Week 17: Bears at Houston, noon on Fox

[jersey cubs fan]

Bears are currently 1.5 point favorites. A week ago I would have predicted Houston would be a 4-5 point favorite, considering how well they played down the stretch. The Texans are better than their record, but then they went out and laid an egg, getting smacked around by the awful Raiders. Houston has a chance to reach .500 in a very tough division. Prior to last week the only times they've been beaten badly was against Pittsburgh and Baltimore. They have a weak defense but a great passing game, and I think they should light up the Bears battered secondary. My guess is the luck runs out this weekend. Even if they get a Giants win, or an Oakland/Philly double upset, the Bears will lose to Houston and end 9-7.

 

Good enough for everybody to keep their jobs, and bad enough to make every Bears fan want them all replaced. Without improvements, the defense is bound to take another step back next season and the offense probably stays stagnant.

[Mephistopheles]

Go Texans.

[Modzilla]

Go Texans.

 

Say what ? :shock:

[Burtonbell]

I saw Modzilla in here and thought, what happened that someone got banned in a 2 post thread?

 

It all makes sense now.

[Fred Hornkohl]

I saw Modzilla in here and thought, what happened that someone got banned in a 2 post thread?

 

It all makes sense now.

 

Seems like Modzilla is a big time BEARS fan, too.

[rawaction]

Bears are currently 1.5 point favorites. A week ago I would have predicted Houston would be a 4-5 point favorite, considering how well they played down the stretch. The Texans are better than their record, but then they went out and laid an egg, getting smacked around by the awful Raiders. Houston has a chance to reach .500 in a very tough division. Prior to last week the only times they've been beaten badly was against Pittsburgh and Baltimore. They have a weak defense but a great passing game, and I think they should light up the Bears battered secondary. My guess is the luck runs out this weekend. Even if they get a Giants win, or an Oakland/Philly double upset, the Bears will lose to Houston and end 9-7.

 

Good enough for everybody to keep their jobs, and bad enough to make every Bears fan want them all replaced. Without improvements, the defense is bound to take another step back next season and the offense probably stays stagnant.

 

Wow. Ye of little faith. I understand that this game is not in Chicago, but the Bears just beat two top 10 passing attacks in the last 2 weeks. And while Houston is 5th best in passing yardage, their 2 headed QB leads the league w/ 20 INTs. I'm not sure what the Bears are going to do with Andre Johnson, but there's more than 1 phase to the game. Houston is bottom 1/4 in run D. Despite having a favorable matchup w/ Mario Williams vs. JSC, they have the 4th fewest sacks in the league.

 

This is not a game the Bears should lose. Not to say it won't be difficult. But if the Bears stop Slaton and the ground game and make Houston 1-dimensional, they should win by a TD.

[Outshined_One]

I'm guessing Andre Johnson will have a big day.

[BigSlick]

I'm just happy the Bears have something to play for in the last week of the season, and heh, if we're going to have some horrible improbable victory in which we played TERRIBLY, it might as well have been against the Packers. :grin:

 

I'd love to see Orton bounce back and play up to his first half of the season level of play, he's really had a tough going after that injury, and his receivers aren't doing him any favors.

 

Just go out there and play hard boys.

[BigSlick]

Bears are currently 1.5 point favorites. A week ago I would have predicted Houston would be a 4-5 point favorite, considering how well they played down the stretch. The Texans are better than their record, but then they went out and laid an egg, getting smacked around by the awful Raiders. Houston has a chance to reach .500 in a very tough division. Prior to last week the only times they've been beaten badly was against Pittsburgh and Baltimore. They have a weak defense but a great passing game, and I think they should light up the Bears battered secondary. My guess is the luck runs out this weekend. Even if they get a Giants win, or an Oakland/Philly double upset, the Bears will lose to Houston and end 9-7.

 

Good enough for everybody to keep their jobs, and bad enough to make every Bears fan want them all replaced. Without improvements, the defense is bound to take another step back next season and the offense probably stays stagnant.

 

Wow. Ye of little faith. I understand that this game is not in Chicago, but the Bears just beat two top 10 passing attacks in the last 2 weeks. And while Houston is 5th best in passing yardage, their 2 headed QB leads the league w/ 20 INTs. I'm not sure what the Bears are going to do with Andre Johnson, but there's more than 1 phase to the game. Houston is bottom 1/4 in run D. Despite having a favorable matchup w/ Mario Williams vs. JSC, they have the 4th fewest sacks in the league.

