NFC Championship: Bears vs. Saints - Sun Jan 21, 2 pm CST

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Hester needs to learn to catch, he's freaking me out with all his muffs.

[treebird]

Hester needs to learn to catch, he's freaking me out with all his muffs.

 

thats what she said

[BleedCubbieBlue81]

John Clayton picks the Bears.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs06/columns/story?columnist=clayton_john&id=2733790

 

Gives his top five reasons why.

[Omar]

John Clayton picks the Bears.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs06/columns/story?columnist=clayton_john&id=2733790

 

Gives his top five reasons why.

 

*Puts on glasses*

 

Dear god. It's somebody from ESPN.

[Balsa]

HAH! Found Ole Miss' last SI cover, from the last time we won the National Championship:

 

http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/6228/62olemisscrsk5.jpg

Wow. That's....ridiculous. I've never seen so many Confederate flags. What year is that?

[swordsman]

HAH! Found Ole Miss' last SI cover, from the last time we won the National Championship:

 

http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/6228/62olemisscrsk5.jpg

 

Which one made a pass at you?

[Balsa]

John Clayton picks the Bears.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs06/columns/story?columnist=clayton_john&id=2733790

 

Gives his top five reasons why.

Wow, consider me not reassured at all because of that article.

[Chocolate Milk]

John Clayton picks the Bears.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs06/columns/story?columnist=clayton_john&id=2733790

 

Gives his top five reasons why.

 

I don't find his reasoning to be particularly sound other than the home field stuff. Hopefully he's right. I figure it's probably a coinflip.

[BleedCubbieBlue81]

John Clayton picks the Bears.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs06/columns/story?columnist=clayton_john&id=2733790

 

Gives his top five reasons why.

Wow, consider me not reassured at all because of that article.

Yeah, his reasons are kind of flimsy. But at least someone at ESPN isn't comparing the Bears to a bunch of devil worshipers that enjoy clubbing baby seals while beating up the Easter bunny.

[goonys evil twin]

John Clayton picks the Bears.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs06/columns/story?columnist=clayton_john&id=2733790

 

Gives his top five reasons why.

 

I don't find his reasoning to be particularly sound other than the home field stuff. Hopefully he's right. I figure it's probably a coinflip.

 

No kidding. Sounds like his editor asked somebody to come up with whatever they can in support of the Bears and Clayton was the one who accepted the task.

[Brian]

I'm pretty certain I could write an article and send it in to any publication and get it published. Here is the outline of the article that I would send in.

 

WHY THE SAINTS WILL WIN.

 

1. Rex Grossman is terrible!!!

 

2. Destiny!!

Edited January 17, 2007 by Brian

[Chocolate Milk]

Brees could suck and the Bears are due....

[OleMissCub]

Wow. That's....ridiculous. I've never seen so many Confederate flags. What year is that?

 

That was 1962. Check out a pic from an Ole Miss home game in the late 80's.

 

http://www.gallerysouth.com/gallerysouth/Flags.jpg

 

I'm not one of those types that likes to get rid of all things Confederate, but I'm glad they banned those flags at Ole Miss games. I'm NOT glad they changed the fight song from "Dixie", and now only allow the band to play it twice a game. The flags I get, but not "Dixie", that's a bit overkill.

[BleedCubbieBlue81]

I'm not one of those types that likes to get rid of all things Confederate, but I'm glad they banned those flags at Ole Miss games. I'm NOT glad they changed the fight song from "Dixie", and now only allow the band to play it twice a game. The flags I get, but not "Dixie", that's a bit overkill.

Did they really? Seems a bit extreme if you ask me. That song is a part of the south. The flag is one thing, but the changing the song is going a bit overboard if you ask me. What's next, making them dump the Rebel as a mascot?

[Handlebar McSkullet]

I think PR is even. Both Hester and Bush have the explosiveness to take one back anytime.

 

Thats crazy. Thats like saying quarterback is even because Brees and Grossman are both capable of making big plays. There is a huge difference in the numbers between the two guys.

 

I wouldn't go so far as to call it crazy.

 

I would. The Bears have the best special teams in the NFL. They also have a returner who broke the NFL record for KR/PR TD's in a season. To try to claim that the teams are equal here, is basically ignoring the facts.

 

Hey, Bush might return one Sunday and Hester might not, but going into the game the Bears have a pretty wide advantage in this area of the game.

 

I'm not suggesting they are equal, they aren't. The Bears special teams is DEFINITELY better than the Saints. What I was taking issue with was that it's "crazy" to compare Hester and Bush as playmakers. It's not crazy. They are both highly capable of the big play, much more than the average return man.

 

It is crazy to compare them as punt returners. Look at the numbers:

Bush: 28 returns, 2 FC, 7.7 ypr, 1 TD, 3 of 20+ yards

Hester: 47 returns, 12 FC, 12.8 ypr, 3 TD's, 11 of 20+ yards

 

In 19 more returns Hester has 8 more of 20+ yards and 2 more TD's, not to mention an overall average of 5 yards more than Reggie. It's not even close. I'm not saying Bush isn't special, he is, but there is no way it is equal like the Packer fan said, or even close to being debatable. Comparing those two on punt returns is just as crazy as comparing Rex and Brees in passing. Both are capable of being excellent, but one has done it far more often than the other.

