Week 4 - Chicago Bears vs. Detroit Lions, 12 PM FOX

[CaliforniaRaisin]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/photo/2009-09/49518775.jpg

[UMFan83]

A noon game!

 

Bears win 31-17

[Guest]

I hate 10 am games. :(

[Keener98]

I hate 10 am games. :(

 

I love 10am West Coast games :D This is how Bears football is supposed to be. Wake up hungover, turn the TV on, and have the Bears game starting.

[Guest]

I hate 10 am games. :(

 

I love 10am West Coast games :D This is how Bears football is supposed to be. Wake up hungover, turn the TV on, and have the Bears game starting.

 

I'm already awake. It's just that Sunday is our designated pickup basketball morning. We don't finish till 11 so I generally get in with a few minutes left in the first half.

[Outshined_One]

I hate 10 am games. :(

 

I love 10am West Coast games :D This is how Bears football is supposed to be. Wake up hungover, turn the TV on, and have the Bears game starting.

 

I'm already awake. It's just that Sunday is our designated pickup basketball morning. We don't finish till 11 so I generally get in with a few minutes left in the first half.

 

You need to invest in DVR.

[Guest]

You need to invest in DVR.

 

I hate watching live sports on DVR. Plus I have to catch most Bears games online.

[Omar]

38-13 Lions. They will continue their path to a 14-2 season.

[Banedon]

You need to invest in DVR.

 

I hate watching live sports on DVR. Plus I have to catch most Bears games online.

 

Live sports dvr'd is great! You can fast forward through time outs, replays of 4 yard gains, and replays of things that are obvious to a 2 year old. You catch up in no time at all.

[rawaction]

This will not be an easy game by any means. Detroit's numbers don't look flashy offensively (23rd passing, 20th rushing), but they have gotten better each week. They have run better each week, including a great ground game yesterday. Stafford threw 3 INTs in Week 1, 2 in week 2 and none yesterday. They have only allowed Stafford to get sacked 5 times in 3 games, which isn't bad. Detroit is definitely headed in the right direction.

 

At home vs. a team that just broke a 19-game losing streak, the Bears will probably be favored by double digits. But don't be surprised if Detroit keeps this game similar to the last 2, with the Bears needed to put together or stop a game-winning drive at the end. It would be very encouraging though to see a blowout win going into the bye week though.

[Soul]

This will not be an easy game by any means. Detroit's numbers don't look flashy offensively (23rd passing, 20th rushing), but they have gotten better each week. They have run better each week, including a great ground game yesterday. Stafford threw 3 INTs in Week 1, 2 in week 2 and none yesterday. They have only allowed Stafford to get sacked 5 times in 3 games, which isn't bad. Detroit is definitely headed in the right direction.

 

At home vs. a team that just broke a 19-game losing streak, the Bears will probably be favored by double digits. But don't be surprised if Detroit keeps this game similar to the last 2, with the Bears needed to put together or stop a game-winning drive at the end. It would be very encouraging though to see a blowout win going into the bye week though.

 

The Lions don't get to play in their dome this week. They're much better at home. Washington is a dreadfully bad football team, which is why some people actually picked the Lions to win that one, and they were right.

 

That said, the Bears could be surprised if they don't take this game seriously. I worry about that sometimes with this team.

[Keener98]

This will not be an easy game by any means. Detroit's numbers don't look flashy offensively (23rd passing, 20th rushing), but they have gotten better each week. They have run better each week, including a great ground game yesterday. Stafford threw 3 INTs in Week 1, 2 in week 2 and none yesterday. They have only allowed Stafford to get sacked 5 times in 3 games, which isn't bad. Detroit is definitely headed in the right direction.

 

At home vs. a team that just broke a 19-game losing streak, the Bears will probably be favored by double digits. But don't be surprised if Detroit keeps this game similar to the last 2, with the Bears needed to put together or stop a game-winning drive at the end. It would be very encouraging though to see a blowout win going into the bye week though.

 

Detroit may be headed in the right direction, but saying they are because their numbers improved against a terrible Washington Redskins team doesnt mean much to me. Their 1st 2 games of the year they played 2 pretty good teams, and Stafford struggled. Id like to believe that Lovie will come up with a gameplan with a lot of different looks and blitzes to confuse the hell out of Stafford. Our run D does scare me a little as they struggled at times for Jones yesterday, but they should be able to key the run against the Lions.

 

Im picking a score of something around 28-10 Bears.

[dew1679666265]

This will not be an easy game by any means. Detroit's numbers don't look flashy offensively (23rd passing, 20th rushing), but they have gotten better each week. They have run better each week, including a great ground game yesterday. Stafford threw 3 INTs in Week 1, 2 in week 2 and none yesterday. They have only allowed Stafford to get sacked 5 times in 3 games, which isn't bad. Detroit is definitely headed in the right direction.

 

At home vs. a team that just broke a 19-game losing streak, the Bears will probably be favored by double digits. But don't be surprised if Detroit keeps this game similar to the last 2, with the Bears needed to put together or stop a game-winning drive at the end. It would be very encouraging though to see a blowout win going into the bye week though.

 

Detroit may be headed in the right direction, but saying they are because their numbers improved against a terrible Washington Redskins team doesnt mean much to me. Their 1st 2 games of the year they played 2 pretty good teams, and Stafford struggled. Id like to believe that Lovie will come up with a gameplan with a lot of different looks and blitzes to confuse the hell out of Stafford. Our run D does scare me a little as they struggled at times for Jones yesterday, but they should be able to key the run against the Lions.

 

Im picking a score of something around 28-10 Bears.

