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According to Bob Costas on NBC Sports' Sunday Night Football broadcast this evening, all signs point to the Green Bay Packers' Week 17 game against the Chicago Bears being moved from 12 Noon Central time to a 3:25 PM kickoff.
With the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles playing a winner-take-all game next Sunday for the NFC East title, that game has already been moved to the Sunday Night slot as a 7:30 PM kick. The apparent NFC North title game between the two teams on Lake Michigan will get second billing behind that game.
This all assumes that the Eagles hold on to beat the Bears in tonight's Sunday night game, however. Currently, though, the Eagles lead 33-3 midway through the third quarter, so that seems a very likely proposition. If Chicago were to find a way to come back and win, that would clinch a division title, and with nothing at stake in the Packers-Bears game, it would remain a noon kick. That is a ridiculous long shot at this point, however.
Thus, the bulk of the United States can expect to see the Packers and Bears in the late afternoon on FOX. Other late games on FOX that would affect the viewership in that time slot are the NFC West games: the St. Louis Rams play at the Seattle Seahawks, and the Arizona Cardinals play host to the San Francisco 49ers. If you're not in one of those teams' local areas, odds are good that you will get to see the Packers play for a playoff berth on your local FOX affiliate.
