NFL Playoff Picture: Chicago Bears and Teams That Must Win in Week 15

As the regular season winds down, the NFL playoff picture is becoming clearer each week.

If these three teams want to paint their way into it, they must win in Week 15.

Chicago Bears

The Bears desperately need a win this week to keep pace with Detroit in the NFC wild card race.

The Lions are 8-5 and should pick up another win today against Oakland.

As I'm writing this, the 7-6 Bears are up 14-7 on Seattle at halftime. They need to hold on to their lead in the second half, or they will be bounced from contention.

Chicago has a tough game next week against Green Bay before facing Minnesota in the finale. They can certainly beat the Vikings, but I doubt they will be the first to take down the undefeated Packers.

They need to finish at least 2-1 in the last three games of the season. If they don't beat Seattle today, their playoff fate will already be decided.

Oakland Raiders

The Raiders are in a tough spot, as they are one game behind the Jets and would lose a tiebreaker to both Tennessee and Cincinnati.

To make matters worse, they have to try to keep up with Matthew Stafford and the potent Lions offense today.

Still, a playoff berth is not out reach.

They have two winnable games to end the season, when they take on Kansas City and San Diego. If they upset Detroit today, the Raiders can sneak into the playoffs.

New York Giants

After watching Tony Romo shred Tampa Bay on Saturday, the Giants knew they had to beat Washington to keep up.

But they came out flat, and the Redskins jumped to a 17-3 halftime lead.

The Giants are a half game behind Dallas and play them in Week 17. They could still catch the Cowboys without winning today, but they don't want to rely on outside help.

New York will make it much easier on themselves if they can pull off the comeback victory against Washington.