Packers at Bears, noon on Fox

[USSoccer]

Somewhere, Rex Grossman is nodding his head quietly.

[UMFan83]

As badly as the Bears played, they could have won this. Cutler doesn't throw that INT that gets GB to the 10 yard line and leads to the go ahead score and the Bears might win. The Bears don't overpursue Grant on the first defensive play of the game and instead of a 62 yard TD who knows what would happen. It's the little things that killed the Bears in many games this year. We went 0-2 against the Packers, but in an alternate reality it could have easily been 2-0 Bears, and we could be 7-6 instead of 5-8. Oh well.

[RedFlash]

There are two things I definately rooting to happen: 1. The Packers failed to make the playoffs and 2. The Vikings get run out of the Super Dome by the Saints. Other then that the season is............toast.

[kujay]

I only heard the second half on the radio, but it seems to me that sequence where Lovie called a timeout, then made a stupid challenge and lost another timeout should be enough by itself to justify his firing. Tomorrow.

[UMFan83]

I only heard the second half on the radio, but it seems to me that sequence where Lovie called a timeout, then made a stupid challenge and lost another timeout should be enough by itself to justify his firing. Tomorrow.

 

I don't think the sequence itself should get him fired. I think the fact that a decent percentage of Bears fans accurately predicted that it was going to happen when Lovie called the timeout because we've seen it before.

[Derwood]

When they cut to GB/CHI after the Saints game, the first thing I see is: Chicago with the ball, 12 penalties, 0 timeouts. I felt like I got a pretty good idea about the game right there

[Derwood]

Bears now have the same record as the Seahawks, Panthers and Bills.

 

 

LOLOLOLOLOLOOL

[Careless]

Bears have beaten the Browns, Lions, and Rams. The only half-decent team they've beaten is the Steelers, a sub-500 team

[UMFan83]

Bears have beaten the Browns, Lions, and Rams. The only half-decent team they've beaten is the Steelers, a sub-500 team

 

Nobody cares about my other teams, but my 2 football teams (Bears and UM) have combined for a 10-15 record, but 0 of those wins are against teams over .500 currently. The best team recordwise beaten was Michigan's win over Notre Dame (6-6). If you want to take it a step farther, my fantasy team didn't beat anyone who finished with a +500 record either.

[UMFan83]

With 3 games left in the season, it's interesting to look at how Cutler has compared to recent Bears QBs. Obviously there are a lot of variables in play here, making the comparison less than scientific, but interesting to look at anyways

 

                      G  ATT-CMP CMP%  YDS TD INT YPA RAT
'09 Cuter (projected) 16 349-563 61.9 3721 23 27  6.6 74.9
'08 Orton             15 272-465 58.5 2972 18 12  6.4 79.6
'07 Gri/Gross/Ort     16 326-567 57.5 3692 17 21  6.5 71.7
'06 Grossman          16 262-480 54.6 3193 23 20  6.7 74.0

 

So with Cutler, although he's had a pretty bad season, there are some encouraging signs, the main one being that his completion percentage is much higher than any recent Bears QB, which is something we expected coming into the year, but a little surprising considering how the season has turned out. Other than that, the YPA, TD-INT ratio, and QB rating are right in line with the rest of our decrepit group of QBs. We can build on it though. With a better O-line and better receivers you gotta think he'll be at least a passable QB, probably even above average. But I no longer think he's gonna be a guy that puts it together and becomes an elite QB. I could be wrong though, it's just one man's opinion after seeing him for a season.

[Banedon]

Brad Biggs and Mike Mulligan were discussing how weird that line is this morning too.

 

I guess Biggs is staying on the show even though he moved to the Tribune?

 

Did they offer any reasons why the line was only 3? Lovie Smith's record against the Packers is the only thing that comes to mind.

 

Huh...weird...I didn't know about Biggs' move till I read this.

 

He wasn't on Mully and Hanley this morning, fwiw. At least not at the usual time that I hear it.

[jersey cubs fan]

TIMEOUT!!!

[Banedon]

Brad Biggs and Mike Mulligan were discussing how weird that line is this morning too.

 

I guess Biggs is staying on the show even though he moved to the Tribune?

 

Did they offer any reasons why the line was only 3? Lovie Smith's record against the Packers is the only thing that comes to mind.

 

Huh...weird...I didn't know about Biggs' move till I read this.

 

He wasn't on Mully and Hanley this morning, fwiw. At least not at the usual time that I hear it.

 

Oh wow...Rick Morrissey went to the Sun Times too? Sun Times loses twice!

