CHICAGO – Having lost four of their last five games after a promising 3-1 start, the slumping Bears will look to rebound tonight when they host the Philadelphia Eagles at Soldier Field.

Chicago (4-5) enters tonight's contest in third place in the NFC North behind the Minnesota Vikings (9-1) and Green Bay Packers (6-4), both of whom won their games earlier Sunday. There are also four teams ahead of the Bears in the race for two wildcard berths, and they've already lost to the Packers and Atlanta Falcons (5-5).

Jay Cutler and the Bears will look to snap a two-game losing streak tonight in Chicago.

Since the NFL adopted its current playoff format in 2002, four teams that started 4-5 have qualified for the post-season: the Cleveland Browns and New York Jets in 2002, the Packers in 2003 and the San Diego Chargers in 2004.

Jay Cutler has thrown a league-high 17 interceptions, one shy of his total from all of last year when he had the second most in the NFL while playing for the Denver Broncos. The Bears quarterback tossed a career-high five picks, including two in the red zone, in last Thursday night’s loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

Cutler has thrown red-zone interceptions in narrow road losses of four points to the 49ers, five points to the Packers and seven points to the Atlanta Falcons. Of his 17 picks, 15 have come in five road games and five have occurred in the red zone.

Against the 49ers, Cutler threw five interceptions on his team’s final nine possessions as the Bears failed to score a touchdown for the first time since last Nov. 16 in a 37-3 loss in Green Bay.

Cutler seemingly would benefit from a more productive running game. The Bears rank 30th in the NFL in rushing yards, averaging just 85.2 per game.

Matt Forte was limited to 41 yards on 20 carries against the 49ers, but he caught eight passes for a career-high 120 yards. It was the most receiving yards by a Bears running back since Willie Galimore amassed 149 on seven catches on Oct. 15, 1961 against the Baltimore Colts.

Forte was effective on screen passes, gaining 37, 31 and 12 yards. His 38 receptions this season are the third most among NFL running backs behind the Baltimore Ravens’ Ray Rice (46) and the Arizona Cardinals’ Tim Hightower (45).

The Bears rank 10th in the NFL in passing and 30th in rushing. But while they are 0-3 when Cutler passes for at least 300 yards, they’ve rushed for an average of 112.5 yards in their four wins and 63.4 yards in their five losses.

The Bears need to protect the ball tonight against the Eagles, who rank second in the league with 22 takeaways and are tied for second with 29 sacks. Philadelphia’s blitz-happy defense is led by defensive ends Trent Cole (7½) and Juqua Parker (5), who have combined for 12½ sacks.

The Bears have been a different team at home this season. While their turnover margin on the road is a distressing minus-13 with five takeaways and 18 giveaways, their differential at Soldier Field is an impressive plus-eight with 10 takeaways and only two giveaways.

Israel Idonije sacks Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb in the Bears' 24-20 win last season.

Cutler’s five interceptions against the 49ers spoiled an impressive performance by the Bears defense, which yielded just 216 total yards. San Francisco’s only touchdown came after a Cutler interception was returned to the Chicago 14.

After getting ejected from the Bears’ previous game against the Cardinals, defensive tackle Tommie Harris registered five tackles, his first sack of the season and one tackle-for-loss in San Francisco.

While versatile Eagles running back Brian Westbrook won’t play tonight after suffering two concussions in three weeks, Philadelphia’s offense is still dangerous thanks to veteran quarterback Donovan McNabb.

A five-time Pro Bowler, McNabb has led the Eagles to five NFC East championships, five NFC title games and one Super Bowl. This season McNabb has completed 60.1 percent of his passes for 1,685 yards with 12 touchdowns, four interceptions and a 95.1 passer rating that ranks ninth in the NFL.

In last Sunday’s loss to the Chargers, the Chicago native connected on 35 of 55 passes for 450 yards with 2 TDs, 1 interception and a 93.8 passer rating.

Even without Westbrook, McNabb has skilled weapons at his disposal. Speedy receiver DeSean Jackson has caught 34 passes for a team-high 621 yards and 4 TDs. Tight end Brent Celek leads the Eagles with 46 receptions for 533 yards and 5 TDs. And rookie receiver Jeremy Maclin has added 31 catches for 413 yards and 4 TDs.

McNabb is 4-2 as a starter against the Bears. In those contests, he has passed for 207, 262, 209, 237, 226 and 262 yards with a total of 6 touchdowns, 5 interceptions, 14 sacks and a 79.4 passer rating.