Bears officially eliminated from playoffs, fans’ hope shifts to draft

Hope is now officially gone for Bears fans.

Last week, we shared the slimmest of chances that the Bears would’ve made the NFL playoffs. MakeNFLPlayoffs.com set the chances at 0.1 percent before their game on Sunday. With the Week 12 loss to the Eagles, the Bears have officially been mathematically eliminated from any postseason hopes for the seventh consecutive season.

The team is now firmly camped in the basement of the NFC North, five games behind the first-place Vikings with five games remaining in the season.

Speaking of the Eagles, they will clinch the NFC East title on Sunday with a win or tie against the Seahawks or a Cowboys loss or tie.

But the optimistic Bears fans can turn their attention from the slight hope of making the playoffs to earning a high draft pick.

Currently, the Bears are tied for the fourth-worst record in the NFL at 3-8. They’re two games behind in the race for the bottom. They’d need to leap the perennially pathetic, winless Browns (0-11), the 49ers (1-10), who is their Week 13 opponent, the woeful Giants (2-9) and the Colts and Broncos, with whom they are tied record-wise.

With five games remaining, it’s possible for the Bears to catch the Browns. The 49ers are only a 3½-point underdog against the Bears on Sunday. So now there’s a different kind of hope is alive for the Bears.