Super Bowl XLI: Bears vs. Colts, Sun 2/4, 5:30 pm CT

[BleedCubbieBlue81]

Peyton Manning is notorious for this too. I believe it he absolutely abused Darrent Williams when they played this year.

[Chris]

And they are also gaining more yards on punt and kickoff returns. Again, it's apples and oranges, but I am pleased with the way the Colts are playing.

 

The Colts have 5 Oranges playing for them.

 

So you're a fan?

 

I go where the Cuse kids go just like you do with the Vols.

 

Sorry, that was my bad attempt at a lame joke (Orange Men)

[CuseCubFan69]

And they are also gaining more yards on punt and kickoff returns. Again, it's apples and oranges, but I am pleased with the way the Colts are playing.

 

The Colts have 5 Oranges playing for them.

 

So you're a fan?

 

I go where the Cuse kids go just like you do with the Vols.

 

Sorry, that was my bad attempt at a lame joke (Orange Men)

 

I'm the king of lame jokes...sorry I didn't get it!

[CubColtPacer]

Rex was clearly picking on that poor CB because he knew he wouldn't be able to make a play.

 

Saying it should have been intercepted and trying to draw some kind of conclusion from it ignores the fact that, if it was a decent cornerback, the pass would likely have not been thrown to Berrian on that play...

 

That's a very valid point there, and I agree with it. The comment that Peyton is also very good at this is true-if the opponent doesn't adjust, the Colts will try to exploit what they feel is the weak link over and over and over again.

[OleMissCub]

 

IMO, any average corner knocks that ball down. Any good corner picks that ball off. It would not have required an "amazing" play to be an INT. At the same time, Grossman was going for the jugular on that play, and if it hadn't worked out the Saints would have had the ball deep in their own territory, and that probably wouldn't have worked out for them either. Grossman was not good yesterday, but he wasn't awful either.

 

Fred Thomas should be shot. He's no NFL DB and it's stunning he is still in the league. I've watched the replay several times now and it makes me sicker each time I watch it. A mediocre college DB would have been able to knock that ball away.

 

That play almost made me throwup.

[Soul]

 

IMO, any average corner knocks that ball down. Any good corner picks that ball off. It would not have required an "amazing" play to be an INT. At the same time, Grossman was going for the jugular on that play, and if it hadn't worked out the Saints would have had the ball deep in their own territory, and that probably wouldn't have worked out for them either. Grossman was not good yesterday, but he wasn't awful either.

 

Fred Thomas should be shot. He's no NFL DB and it's stunning he is still in the league. I've watched the replay several times now and it makes me sicker each time I watch it. A mediocre college DB would have been able to knock that ball away.

 

That play almost made me throwup.

 

Wow. The kid's doing the best he can. Look, the Saints put all their eggs into the offensive basket this year. That dictates there will be some sacrifices on the defensive side, just because of the salary cap. Also----good corners are in short supply in this league. Some teams with good defenses find themselves a little shaky at that position.

 

Honestly? If I'm a safety and I know my CB can't cover and I see the Bears best WR lining up 1-on-1, I'm making damn sure I get over to help out in coverage. But that's just me.

[BigSlick]

 

IMO, any average corner knocks that ball down. Any good corner picks that ball off. It would not have required an "amazing" play to be an INT. At the same time, Grossman was going for the jugular on that play, and if it hadn't worked out the Saints would have had the ball deep in their own territory, and that probably wouldn't have worked out for them either. Grossman was not good yesterday, but he wasn't awful either.

 

Fred Thomas should be shot. He's no NFL DB and it's stunning he is still in the league. I've watched the replay several times now and it makes me sicker each time I watch it. A mediocre college DB would have been able to knock that ball away.

 

That play almost made me throwup.

 

Wow. The kid's doing the best he can. Look, the Saints put all their eggs into the offensive basket this year. That dictates there will be some sacrifices on the defensive side, just because of the salary cap. Also----good corners are in short supply in this league. Some teams with good defenses find themselves a little shaky at that position.

 

Honestly? If I'm a safety and I know my CB can't cover and I see the Bears best WR lining up 1-on-1, I'm making damn sure I get over to help out in coverage. But that's just me.

 

Speaking of which, thats been a problem for the Bears often when people want to blame our corners for some coverage problems.

 

Its usually the Safeties fault for not coming over there in time.

[goonys evil twin]

 

IMO, any average corner knocks that ball down. Any good corner picks that ball off. It would not have required an "amazing" play to be an INT. At the same time, Grossman was going for the jugular on that play, and if it hadn't worked out the Saints would have had the ball deep in their own territory, and that probably wouldn't have worked out for them either. Grossman was not good yesterday, but he wasn't awful either.

