The Chicago Bears must feel like they have a lottery ticket with all the right numbers. Expecting a tough fight against the Saints or Eagles in the division playoff round, the Bears instead catch the Seahawks, who are clearly the slowest wildebeest in the playoff herd. Seattle won only twice on the road this season (actually an improvement from a year ago, when they won only once). That one of the two victories came over the Bears (23-20, in Week 6) is probably not a concern for the Bears.

How Chicago wound up with No. 2 seed is a story in itself, the Bears taking advantage of chaos in the NFC East and West, the Vikings’ fall of a steep cliff, and Tampa Bay’s decline after a quick start. The Bears snuck in at 11-5 and the reward was a home game against the worst road team still alive. Life is good.

Seattle’s hopes lie in harassing the occasionally-schizophrenic Jay Cutler into a bad passing game. Cutler hasn’t completed 60 percent of his passes in a game since Week 13 indoors in Detroit, and in the four games since that game has six interceptions.

Neither Matt Ryan nor Aaron Rodgers is at Brady/Manning Level yet, but the two quarterbacks are in the next tier down, and one will emerge with tons of street cred after their game next weekend in Atlanta. Only Philadelphia scored more points that Atlanta in the NFC this season, and the unassuming Ryan is the perfect poster boy for the unassuming and under-the-radar Falcons.

Atlanta is the best home team in the NFC, and the Falcons have enough receivers to deal with Green Bay’s sophisticated defensive schemes. And Michael Turner was purposely held back in the last two games (only 34 total carries) to keep his legs fresh for the playoffs. If Atlanta gets ahead, Turner should get a lot of touches.

Green Bay, meanwhile, emerged from the victory over Philadelphia healthy and well on the way toward making amends for that wild 51-45 playoff loss in Arizona last season.