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

[Chocolate Milk]

Yay!

[Banedon]

You will enjoy this article.

 

What a garbage article,

 

All you have to know about the Bears offense is that Rex Grossman is the starting quarterback. Do we really need to elaborate on that?

 

I guess that tard didn't watch the game yesterday were Grossman made play after play in the passsing game.

 

How do these idiots get reporting jobs?

 

A guy I work with is telling me that Lovie should be fired for continuing to stick with Grossman, and tells me that Grossman played bad yesterday because his throwaways "looked ugly".

[Banedon]

Well this is the first national media "pick" I've seen so far...he has the Bears winning by 9.

 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/nunyo_demasio/01/14/saints.bears/index.html

[OleMissCub]

 

First: Seattle was/is more equipped to play in the cold that Chicago brought. I'm not convince Nawlins will be the "threat" people think they are.

 

Second: 7 points might be a little bit ambitous, but I do think the current Bears D has the talent to do, regardless of how they've played recently. But I will revised my score....24-14.

 

That's ridiculously ambitious, especially considering that in your last 3 regular season games, not counting the meaningless Green Bay game, your pass defense gave up an average of 302 yards and 3td's. Now you are going up against the No.1 passing game in the NFL.

 

It'll be a very tough game for both sides and it'd be foolishly naive to make predictions that one side is going to crush the other. They are the 1 and 2 teams in the NFC for a reason.

[Banedon]

From Peter King's article:

 

c. Quarterback rating. Stupid, stupid stat. Peyton Manning's was 39.6, Tom Brady's 57.6. Those two guys both played flawed but gallant football against the two most fearsome pass-rushes in football. You'd think they played like Spergon Wynn with those ratings.

 

Mark my words, Peter will use Rex's past quarterback ratings as an reason to dump on him at some point. In fact if I go look through his archives, I'm pretty damn sure he's already done it!

[Soriano12]

From Peter King's article:

 

c. Quarterback rating. Stupid, stupid stat. Peyton Manning's was 39.6, Tom Brady's 57.6. Those two guys both played flawed but gallant football against the two most fearsome pass-rushes in football. You'd think they played like Spergon Wynn with those ratings.

 

Mark my words, Peter will use Rex's past quarterback ratings as an reason to dump on him at some point. In fact if I go look through his archives, I'm pretty damn sure he's already done it!

 

I'm Muhammed didn't bobble that pass causing it to be intercepted, I'm pretty sure Grossman's rating would have been over 100.

[TruffleShuffle]

From Peter King's article:

 

c. Quarterback rating. Stupid, stupid stat. Peyton Manning's was 39.6, Tom Brady's 57.6. Those two guys both played flawed but gallant football against the two most fearsome pass-rushes in football. You'd think they played like Spergon Wynn with those ratings.

 

Mark my words, Peter will use Rex's past quarterback ratings as an reason to dump on him at some point. In fact if I go look through his archives, I'm pretty damn sure he's already done it!

 

Plus his point is stupid. Peyton Manning played like crap. Brady played pretty poorly too.

 

 

By the way, every time Robbie Gould makes a kick I get more and more pissed off. Not because I hate the Bears or anything, but because he sucked when he was at Penn State. And I blame the PSU coaching staff for that (since they inexplicably refuse to hire a special teams coach).

[OleMissCub]

 

 

By the way, every time Robbie Gould makes a kick I get more and more pissed off. Not because I hate the Bears or anything, but because he sucked when he was at Penn State. And I blame the PSU coaching staff for that (since they inexplicably refuse to hire a special teams coach).

 

Just curious cuz I know nothing of Gould, but if he sucked how did he get to the NFL?

[bukie]

 

 

By the way, every time Robbie Gould makes a kick I get more and more pissed off. Not because I hate the Bears or anything, but because he sucked when he was at Penn State. And I blame the PSU coaching staff for that (since they inexplicably refuse to hire a special teams coach).

 

Just curious cuz I know nothing of Gould, but if he sucked how did he get to the NFL?

 

Basically, because the Bears needed something after Doug Brien didn't work out at all last year. Gould was essentially hammering nails last year.