[jersey cubs fan]

Brad Biggs and Mike Mulligan were discussing how weird that line is this morning too.

 

I guess Biggs is staying on the show even though he moved to the Tribune?

 

Did they offer any reasons why the line was only 3? Lovie Smith's record against the Packers is the only thing that comes to mind.

 

Huh...weird...I didn't know about Biggs' move till I read this.

 

He wasn't on Mully and Hanley this morning, fwiw. At least not at the usual time that I hear it.

 

Oh wow...Rick Morrissey went to the Sun Times too? Sun Times loses twice!

 

I was watching a Sportsnite episode during the winter meetings and when they did a segment with Paul Sullivan, he kept asking everybody in the studio if they were still with the Tribune. I didn't get it until the next day when I saw Morrissey's mug on the Sun-Times website.

[Tyrant]

They need to clean house and put together a totally new regime. My ideal lineup:

 

GM- Mike Shanahan

Coach- Bill Cowher

O-coordinator- Gary Kubiak

D-coordinator- Robert Gates

 

Make it happen Chicago.

[imb]

There are two things I definately rooting to happen: 1. The Packers failed to make the playoffs and 2. The Vikings get run out of the Super Dome by the Saints. Other then that the season is............toast.

 

your grasp of the english language is hilariously tenuous. a true testament to alabama education

[Mark Priors Calves]

Brad Biggs and Mike Mulligan were discussing how weird that line is this morning too.

 

I guess Biggs is staying on the show even though he moved to the Tribune?

 

Did they offer any reasons why the line was only 3? Lovie Smith's record against the Packers is the only thing that comes to mind.

 

Huh...weird...I didn't know about Biggs' move till I read this.

 

He wasn't on Mully and Hanley this morning, fwiw. At least not at the usual time that I hear it.

He was on at 7 and it sounds like he'll continue to be despite switching papers. They also frequently have Dave van Dyck and Dan Pompeii on the air and they're both with the Trib.

[Guest]

The deadball-timeout-challenge sequence was just plain embarrassing.

[jersey cubs fan]

The deadball-timeout-challenge sequence was just plain embarrassing.

 

Not nearly as much as the explanation/excuse.

 

Lovie sounds desperate, maybe his job is on the line. Either that or he's so secure about returning that he just doesn't care about trying anymore.

[kujay]

The deadball-timeout-challenge sequence was just plain embarrassing.

 

Not nearly as much as the explanation/excuse.

 

Lovie sounds desperate, maybe his job is on the line. Either that or he's so secure about returning that he just doesn't care about trying anymore.

 

How pissed off should we be, since it's obviously the latter?

[Guest]

The deadball-timeout-challenge sequence was just plain embarrassing.

 

Not nearly as much as the explanation/excuse.

 

Lovie sounds desperate, maybe his job is on the line. Either that or he's so secure about returning that he just doesn't care about trying anymore.

 

I missed the explanation/excuse. What did he say (or where can I hunt down the link)?

[jersey cubs fan]

The deadball-timeout-challenge sequence was just plain embarrassing.

 

Not nearly as much as the explanation/excuse.

 

Lovie sounds desperate, maybe his job is on the line. Either that or he's so secure about returning that he just doesn't care about trying anymore.

 

I missed the explanation/excuse. What did he say (or where can I hunt down the link)?

 

Most of the papers picked up the quotes. Something about how they were two seperate incidents, they originally called a timeout because "something wasn't right on offense" (something Turner refuted), then he decided to use his challenge because you always use a challenge when you can, and the lack of timeouts didn't hurt them anyway.

 

It was an unwinnable challenge, like most of Lovie's attempts. And it's ridiculous to suggest that the timeout didn't affect them. They were in a rush on offense as soon as they dealt with the sack and timeouts would have been very useful when trying to move down the entire field for a touchdown with a team that can't block and no game changing receivers to throw to repeatedly.

[UMFan83]

"For the first timeout, things just weren't right and we needed to call a timeout to take care of some things," Smith said after the game. "That is separate.

 

 

"Without going into detail, I called it for the same reason you always use a timeout -- things weren't right, and we wanted to make sure we were in the best situation. Again, after that, it was two separate situations."

[Guest]

Thanks.

 

The defense of the timeout/challenge is just as bad.

[Guest]

Who didn't predict Lovie throwing the red flag after the first time out was called?

 

And I'm sorry, but in the time that they used to call the time out and throw the red flag, they should have had more than enough time to realize it was an unwinnable challenge.

 

There was absolutely no way that call was going to be reversed.

 

Simply amazing how, in the same year, the Cubs and Bears can become so unwatchable.