The Oakland Raiders provided a big boost to the Detroit Lions and their hopes of making the NFL Playoffs on Sunday afternoon. Oakland pulled off a 25-20 win over the Chicago Bears behind six field goals from Sebastian Janikowski. That loss dropped the Bears back into a second place tie in the NFC North with the Lions, and into a three-way tie with the Atlanta Falcons for the two NFC wild card slots.
The tiebreakers between the three teams are almost dead even as well, but the Lions would be on the short end if the season ended today. Atlanta defeated Detroit earlier in the season, but lost to Chicago. The Lions split their two games with the Bears. According to the NFL's tiebreaking procedures, Chicago and Atlanta would win the tiebreakers giving their better record (2-1 and 1-1) among the three teams tied. Detroit is 1-2 against those two.
The New York Giants, who play against the Saints on Monday Night Football, can also get involved in the tie at 7-4 with a win.