[Derwood]

 

 

By the way, every time Robbie Gould makes a kick I get more and more pissed off. Not because I hate the Bears or anything, but because he sucked when he was at Penn State. And I blame the PSU coaching staff for that (since they inexplicably refuse to hire a special teams coach).

 

Just curious cuz I know nothing of Gould, but if he sucked how did he get to the NFL?

 

Basically, because the Bears needed something after Doug Brien didn't work out at all last year. Gould was essentially hammering nails last year.

 

yep. He was undrafted, cut by two teams and working construction before the Bears signed him.

[Soriano12]

Yeah, Gould is really making the Penn State Coaching Staff look terrible.

 

When the Bears first signed him I was like "Great, we just signed a marginal college kicker" but I guess he was just booming kicks during his Bears tryout.

[CP_414]

On to the game, this will be tough. The Saints can put up a ton of points, and the D isn't as bad as people think. I think/hope good Rex shows up again and the Bears outslug the Saints 31-27.

 

Saints offense is ranked higher than the Bears defense and the Saints D is ranked higher than the Bears offense.

 

The weather is going to be the toughest thing for the Saints in my opinion.

 

The Bears D is better than the Saints D, and the Bears offense outscored the Saints offense this season. The Bears are going to be the toughest thing for the Saints to deal with, not the weather.

[TruffleShuffle]

Yeah, Gould is really making the Penn State Coaching Staff look terrible.

 

9/16 his junior year, 7/13 senior year including three misses from under 40 yards. I really think Penn State's current kicker could be very good if he received the proper coaching, but I'm sure that's not happening.

[CuseCubFan69]

From Peter King's article:

 

c. Quarterback rating. Stupid, stupid stat. Peyton Manning's was 39.6, Tom Brady's 57.6. Those two guys both played flawed but gallant football against the two most fearsome pass-rushes in football. You'd think they played like Spergon Wynn with those ratings.

 

Mark my words, Peter will use Rex's past quarterback ratings as an reason to dump on him at some point. In fact if I go look through his archives, I'm pretty damn sure he's already done it!

 

Plus his point is stupid. Peyton Manning played like crap. Brady played pretty poorly too.

 

 

By the way, every time Robbie Gould makes a kick I get more and more pissed off. Not because I hate the Bears or anything, but because he sucked when he was at Penn State. And I blame the PSU coaching staff for that (since they inexplicably refuse to hire a special teams coach).

 

Sometimes I wonder if Penn State wins despite the coaching staff.

[OleMissCub]

On to the game, this will be tough. The Saints can put up a ton of points, and the D isn't as bad as people think. I think/hope good Rex shows up again and the Bears outslug the Saints 31-27.

 

Saints offense is ranked higher than the Bears defense and the Saints D is ranked higher than the Bears offense.

 

The weather is going to be the toughest thing for the Saints in my opinion.

 

The Bears D is better than the Saints D, and the Bears offense outscored the Saints offense this season. The Bears are going to be the toughest thing for the Saints to deal with, not the weather.

 

Bears D is on the way down while the Saints is on the way up. Over the last 7 games, including our throwaway game against the Panthers, the Saints D has only allowed 17 points per game. While in that same span, the Bears have given up 19. Plus, Bears had THE easiest schedule according to strength of schedule in the entire NFL this year. Saints had the 3rd hardest. I'm sure if the Saints got to play the Lions and Vikings twice this year they would have put up alot MORE points.

[bukie]

My "scouting report" on the Bears:

 

The Bears are basically a fantastically inconsistent team. They have the ability to play like the best team in the league at any given moment, but they also have the ability to implode at any time (see: Third quarter yesterday).

 

Defense:

Losing Harris and Brown has really stretched the defense thin, forcing the Bears to blitz to put pressure on the QB, and forcing a rookie safety into the lineup. Blitzing from the LBs opens up the middle of the field for 5-15 yard passes, and Danieal Manning tends to count on his speed too much to catch up, giving a large cushion to throw to.

 

To improve, Manning needs to react better and guess less, so that he's on the receiver much quicker, either breaking up the pass or being there right away for the tackle, giving the receiver less chance for YAC (something Tillman and Vasher are generally very good at).

