Bears game 2: Sunday Sep. 19 at DAL on Fox

[SpongeWorthy]

Bill Simmons goes from predicting the Bears go 3-13 this year, to becoming his "Hmmmmm" team (whatever that means) based off a 5 point controversial win over the Lions.

 

Bears (+7.5) over COWBOYS

The Bears were my "Hmmmmmmmmm" team from Week 1. Cutler was flinging the ball and their defense looked lively. Now here's where you say, "Yeah, but they were playing the Lions." Exactly. That's why I only said "hmmmmmmmmm." Still, they're undervalued and the Cowboys are woefully overvalued. You really want me laying seven and a half for a team that prompted Markley in Buffalo to send me this joke?

 

 

 

"Q: What's the difference between Tony Romo and Lindsay Lohan?

"A: Only Lohan has a decent line in front of her right now."

 

 

He's the king of the retroactive "saw that one coming" comment about everything in sports and gambling.

 

Don't you know? Everyone on the internet picks 80% winners!

[rawaction]

I think the Bears have enough talent on the field to be labeled as a good team.

 

Maybe and maybe not. They do have some talent. But a lot of that talent is either unproven (Knox, Williams, Aromashodu, Omiyale), inconsistent (T Harris, Bowman, Manning, Cutler, Forte), or coming off of a major injury (Urlacher, Tinoisamoa).

 

That's why this team is so all over the place.

[jersey cubs fan]

I think the Bears have enough talent on the field to be labeled as a good team.

 

Maybe and maybe not. They do have some talent. But a lot of that talent is either unproven (Knox, Williams, Aromashodu, Omiyale), inconsistent (T Harris, Bowman, Manning, Cutler, Forte), or coming off of a major injury (Urlacher, Tinoisamoa).

 

That's why this team is so all over the place.

 

And they have very limited talent on the 5 man position of offensive line, which can sink any team.

[rawaction]

I think the Bears have enough talent on the field to be labeled as a good team.

 

Maybe and maybe not. They do have some talent. But a lot of that talent is either unproven (Knox, Williams, Aromashodu, Omiyale), inconsistent (T Harris, Bowman, Manning, Cutler, Forte), or coming off of a major injury (Urlacher, Tinoisamoa).

 

That's why this team is so all over the place.

 

And they have very limited talent on the 5 man position of offensive line, which can sink any team.

 

Yep. My hope is that this OL is like Green Bay and struggles early and then puts it together by the end of the season to become a solid group. Even though Omiyale and Louis were not or barely drafted, those 2 along with Williams are still young enough to be 3/5 of a decent OL.

[jersey cubs fan]

ESPNChicago.com reports: The Bears have fined tight end Brandon Manumaleuna $22,000 for missing a team meeting the night before the team's opening day victory over the Lions.

 

Sources told ESPN's Jeff Dickerson that Manumaleuna thought the mandatory meeting was on Sunday, the day of the game.

[DivineBovine]

Bears getting absolutely no respect from the media.

 

- ESPN Power ranking is 22 (actually down from week 1 despite the win). Only 3 teams with week 1 wins are below them, and 9 teams with week 1 losses in front

 

- 10/10 ESPN picks for the Cowboys

 

- All fantasy football ratings seem to have the Cowboys offense and defense as a very favorable matchup against the Bears defense and offense, respectively

 

 

I'm not going to be delusional and actually think the Bears have a great team. But this is just too much. They could've easily beaten the Lions by 30 points in week 1. And the Cowboys are overrated.

[jersey cubs fan]

I'm not going to be delusional and actually think the Bears have a great team. But this is just too much. They could've easily beaten the Lions by 30 points in week 1. And the Cowboys are overrated.

 

That may be true, but the Bears should still lose this game.

[SpongeWorthy]

Boy I would love to ruin the Cowboys season before it gets properly started. This would go a long way towards that.

 

Apropos of the point I'm constantly making about how the media is obsessed with Dallas: On one of ESPN's stupid Coors light segments they were talking about what the Cowboys needed to do to beat the Bears as if they were playing the Bills or some crap. I can only imagine the caterwauling if we beat them.

[UMFan83]

Bears getting absolutely no respect from the media.