 

That is exactly what I said. To say or back up the contention that they are equal is ridiculous based on the numbers. Bush is a good punt returner, but you are comparing him to the best in the NFL(as an overall returner, Pac Man Jones is an outstanding PR as well).

[OleMissCub]

I'm not one of those types that likes to get rid of all things Confederate, but I'm glad they banned those flags at Ole Miss games. I'm NOT glad they changed the fight song from "Dixie", and now only allow the band to play it twice a game. The flags I get, but not "Dixie", that's a bit overkill.

Did they really? Seems a bit extreme if you ask me. That song is a part of the south. The flag is one thing, but the changing the song is going a bit overboard if you ask me. What's next, making them dump the Rebel as a mascot?

 

Well, they've already taken Colonel Reb away as the official mascot, which caused a HUGE uproar, even among most of the black students who his banishment was supposed to help. Also, they've changed the official Ole Miss logo away from Colonel Reb to some boring Ole Miss cursive script.

 

http://sportsmed.starwave.com/i/media/pg2/030916colreb.jpg

 

http://cofcc.org/cutenews/data/upimages/Colonel-Reb.jpg

 

http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/brands/0013/6232/brand.gif

[Butterscup1679666578]

Any updates on Mark Bradley?

[Omar]

Any updates on Mark Bradley?

 

"Bradley says he's probable for Saints game"

 

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/bears/211210,SPX-News-inj15.article

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Any updates on Mark Bradley?

 

"Bradley says he's probable for Saints game"

 

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/bears/211210,SPX-News-inj15.article

 

That was from the 15th, as of the 16th, the Sun-Times had this to say:

 

Wide receiver Mark Bradley still has a walking boot protecting his right ankle and is unlikely to play.

 

Injury reports should be out later today.

[OleMissCub]

http://www.nbc5.com/sports/10774432/detail.html

 

Looks a Chicago-based writer dissing on the Bears. From an article entitled "The 'Bear Weather' myth", my favorite part:

 

Second, defensively the Bears better not come out with a repeat of Sunday’s effort against an offense averaging almost 400 yards a game. If they do that against Brees and Co. it’s going to be a long afternoon. At times Sunday the Bears had trouble with Hasselbeck and his receiving corp. Close your eyes and imagine Joe Horn, Marques Colston, and Devry Henderson running routes. Now for the sake of argument say all those guys are covered, Drew Brees can still dump it off to Reggie Bush. Kind of scary, isn’t it? Oh it gets better, I haven’t even gotten to the part about stopping Deuce McAllister, that’s a whole other column. The Bears came up huge on a few key plays stopping Shaun Alexander, but otherwise he ran all over the place. I’m still amazed he only had 108 yards on the ground. The Deuce was loose against the Eagles, and he’ll be out again Sunday. Only this time it’ll be a lot tougher stopping Deuce because of all the other options the Saints will have out on the field.

[kujay]

I think I might actually go insane waiting for Sunday.

 

I feel like Cartman waiting for the Wii.

 

Come ooooooooonnnnnnnn. Come oooooooooonnnnnnnnnnn!

[OleMissCub]

What Ron Jaworski has to say:

 

http://www.ronjaworski.com/free_jaws_bites.php

Let's begin with New Orleans. The Saints have shown time and again what kind of well-balanced offense they have, and if the Saints protect quarterback Drew Brees this weekend, he will light up the Bears secondary.

 

Since defensive tackle Tommie Harris went down with an injury, the Bears have not generated any kind of pass rush and the secondary has been exposed. I think the Bears are an average defense and I think Brees and all of those Saints weapons will sustain offense and score a lot of points.

 

I also think the Bears will score points, so I'm expecting a game in the 30s. Rex Grossman played a terrific game on Sunday considering all the pressure he had from the fans and from his teammates and coaching staff. All we heard for two weeks was that Grossman was on a short leash and that Brian Griese was waiting in the wings.

 

Well, Grossman stepped up. That throw he made to Rasheed Davis in overtime was as good a throw as you will ever seen from a quarterback under tremendous, tremendous pressure. It's clear to me that Grossman made a quantum leap Sunday toward becoming a quarterback you can count on in playoff situations.

 

I think Rex will have some success against the Saints defense. Cornerback Fred Thomas was exposed by the Eagles on Saturday night and he has had trouble with double moves all year.

 

Unless the weather is nasty, the home-field advantage won't keep the teams from scoring points. I thought road teams handled the loud crowds very well this past weekend, so I'm not sure how much it will help the home teams. Sure, it helps, but not a tremendous amount.

[Chocolate Milk]

I doubt "Bears Weather" will have much impact on the game but aren't dome teams pretty bad playing outside, on the road, in the playoffs? I think the track record on that is pretty lopsided in favor of the non-dome team.

[OleMissCub]

I doubt "Bears Weather" will have much impact on the game but aren't dome teams pretty bad playing outside, on the road, in the playoffs? I think the track record on that is pretty lopsided in favor of the non-dome team.

 

They were 4-2 playing in the outside this year, and 6-2 overall on the road.

[Banedon]

This is from last year, but it still applies:

 

No dome team has ever won outside on their road to the Super Bowl