 

The line has been getting almost no pressure for weeks now, and I think the Bears are overcompensating by blitzing too much, allowing open routes and opening larger holes in the defensive backfield. The best the Bears did defensively yesterday was when they simply sent the front four in to rush, keeping the LBs back to react to runs or short passes. Urlacher and Briggs played very well yesterday to keep the Seahawks offense honest.

 

Offense:

Rex is both a boon and a liability. He always wants to make something happen out of nothing, and that was the main reason for the fumble. He generally had a good game yesterday, other than 2 passes about 6 inches behind where they needed to be, 1 to Berrian that would've been a TD, and one to Muhammad that led to the fluke INT.

 

Rushing, Jones always waits for a hole, even if there is none, and Benson generally just charges ahead right away. Benson's approach has been working better lately, but the run blocking was pretty good yesterday regardless.

 

Pass protection was OK, but blitz recognition was abysmal. Sure, rattling Rex with pressure will make him force things, but there was an unblocked rusher on about 75% of the blitzes, and there were blockers just standing around waiting for something to happen. Either Rex needs to recognize what's going on quicker, or the blockers have to recognize everyone that comes on the blitz.

[CP_414]

My "scouting report" on the Bears:

 

The Bears are basically a fantastically inconsistent team. They have the ability to play like the best team in the league at any given moment, but they also have the ability to implode at any time (see: Third quarter yesterday).

 

Defense:

Losing Harris and Brown has really stretched the defense thin, forcing the Bears to blitz to put pressure on the QB, and forcing a rookie safety into the lineup. Blitzing from the LBs opens up the middle of the field for 5-15 yard passes, and Danieal Manning tends to count on his speed too much to catch up, giving a large cushion to throw to.

 

To improve, Manning needs to react better and guess less, so that he's on the receiver much quicker, either breaking up the pass or being there right away for the tackle, giving the receiver less chance for YAC (something Tillman and Vasher are generally very good at).

 

The line has been getting almost no pressure for weeks now, and I think the Bears are overcompensating by blitzing too much, allowing open routes and opening larger holes in the defensive backfield. The best the Bears did defensively yesterday was when they simply sent the front four in to rush, keeping the LBs back to react to runs or short passes. Urlacher and Briggs played very well yesterday to keep the Seahawks offense honest.

 

Offense:

Rex is both a boon and a liability. He always wants to make something happen out of nothing, and that was the main reason for the fumble. He generally had a good game yesterday, other than 2 passes about 6 inches behind where they needed to be, 1 to Berrian that would've been a TD, and one to Muhammad that led to the fluke INT.

 

Rushing, Jones always waits for a hole, even if there is none, and Benson generally just charges ahead right away. Benson's approach has been working better lately, but the run blocking was pretty good yesterday regardless.

 

Pass protection was OK, but blitz recognition was abysmal. Sure, rattling Rex with pressure will make him force things, but there was an unblocked rusher on about 75% of the blitzes, and there were blockers just standing around waiting for something to happen. Either Rex needs to recognize what's going on quicker, or the blockers have to recognize everyone that comes on the blitz.

 

For the most part I agree with what you wrote, but if Moose and Berrian can't catch passess 6 inches from where they should be thrown, that is their fault not Grossman's. Also, Manning was starting before Brown went down.

[CubColtPacer]

From Peter King's article:

 

c. Quarterback rating. Stupid, stupid stat. Peyton Manning's was 39.6, Tom Brady's 57.6. Those two guys both played flawed but gallant football against the two most fearsome pass-rushes in football. You'd think they played like Spergon Wynn with those ratings.

 

Mark my words, Peter will use Rex's past quarterback ratings as an reason to dump on him at some point. In fact if I go look through his archives, I'm pretty damn sure he's already done it!

 

Plus his point is stupid. Peyton Manning played like crap. Brady played pretty poorly too.

 

 

By the way, every time Robbie Gould makes a kick I get more and more pissed off. Not because I hate the Bears or anything, but because he sucked when he was at Penn State. And I blame the PSU coaching staff for that (since they inexplicably refuse to hire a special teams coach).

 

I would agree partially with Peter King on his point. Both men should not be criticized as much as normally those ratings would make one criticize because of the quality of defenses they were facing. However, neither one of them were "gallant". Manning played ok the entire game, and Brady played terrible most of the game, and very good to great for part of the game, which averages out to "ok" as well. I would say that Grossman still played a little better than either of those two QB's-his stats were much better against not anywhere near the same caliber of defense, which puts him closer to Manning and Brady, but still ahead of them for this week.

