Looking back at some of history's greatest confrontations, it was easy to know who to root for: Rocky Balboa over Apollo Creed, Austin Powers over Dr. Evil and the Charlestown Chiefs over the Syracuse Bulldogs.

With the Bears battling for playoff position, however, it's not that simple. So we'll provide a weekly guide to clarify which results would most benefit the Monsters of the Midway. It goes without saying that you'll cheer for the Bears against the Vikings in Minnesota, but here are some other teams to root for Sunday:

Lions over Packers (7:20 p.m. in Green Bay)
The Bears (8-4) and Packers (8-4) are tied for first place in the NFC North, but Green Bay currently owns the tiebreaker by virtue of their Week 2 at Lambeau Field. Assuming the Bears can win the rematch with Green Bay a week from Sunday at Soldier Field, the second tiebreaker would come into play, which is division record. So a Packers loss to the Lions would be huge for the Bears.

Dolphins over 49ers (3:05 p.m. in San Francisco)
The top two seeds in the playoffs earn first-round byes, and the 49ers currently hold the No. 2 spot, a half-game ahead of the Bears and Packers. Assuming the Bears are able to win the NFC North, they could earn that valuable first-round bye by finishing with a better record than San Francisco. With only four games remaining, the Falcons (11-1) are pretty much assured of the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.

Cardinals over Seahawks (3:25 p.m. in Seattle)
The Seahawks (7-5) trail the Bears by only one game in the race for the first of the NFC's two wildcard berths and secured the tiebreaker by virtue of last Sunday's overtime win at Soldier Field. If the Bears claim the second wildcard, they could open the playoffs in Green Bay or San Francisco, two places they haven't had a whole lot of success.

Saints over Giants (3:25 p.m. in New York)
Ravens over Redskins (noon in Washington)
Bengals over Cowboys (noon in Cincinnati)
The Bears could be battling for playoff seeding as a division champion or wildcard with the three NFC East teams that are in contention: the Giants (7-5), Redskins (6-6) and Cowboys (6-6). If the season ended today, the Bears would open the playoffs on the road against the Giants (7-5), who would host the game because they would be a division champion. The Bears don't play the Giants or Redskins this year, but own the tiebreaker over the Cowboys due to a Week 4 win in Dallas.