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Playoffs Not A Lock For Bears

(WSCR) - The Bears have gone a long way since sneaking by the Lions in week one and dropping consecutive home games to the Seattle Seahawks and Washington Redskins. Despite all of the improvements that have been made and the five wins in a row, the Bears are still not a lock to make the playoffs. With a challenging schedule remaining and the Green Bay Packers right on their heels, the Bears need to stay focused and keep winning.

Down three at the half after missing way too many tackles, the Chicago Bears looked as though they were headed toward a disappointing loss at Detroit instead of their fifth straight win.

That streak is still going. Where they're headed remains up in the air.

The Bears did enough to pull out a 24-20 win over the Lions after an ugly first half on Sunday, but they realize they'll have to do more if they're going to stay on top in the NFC North.

The schedule is about to take another tough turn with New England visiting this week, and the Bears (9-3) have little room for error if they're going to get back to the playoffs for the first time since the 2006 team's Super Bowl run.

Safety Chris Harris says "a 10-6 team, maybe even an 11-5 team" could wind up missing the playoffs, and the Bears "don't want to be that team on the outside looking in."

Copyright 2010 by STATS LLC and The Associated Press contributed to this article. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and The Associated Press is strictly prohibited.

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