 

Fred Thomas should be shot. He's no NFL DB and it's stunning he is still in the league. I've watched the replay several times now and it makes me sicker each time I watch it. A mediocre college DB would have been able to knock that ball away.

 

That play almost made me throwup.

 

Wow. The kid's doing the best he can. Look, the Saints put all their eggs into the offensive basket this year. That dictates there will be some sacrifices on the defensive side, just because of the salary cap. Also----good corners are in short supply in this league. Some teams with good defenses find themselves a little shaky at that position.

 

Honestly? If I'm a safety and I know my CB can't cover and I see the Bears best WR lining up 1-on-1, I'm making damn sure I get over to help out in coverage. But that's just me.

 

Speaking of which, thats been a problem for the Bears often when people want to blame our corners for some coverage problems.

 

Its usually the Safeties fault for not coming over there in time.

 

And/or the d-line's fault for giving the QB too much time.

[BigSlick]

 

IMO, any average corner knocks that ball down. Any good corner picks that ball off. It would not have required an "amazing" play to be an INT. At the same time, Grossman was going for the jugular on that play, and if it hadn't worked out the Saints would have had the ball deep in their own territory, and that probably wouldn't have worked out for them either. Grossman was not good yesterday, but he wasn't awful either.

 

Fred Thomas should be shot. He's no NFL DB and it's stunning he is still in the league. I've watched the replay several times now and it makes me sicker each time I watch it. A mediocre college DB would have been able to knock that ball away.

 

That play almost made me throwup.

 

Wow. The kid's doing the best he can. Look, the Saints put all their eggs into the offensive basket this year. That dictates there will be some sacrifices on the defensive side, just because of the salary cap. Also----good corners are in short supply in this league. Some teams with good defenses find themselves a little shaky at that position.

 

Honestly? If I'm a safety and I know my CB can't cover and I see the Bears best WR lining up 1-on-1, I'm making damn sure I get over to help out in coverage. But that's just me.

 

Speaking of which, thats been a problem for the Bears often when people want to blame our corners for some coverage problems.

 

Its usually the Safeties fault for not coming over there in time.

 

And/or the d-line's fault for giving the QB too much time.

 

For any team other than the Bears, pressure coming solely from the D-line is just gravy. Most teams have to blitz in order to pressure the QB.

 

Of course we run a defense that is predicated around not blitzing and getting pressure from the Front 4. God, I wish we had Tommie Harris. I honestly don't even think this would be a game with a healthy Tommie Harris. It would be like the Steelers game of last year, 5 or so sacks against the Colts? Beautiful.

 

Peyton Manning is virtually unstoppable with time. But no QB can play with pressure up the middle. You can't step up in the pocket, you have no throwing lanes, and you get no time. It would be a slaughter.

 

As it is, we got a challenge.

[soccer10k]

I was impressed with the way Indy stopped the Chiefs running attack. But the Ravens were not a good running game, and Lewis is just a shell of his former self. While they shut down Maroney yesterday, he's never really impressed me all that much. And two other mediocre backs had some big averages. People were critical of Herm for just running it into the middle, but the fact is KC only had 17 rushing attempts in that game. New England had just 24 and Baltimore had 20. These are teams that averaged 30+ rushes per game. The Bears averaged 31.5 in the regular season and have gone 34 and 46 in the two playoff games. The Bears have to stick with the run, even if Indy stops the first few, and I think even if they get down by double digits early.

I wouldn't say they exactly shut down the Patriots running game. The first running play that I can remember was a 40 yard scamper on a play that the Bears run quit well with both Jones and Benson. They have improved their D tremendously since the end of the regular season, but all it takes is one missed tackle or one well timed block to break a big run.

 

Run the ball early to open up the field for Grossman. And he needs to hit his tight ends often. They also need to throw that slant route over the middle. That is Grossman's best ball.

 

All he said was that they shut down Maroney. Maroney had 8 carries for 13 yards. Dillon got free for 2 or 3 big plays, but the biggest one was the carry on 4th and 1, which is always a risk for a huge play because of everybody at the line (if you break through the line, it's a huge run). The Colts still held the Patriots as a team under 100 yards, which for the Colts is a massive accomplishment (and one that's been done 3 weeks in a row). The Colts won't shut down the Bears running, but the Bears probably won't be able to live off the running game almost exclusively like some teams did to the Colts in the regular season.

