a nifty play by Cooke midway through the first period. Cooke deflected Thorntons cross-ice pass to Brad Stuart in the neutral zone. Cooke then beat Stuart to the loose puck and skated in on Niemi before beating him with a forehand for his eighth goal. They added onto the lead early in the second when Mikael Granlund fed Ballard for a one-timer that beat Niemi. It was Ballards first goal since Oct. 6, 2011, for Vancouver against Pittsburgh, ending a drought of 114 games without a goal. But that was all the Wild would get as they managed just 12 shots in the final 39-plus minutes. They spent much of the game on the defensive as they won just 18 of 59 faceoffs. "We lost the extra point because of the face-off circle tonight," coach Mike Yeo said. "We spent the entire night chasing and its inevitable that they will put you on your heels and give them some momentum. We never started with the puck. That was the big story." Minnesota dominated the opening half of the second period, limiting San Jose to one shot in the first 11-plus minutes before Thornton and Marleau delivered a day after getting their new contracts. Thornton struck first when Pavelski fed him for a one-timer that he knocked past Kuemper on a knuckler. Just 49 seconds later, Marleau scored his 22nd of the season when Tommy Wingels fanned on the original shot but still managed to get the puck to Marleau, who deflected it past Kuemper to tie the game. NOTES: Thornton has 40 career multigoal games. ... Minnesota F Jason Pominville got his 500th career point with an assist on Ballards goal. ... San Jose juggled its top two lines the second half of the game with Matt Nieto playing with Thornton and Pavelski and Brent Burns moving to a wing with Marleau and Wingels. 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