Don't look now: Bears in NFC playoff picture

The Bears' playoff prospects were brightened considerably Sunday, and not just by the victory over the Oakland Raiders that lifted them to 4-5.

Amazingly, five NFC teams that were ahead of the Bears in the standings lost Sunday: the Lions (now 6-3), Panthers (4-5), Saints (4-5), Giants (6-3) and Redskins (5-4). All five could be teams the Bears wind up battling for a wild-card berth, assuming they're not going to make up a 4-game deficit to the Green Bay Packers in the NFC North.

"You look around a little bit today, and I guess that's good that that happened," coach Lovie Smith said. "But everything that happens with us, we control. So what happens on the outside really doesn't affect us a lot. If we take care of business, we know we'll be in good shape at the end of the year."

After 10 weeks, half the 16 NFC teams are 4-5 or 5-4, and only the 8-1 Packers and Dallas Cowboys are better than 6-3.

Getting defensive: The defense registered season bests in total yards allowed (193) and passing yards (80), while forcing 3 turnovers for just the second time.

"Defensively, that was the best game we've played this year," Lovie Smith said. "The way we practiced last week, I had a feeling that the guys would go out and play with emotion, make plays, fly around and do the things that we did."

After Raiders quarterback Josh McCown surprised the Bears with a 24-yard run off an option play on the first play from scrimmage, Oakland had just 169 yards on its remaining 60 plays, an average of just 2.8 yards per snap.

"We didn't get off to a good start," Smith said. "But the guys settled down from that first drive (which resulted in a field goal), and I thought dominated throughout the rest of the game."

Successful switch: In most nickel situations vs. the Raiders, the Bears left strong-side linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer on the field instead of replacing him with nickel cornerback Ricky Manning Jr., as they usually do.

Hillenmeyer responded with an unofficial team-high 7 tackles and was instrumental in keeping the Raiders out of the end zone.

"That's a package that we have," coach Lovie Smith said. "Hunter Hillenmeyer has played as well as any of our defensive players, so it didn't make a whole lot of sense to take him off the field when we didn't really have to.

"(Free safety) Danieal Manning allows us an opportunity to do some different things, since he can cover wide receivers, so that's the package that we'll keep up. We may play it a little more. We haven't studied Seattle as much as we need to, and we'll make those decisions later."

If the Bears continue to have success with the same alignment, Manning's role diminishes. He played only a handful of snaps vs. the Raiders.

"It leaves Ricky as a nickel (corner)," Smith said. "If we play that (other) package, he'll play."

Little big man: Because of the lingering groin injury to starting cornerback Nate Vasher, seventh-round pick Trumaine McBride has been pressed into a bigger role than anticipated, but he has been one of the team's most pleasant surprises.

The 5-foot-9, 185-pounder from Mississippi limited the Raiders' 6-foot-2, 220-pound wide receiver Jerry Porter to 2 catches for 22 yards.

"I thought he met the challenge," coach Lovie Smith said. "They went at him quite a few times, and he got better and better as the day went along."

McBride had a team-best 2 pass breakups and also recovered a fumble.