[bukie]

Bears D is on the way down while the Saints is on the way up. Over the last 7 games, including our throwaway game against the Panthers, the Saints D has only allowed 17 points per game. While in that same span, the Bears have given up 19. Plus, Bears had THE easiest schedule according to strength of schedule in the entire NFL this year. Saints had the 3rd hardest. I'm sure if the Saints got to play the Lions and Vikings twice this year they would have put up alot MORE points.

 

The Vikings were solid defensively this year, they just had nothing on offense. In terms of interdivisional defenses, I think the Saints actually had it easier by playing the Bucs and Falcons twice.

 

Given the Bears competition within the division and the fact that they were never fewer than 3 games ahead of the next closest NFC competitor, the Bears last 7 games were all "throwaway" games. They just won 6 of them.

 

That's not to say the Bears didn't play hard in any of them. It's just to say that there was little to no reason to go all out from the Giants game on. Of course, their performance this past week means more, and they didn't exactly play a whole lot better defensively. So who's to say what's going to happen with the defense.

[bukie]

For the most part I agree with what you wrote, but if Moose and Berrian can't catch passess 6 inches from where they should be thrown, that is their fault not Grossman's. Also, Manning was starting before Brown went down.

 

It's only in part Grossman's fault, but the receivers should be expected to catch anything within a foot of their chest, regardless.

 

Manning was starting next to Brown, but once Brown was out, and then especially Chris Harris and Todd Johnson, there was no realistic possibility of Manning getting benched for poor play.

[Soul]

Bears D is on the way down while the Saints is on the way up. Over the last 7 games, including our throwaway game against the Panthers, the Saints D has only allowed 17 points per game. While in that same span, the Bears have given up 19. Plus, Bears had THE easiest schedule according to strength of schedule in the entire NFL this year. Saints had the 3rd hardest. I'm sure if the Saints got to play the Lions and Vikings twice this year they would have put up alot MORE points.

 

The Vikings were solid defensively this year, they just had nothing on offense. In terms of interdivisional defenses, I think the Saints actually had it easier by playing the Bucs and Falcons twice.

 

Given the Bears competition within the division and the fact that they were never fewer than 3 games ahead of the next closest NFC competitor, the Bears last 7 games were all "throwaway" games. They just won 6 of them.

 

That's not to say the Bears didn't play hard in any of them. It's just to say that there was little to no reason to go all out from the Giants game on. Of course, their performance this past week means more, and they didn't exactly play a whole lot better defensively. So who's to say what's going to happen with the defense.

 

Nobody can say. Maybe they stink it up and get killed. Or, maybe they manage the big plays and keep it close.

 

I have no clue what's going to happen. I suspect NO has the advantage next week. I hope not.

 

I do know the larger share of the country will be rooting for the Saints, and against the Bears. That's about all I can say for sure.

[BigSlick]

I'm a little late on this observation but... It is my firm belief that anybody that lives in Chicago and the surrounding areas and doesn't root for the Bears should be deported.

 

I couldn't agree more.

 

I'm scared of the Saints, honestly. Our defense wasn't HORRIBLE this past week, but they sure aren't what they used to be. Our safeties need to play better, and Urlacher was downright steamrolled on a few Alexander runs up the middle.

 

Heres my opinion: If the Bears can keep the Saints under 24 points, we have a good shot. If they don't, we probably lose.

[BleedCubbieBlue81]

I saw last night that the Bears are currently 3 point favorites, which is usually what the home team gets. The odds makers are saying this game is essentially a pick em. If the weather is crappy, it puts the Bears at a slight advantage, but this game can go either way.

 

The Seahawks scared me too, but any given team on any given day.... I'm looking forward to seeing it.

[cubweiser03]

I dont know what more you can ask for when you team is one win away from going to the Super Bowl. Yesterday was exciting, this sunday will be off the hook.

[fiver]

The game time temp is likely to be in the 20's this weekend. That has to be an edge for the Bears, right?

 

Go Saints!

Go Colts!