 

This is not a game the Bears should lose. Not to say it won't be difficult. But if the Bears stop Slaton and the ground game and make Houston 1-dimensional, they should win by a TD.

I gotta say, in the last two weeks, the Bears defense has played pretty darn well. Considering how the offense hasn't given them any favors, they've done fine.

 

I hate giving up 3rd and 12 conversions over and over again but, bleh oh well.

[wvcbxl]

Seems like Modzilla is a big time BEARS fan, too.

 

isn't he/she supposed to be impartial? 8-)

[bukie]

Crazy scenario...there's a decent chance that if the Bears win the division, their road to the Super Bowl could involve a home January game vs. Tampa, a road game against a #2 seed Atlanta team, and a home NFC championship game with Carolina.

 

This scenario could play out if Tampa beats Oakland, Atlanta beats St. Louis, and Carolina loses at NO.

[BigSlick]

Crazy scenario...there's a decent chance that if the Bears win the division, their road to the Super Bowl could involve a home January game vs. Tampa, a road game against a #2 seed Atlanta team, and a home NFC championship game with Carolina.

 

This scenario could play out if Tampa beats Oakland, Atlanta beats St. Louis, and Carolina loses at NO.

I don't think the Bears will be winning any playoff games if they win the division.

 

Just sayin'

[jersey cubs fan]

Wow. Ye of little faith. I understand that this game is not in Chicago, but the Bears just beat two top 10 passing attacks in the last 2 weeks.

 

Those teams built up those rankings before they played in Chicago in December. The Bears benefitted significantly from playing New Orleans in Chicago instead of the dome and they won't have that benefit Sunday. That is a huge difference.

 

This is not a game the Bears should lose. Not to say it won't be difficult. But if the Bears stop Slaton and the ground game and make Houston 1-dimensional, they should win by a TD.

 

No, it's not a game they should lose, but this is a flawed team that is pretty lucky to have won 3 times in a row. I don't see it lasting.

[bukie]

Crazy scenario...there's a decent chance that if the Bears win the division, their road to the Super Bowl could involve a home January game vs. Tampa, a road game against a #2 seed Atlanta team, and a home NFC championship game with Carolina.

 

This scenario could play out if Tampa beats Oakland, Atlanta beats St. Louis, and Carolina loses at NO.

I don't think the Bears will be winning any playoff games if they win the division.

 

Just sayin'

Yeah, it's not like they could ever play an NFC playoff team close like Carolina, Atlanta, Tampa, Philly, or Minnesota.

[SpongeWorthy]

Wow. Ye of little faith. I understand that this game is not in Chicago, but the Bears just beat two top 10 passing attacks in the last 2 weeks.

 

Those teams built up those rankings before they played in Chicago in December. The Bears benefitted significantly from playing New Orleans in Chicago instead of the dome and they won't have that benefit Sunday. That is a huge difference.

 

This is not a game the Bears should lose. Not to say it won't be difficult. But if the Bears stop Slaton and the ground game and make Houston 1-dimensional, they should win by a TD.

 

No, it's not a game they should lose, but this is a flawed team that is pretty lucky to have won 3 times in a row. I don't see it lasting.

 

At the same time, our own passing attack had to play in those conditions as well. I'm hoping (praying?) Orton will be better. He'll probably always throw brutal INTs but he has been more accurate than he has shown in the last two weeks. He can't throw a deep ball at all but he's shown when he's in rhythm he can sling the intermediate routes well. We didn't have those last night.

[BigSlick]

Crazy scenario...there's a decent chance that if the Bears win the division, their road to the Super Bowl could involve a home January game vs. Tampa, a road game against a #2 seed Atlanta team, and a home NFC championship game with Carolina.

 

This scenario could play out if Tampa beats Oakland, Atlanta beats St. Louis, and Carolina loses at NO.

I don't think the Bears will be winning any playoff games if they win the division.

 

Just sayin'

Yeah, it's not like they could ever play an NFC playoff team close like Carolina, Atlanta, Tampa, Philly, or Minnesota.

At this point in the season? The Offense hasn't showed much of anything in about 4-5 weeks. Frustratingly enough, its only been recently that the defense has shown that it even cares, I guess we can never get a full season of good play out of all 53 players.

 

So yeah, I agree unironically with what you said

 

(I blame Ron Turner for everything)

[bukie]

Crazy scenario...there's a decent chance that if the Bears win the division, their road to the Super Bowl could involve a home January game vs. Tampa, a road game against a #2 seed Atlanta team, and a home NFC championship game with Carolina.

