How Bears will stop scoreboard-watching: Take score down

The best way for the Bears to prevent scoreboard-watching Sunday, coach Matt Nagy figures, is to take the score off the board.

Nagy said the Bears will “probably” tell the Soldier Field scoreboard operator not to post updates on the Cardinals-Rams game. If the Rams beat the Cardinals, the Bears will make the playoffs regardless of how they fare against the Packers. If the Bears and Cardinals win, the Bears would be the sixth seed in the playoff draw.

“We gotta worry about us, and we gotta make sure that we do everything we can to win this game,” Nagy said. “We’ll discuss [taking the Cardinals-Rams score down], go through all that. But if I had to lean one way or the other, I’m sure that most of us would want it that way. And I think that’s the right thing to do.”

The Colts are doing the same. Coach Frank Reich, whose team needs outside help to make the playoffs, told reporters that the “relevant scores will not be up on the scoreboard” because “it’s a potential distraction.”