 

The point I think raw was making is that Stafford has gotten better each week - hence the INTs dropping from 3 to 2 to 0. His completion percentage also jumped from 43.2% in Week 1 to 60% in Week 2. He, and the Lions as a team, is definitely improving.

 

Now, how good a game they'll give the Bears I don't know. If Cutler is on, it's probably not much of a game by the fourth quarter. Seeing them hang around til halftime with Schwartz's gameplanning wouldn't surprise me, though.

[Banedon]

Are you guys really using a 3 game stretch to determine future performance?

[dew1679666265]

Are you guys really using a 3 game stretch to determine future performance?

 

Not to determine future performance, just to show the improvement a rookie is making. Whether that continues or not is still in question, but Stafford has shown definite improvement since his first NFL game.

[Soul]

Other than the nebulous emotional lift they will surely get from winning last week, I'm not sure anything is really quantifiable with the Lions yet.

 

I do know 2 things:

 

The Lions aren't as good away from their dome.

 

The Bears are almost always a much better team at home.

 

I don't have much problem declaring a decided advantage for the Bears in this one. I'll go 31-20 Bears.

[Banedon]

Are you guys really using a 3 game stretch to determine future performance?

 

Not to determine future performance, just to show the improvement a rookie is making. Whether that continues or not is still in question, but Stafford has shown definite improvement since his first NFL game.

 

The "improvement" also goes right along with the quality of football team. NO, Vikes, Washington. Is it really improvement? Or just decrease in the level of competition?

[dew1679666265]

Are you guys really using a 3 game stretch to determine future performance?

 

Not to determine future performance, just to show the improvement a rookie is making. Whether that continues or not is still in question, but Stafford has shown definite improvement since his first NFL game.

 

The "improvement" also goes right along with the quality of football team. NO, Vikes, Washington. Is it really improvement? Or just decrease in the level of competition?

 

The Saints' defense is better than Minnesota's? Gregg Williams is a good defensive coordinator, but there's no way he's making that big an improvement.

 

Stafford showed improvement from Week 1 to Week 2 going against a better defense and then showed improvement again in Week 3 going against an admittedly worse defense (though still a pretty good one, the Redskins were a top 10 defense last year according to yards and points allowed).

[Guest]

The Bears win this game, but the Lions are getting better. They played very well in the first half of their first two games before falling off the ladder. They played well all the way through their game yesterday.

 

I picked them to beat Washington, and they certainly did. I think you can make 3 game comparisons, because each game is another game removed from the idiocy that was Matt Millen. They have a lot of talented players and now they need coaching that can get these talented players on the same page and playing well together as a team.

 

Even though this is their first win in a very long time, I can put together a list of teams that are certainly not as good as the Lions are right now, and quite possibly not as good as the Lions were during the previous season.

[Banedon]

The Saints' defense is better than Minnesota's? Gregg Williams is a good defensive coordinator, but there's no way he's making that big an improvement.

 

Stafford showed improvement from Week 1 to Week 2 going against a better defense and then showed improvement again in Week 3 going against an admittedly worse defense (though still a pretty good one, the Redskins were a top 10 defense last year according to yards and points allowed).

 

If our basis of "improvement" is going from 3 picks to 2 picks from week 1 to 2, I'm calling the difference negligible.

 

My point was the drop to zero was against a far inferior opponent than the first two.

 

I don't think he's gotten worse...but I'm just not sure he's really gotten significantly better.

 

The Redskins have allowed 351, 362, and 381 total yards in the first 3 games.

 

The Saints and Vikings have only allowed one 300 yard game out of 5.

[David]

Just to continue looking at how the Broncos WR are doing vs. our maligned corps. I think this season will be a pretty interesting case study for this, since a swap like this is pretty unprecedented.

 

 

Hester 13 rec 187 yds 2TD

Bennett 13 rec 168 yds 0TD

Knox 9 rec 159 yds 2TD

 

Marshall 12 rec 128 yds 1TD

Gaffney 10 rec 146 yds 0TD

Stokley 6 rec 157 yds 1TD

Royal 6 rec 42 yds 0 TD

 

 

And don't forget how Stokley got half those yards and the TD.

 

 

We'll get even more of a look as the Broncos start to play some real teams and we start to play some crappier ones.

[Soul]

Take an especially close look at those Eddie Royal numbers

 

Then look at the Knox numbers.

 

It's early yet, to be sure, but it's starting to look like Royal was a product of Cutler -- and that Cutler is doing the same thing with Johnny Knox.

[JonJayCutler]

Right now Cutler is on pace for 4,053 passing yards. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure no Bears QB has ever eclipsed 4,000 yards in a season. The biggest difference I see, however, is the completion percentage. Currently 64.4% for the season, including above 70 the past two games. I'm so used to seeing our QBs around the 55-56 mark.

 

I really like where our team is right now. 2-1, heading into what SHOULD be an easy win, and what is a must win for obvious reasons. Losing to a team like the Lions at home is something that could derail an entire season. Then we have the bye week at a perfect time. Hopefully Pisa, Hillenmeyer, Clark and whoever else will be fully healthy for Week 6 in Atlanta.

[Guest]

I am really enjoying that Bennett is making the most out of his opportunity. He is getting open, he is catching the ball and he is turning up field.

 

If we count on surehandedness from Forte, Olsen and Bennett, Hester and Knox can create some serious havoc by spreading out the defense with their amazing speed.

 

I'm really excited about how well this offense might play once everyone is more familiar with one another.

[kujay]

Right now Cutler is on pace for 4,053 passing yards. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure no Bears QB has ever eclipsed 4,000 yards in a season.

 

I thought Kramer still had the record with 3800-something. Yeah, looked it up, that's right. 1995.