 

This scenario could play out if Tampa beats Oakland, Atlanta beats St. Louis, and Carolina loses at NO.

I don't think the Bears will be winning any playoff games if they win the division.

 

Just sayin'

Yeah, it's not like they could ever play an NFC playoff team close like Carolina, Atlanta, Tampa, Philly, or Minnesota.

At this point in the season? The Offense hasn't showed much of anything in about 4-5 weeks. Frustratingly enough, its only been recently that the defense has shown that it even cares, I guess we can never get a full season of good play out of all 53 players.

 

So yeah, I agree unironically with what you said

 

(I blame Ron Turner for everything)

The Bears are not a bad team, or even an inconsistent team. Their overall variance is 6th overall, meaning they've been a very consistent team week in, week out. They beat Philly earlier in the year when they were slightly outplayed. They should've beat Atlanta in Atlanta earlier in the year when they slightly outplayed them. They outplayed Carolina in week 2 only to fall apart in the 4th quarter. They outplayed Tampa and fell apart the last two minutes.

 

Heck, they outplayed New Orleans through 3 quarters and let them back into that game, too. Outside the Giants, the only team that really outclasses the Bears is the Eagles.

[BigSlick]

Crazy scenario...there's a decent chance that if the Bears win the division, their road to the Super Bowl could involve a home January game vs. Tampa, a road game against a #2 seed Atlanta team, and a home NFC championship game with Carolina.

 

This scenario could play out if Tampa beats Oakland, Atlanta beats St. Louis, and Carolina loses at NO.

I don't think the Bears will be winning any playoff games if they win the division.

 

Just sayin'

Yeah, it's not like they could ever play an NFC playoff team close like Carolina, Atlanta, Tampa, Philly, or Minnesota.

At this point in the season? The Offense hasn't showed much of anything in about 4-5 weeks. Frustratingly enough, its only been recently that the defense has shown that it even cares, I guess we can never get a full season of good play out of all 53 players.

 

So yeah, I agree unironically with what you said

 

(I blame Ron Turner for everything)

The Bears are not a bad team, or even an inconsistent team. Their overall variance is 6th overall, meaning they've been a very consistent team week in, week out. They beat Philly earlier in the year when they were slightly outplayed. They should've beat Atlanta in Atlanta earlier in the year when they slightly outplayed them. They outplayed Carolina in week 2 only to fall apart in the 4th quarter. They outplayed Tampa and fell apart the last two minutes.

 

Heck, they outplayed New Orleans through 3 quarters and let them back into that game, too. Outside the Giants, the only team that really outclasses the Bears is the Eagles.

 

Are we working with some Football Outsider's DVOA stats here?

 

Also, you can't easily explain away why we got so horribly outplayed at Minnesota and Green Bay. That was just embarrassing.

Edited December 23, 2008 by BigSlick

[Hairyducked Idiot]

So, ostensibly, this team is two results away from being the third-best in the entire conference?

[bukie]

So, ostensibly, this team is two results away from being the third-best in the entire conference?

Oddly, yes.

 

What's even stranger is that the NFC is significantly better than the AFC this year, efficiency-wise. Baltimore, Tennessee, Pittsburgh and Indy are the only 4 AFC teams in the upper half of the spectrum. Possibly Miami, too, after last week. The AFC East's performance is suspect due to hilariously easy scheduling (because of how bad the AFC and NFC west divisions are).

[bukie]

Also, you can't easily explain away why we got so horribly outplayed at Minnesota and Green Bay. That was just embarrassing.

Green Bay was an outright thrashing from start to finish.

 

Minnesota was a close game that the Bears gave up on after the goal line stand.

[swordsman]

Any word, thoughts, feelings about the current injury situation coming out of last night's win?

[rawaction]

Any word, thoughts, feelings about the current injury situation coming out of last night's win?

 

Who all got injured? Mike Brown was it right?

[bukie]

Any word, thoughts, feelings about the current injury situation coming out of last night's win?

 

Who all got injured? Mike Brown was it right?

Yeah. At this point, getting more than 8 games out of Mike Brown in a season is gravy.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Any word, thoughts, feelings about the current injury situation coming out of last night's win?

 

Who all got injured? Mike Brown was it right?

 

Every time Mike Brown gets injured, the defense immediately looks much worse. And it wasn't looking that good to begin with :(