 

Even still, Faulk only had four carries and that's not enough to judge a performace stopping somebody. Dillon had 7 for 48 (and 7 carries isn't enough to judge a performance either) but one of them was the 35 yard run. Without that he's got 6 for 13. It's the same thing as if somebody has 12 carries for 100 yards with a 75 yard run. It doesn't mean he had a good game. Also a majority of those rushing yards were in the first half. The Colts running defense has been solid in the playoffs.

[Chris]

The Colts running defense has been solid in the playoffs.

 

73.3 YPG

[BleedCubbieBlue81]

Peyton Manning to have x-rays on his injured thumb.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs06/news/story?id=2739114

 

They don't believe it'll be a problem. He finished the game with it, so I'd assume he'd play in the super bowl even if his thumb fell off.

[Banedon]

Dr Z picks the Colts to win big. He doesn't think that teams can force turnovers in the Super Bowl. He didn't mention a thing about Chicago's defense outside of the turnovers. Not a word.

[da bears]

Disrespect already for Rex. ESPN.com's burning questions has the last question asking if Rex is the worst Super Bowl quarterback ever. Very ignorant question in my opinion.

[CubColtPacer]

Dr Z picks the Colts to win big. He doesn't think that teams can force turnovers in the Super Bowl. He didn't mention a thing about Chicago's defense outside of the turnovers. Not a word.

 

Most of the Colts fans are actually begging to be the underdog in this game, but it doesn't look like that will be possible. I think both teams will come in very focused though-they know that the job is not complete yet.

[USSoccer]

Disrespect already for Rex. ESPN.com's burning questions has the last question asking if Rex is the worst Super Bowl quarterback ever. Very ignorant question in my opinion.

 

At least both of them answered "no".

[BleedCubbieBlue81]

I thought I heard Manning and Dungy say that they'd rather go into a big game as favorites. Something about helping the confidence of the team.

 

And I'm glad that people still don't respect the Bear defense. (Dr. Z called them opportunistic, but worn down I believe.) It's when people don't respect them that they start causing turnover after turnover.

[Banedon]

I'm confused...

 

this guy saysTank may not be able to go to Miami.

 

This articlesays he's already cleared to go.

[BleedCubbieBlue81]

Disrespect already for Rex. ESPN.com's burning questions has the last question asking if Rex is the worst Super Bowl quarterback ever. Very ignorant question in my opinion.

 

At least both of them answered "no".

Theisman answered no, but said that's only because he hasn't played in the Super Bowl yet.

 

"Give him time, and he'll earn this honor."

[BleedCubbieBlue81]

I'm confused...

 

this guy saysTank may not be able to go to Miami.

 

This articlesays he's already cleared to go.

They were saying on the news last night that Tank was cleared to go.

[David]

After yesterday's game, I don't mind the disrespect at all. The team may or may not be inspired by it, but it certainly doesn't hurt anything. At the very least, they like to say they're inspired by it.

 

On top of that, the Colts probably SHOULD be favored over the Bears. But I think the Bears can definitely win this game. The defense just has to come to play again.

[David]

Disrespect already for Rex. ESPN.com's burning questions has the last question asking if Rex is the worst Super Bowl quarterback ever. Very ignorant question in my opinion.

 

At least both of them answered "no".

Theisman answered no, but said that's only because he hasn't played in the Super Bowl yet.

 

"Give him time, and he'll earn this honor."

 

 

Gee, it's not like Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson have played in and won Super Bowls or anything.

[RichHillIsABeast]

When the Bears win the SB, all those tools should be fired.

[Soriano12]

Disrespect already for Rex. ESPN.com's burning questions has the last question asking if Rex is the worst Super Bowl quarterback ever. Very ignorant question in my opinion.

 

At least both of them answered "no".

Theisman answered no, but said that's only because he hasn't played in the Super Bowl yet.

 

"Give him time, and he'll earn this honor."

 

Sometimes, I wish LT broke Theismans neck, instead of his leg.

[woodchip2153]

Disrespect already for Rex. ESPN.com's burning questions has the last question asking if Rex is the worst Super Bowl quarterback ever. Very ignorant question in my opinion.

 

At least both of them answered "no".

Theisman answered no, but said that's only because he hasn't played in the Super Bowl yet.

 

"Give him time, and he'll earn this honor."

 

Sometimes, I wish LT broke Theismans neck, instead of his leg.

 

I think everybody is taking this the wrong way. From reading his whole answer and his other answers, I think he is saying Rex is young and he'll prove that he is a good QB; worthy of leading a Super Bowl team.