 

- ESPN Power ranking is 22 (actually down from week 1 despite the win). Only 3 teams with week 1 wins are below them, and 9 teams with week 1 losses in front

 

- 10/10 ESPN picks for the Cowboys[\quote]

 

Neither of these things seem very shocking. In the media's minds the Cowboys are clearly better than the Bears, they are angry from losing week 1 (if that means anything at all) and they have their 2 offensive lineman back. It's also in Dallas. I would be shocked if someone actually picked the Bears. The power ranking seems fine, at least the part about them losing a spot after a win. Despite dominating on yards, it was a bit of an ugly win, considering everyone thinks the Lions should have won.

 

I'm not going to be delusional and actually think the Bears have a great team. But this is just too much. They could've easily beaten the Lions by 30 points in week 1. And the Cowboys are overrated.

 

But they didn't beat the Lions by 30, therein lies the reason people are down on the Bears. Some would say the Bears had nearly 4x the number of yards the Lions did but barely won because they are a flawed team that is poorly coached and turns the ball over. Some would say the Bears had some flukey luck with turnovers and a bad goaline offense, otherwise they win easily. Both could be right.

[SpongeWorthy]

Plus imb is a Crack Wagon fan.

[Soul]

I don't understand why people seem to be excited over the fact that media and so-called "experts" aren't givng the Bears respect.

 

Why is it a bad thing, and, frankly, why should they be getting respect? They Beat the Lions by one point at home while making a ton of mistakes that almost cost them the game. Regardless of yardage differential, that's not impressive.

 

I'd rather be receiving criticism from the media than praise as a general rule anyway. Players read the media reports and rankings -- I'd like them to receive any extra bit of motivation possible, all things being equal.

 

I say: PLEASE DISRESPECT US.

[Banedon]

I just find it fun to check the picks each week...that's all. I'm not all worked up over it. Though I admit that I'm amused by the 3 guys on CBSSports that picked the Cowboys on a 9 point spread...wow....

 

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/features/writers/expert/picks/week2

[jersey cubs fan]

I just find it fun to check the picks each week...that's all. I'm not all worked up over it. Though I admit that I'm amused by the 3 guys on CBSSports that picked the Cowboys on a 9 point spread...wow....

 

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/features/writers/expert/picks/week2

 

That is the 2nd reference I have seen for a 9 point spread. Was that the preseason spread on this game? I've seen 8.5, 8 and 7.5, which is where the cbs pick-em league is set.

 

Prisco always seems to pick against Bears.

[sneakypower]

talking about the yards discrepancy is so disingenuous

 

after Stafford died, Linehan basically called 3 glorified kneel downs every position, out of fear of who knows what

 

with Hill in the game the gameplan became safe vanilla crap to avoid turnovers (still didn't work) so as to try scraping and clawing to cling to the lead. it made me lose my mind, but it actually worked i guess, thanks to Lovie's lunacy

 

nevertheless, looking at the total yards doesn't paint a clear picture of how the game went, at all

[Banedon]

talking about the yards discrepancy is so disingenuous

 

after Stafford died, Linehan basically called 3 glorified kneel downs every position, out of fear of who knows what

 

with Hill in the game the gameplan became safe vanilla crap to avoid turnovers (still didn't work) so as to try scraping and clawing to cling to the lead. it made me lose my mind, but it actually worked i guess, thanks to Lovie's lunacy

 

nevertheless, looking at the total yards doesn't paint a clear picture of how the game went, at all

 

Um...ok...that's some interesting justification. How did Stafford's injury contribute to the Bears putting 463 total yards on the Lions?

 

You realize that Hill threw for more yards, and made more passes than Stafford did right? The Lions passed one fewer time in the game than the Bears did. Anyway, this is the Bears thread. Not the Lions thread. If you want to discuss that game, go post in the week 1 thread...not here.

[sneakypower]

hey everybody discuss the Bears performance in games this season

 

oh, unless of course it's to provide perspective on a game your team was involved in

 

weird standards.

[sneakypower]

it's a shame my post detracted attention from the hordes of blather of how the Bears aren't respected in the media

[Banedon]

Done?

[jersey cubs fan]

talking about the yards discrepancy is so disingenuous

 

after Stafford died, Linehan basically called 3 glorified kneel downs every position, out of fear of who knows what

 

with Hill in the game the gameplan became safe vanilla crap to avoid turnovers (still didn't work) so as to try scraping and clawing to cling to the lead. it made me lose my mind, but it actually worked i guess, thanks to Lovie's lunacy

 

nevertheless, looking at the total yards doesn't paint a clear picture of how the game went, at all

 

Um...ok...that's some interesting justification. How did Stafford's injury contribute to the Bears putting 463 total yards on the Lions?

 

You realize that Hill threw for more yards, and made more passes than Stafford did right? The Lions passed one fewer time in the game than the Bears did. Anyway, this is the Bears thread. Not the Lions thread. If you want to discuss that game, go post in the week 1 thread...not here.

 

There is definitely something to what he was saying. The defense was not as good as that yards allowed stat indicates. They shut them down only after Stafford went down and the Lions tried to play keep away. Stafford had 6 possessions in less than 2 full quarters and they scored 14 points. Hill had 8 possessions in 2 full quarters.

 

It's not "so disingenuous" though, more like misleading.

[Banedon]

There is definitely something to what he was saying. The defense was not as good as that yards allowed stat indicates. They shut them down only after Stafford went down and the Lions tried to play keep away. Stafford had 6 possessions in less than 2 full quarters and they scored 14 points. Hill had 8 possessions in 2 full quarters.

 

They scored those points because of turnovers...not because of any offensive efficiency. They went 36 yards after an interception, and 45 yards after a fumble.

 

Hill had two drives longer than either of those.

[Soul]

Sunday's almost here.

 

Then we can talk about the Cowboys in the week 3 Bears thread :)

 

More seriously, one thing is for sure -- the game will give me a much better idea of where the Bears are at than game 1 did. It's just a better test for the team. There are more matchups that the Bears will need to overcome, and frankly, this season was always going to be about answering questions (like most).

 

It's harder to get answers to your questions when you're asking a moron.

[jersey cubs fan]

There is definitely something to what he was saying. The defense was not as good as that yards allowed stat indicates. They shut them down only after Stafford went down and the Lions tried to play keep away. Stafford had 6 possessions in less than 2 full quarters and they scored 14 points. Hill had 8 possessions in 2 full quarters.

 

They scored those points because of turnovers...not because of any offensive efficiency. They went 36 yards after an interception, and 45 yards after a fumble.

 

Hill had two drives longer than either of those.

 

I don't understand why some people are acting as if scoring off a turnover means you didn't actually score. The Bears can get the ball on the opponents 1 and not score. Detroit did actually have to move the ball to makes those scores, and they did it. Chicago had a huge field position advantage and hardly took advantage of it.

[CubColtPacer]

There is definitely something to what he was saying. The defense was not as good as that yards allowed stat indicates. They shut them down only after Stafford went down and the Lions tried to play keep away. Stafford had 6 possessions in less than 2 full quarters and they scored 14 points. Hill had 8 possessions in 2 full quarters.

 

They scored those points because of turnovers...not because of any offensive efficiency. They went 36 yards after an interception, and 45 yards after a fumble.

 

Hill had two drives longer than either of those.

 

The drive charts has the two TD drives as 42 and 60 yards. The final drive for Detroit went 58 yards. The next longest drive of the game for them went 11 yards.

[Banedon]

There is definitely something to what he was saying. The defense was not as good as that yards allowed stat indicates. They shut them down only after Stafford went down and the Lions tried to play keep away. Stafford had 6 possessions in less than 2 full quarters and they scored 14 points. Hill had 8 possessions in 2 full quarters.

 

They scored those points because of turnovers...not because of any offensive efficiency. They went 36 yards after an interception, and 45 yards after a fumble.

 

Hill had two drives longer than either of those.

 

The drive charts has the two TD drives as 42 and 60 yards. The final drive for Detroit went 58 yards. The next longest drive of the game for them went 11 yards.

 

I misread one of the Bears 2nd half drives as a Lions one. For some reason the play-by-play shows those TD drive totals as shorter...

[Banedon]

I don't understand why some people are acting as if scoring off a turnover means you didn't actually score. The Bears can get the ball on the opponents 1 and not score. Detroit did actually have to move the ball to makes those scores, and they did it. Chicago had a huge field position advantage and hardly took advantage of it.

 

So we can't take turnovers into account when we compare yardage differential, but we can take injuries into account.

 

Anyway, I'm done talking about that game. Ultimately it doesn't matter. That game is over and Stafford isn't gonna be back anytime soon to show us what an awesome QB he is.

 

If we have as many turnovers this week as we did last week, we'll lose.