Re: Bears game 10: Thursday Nov. 18 at MIA on NFLN

[jersey cubs fan]

Nothing like coming off the least impressive win of the season with the most impressive game of the season. Unfortunately they only get to play Favre one more time this season, and now must face a competent QB in Miami. Going to the third stringer really doesn't matter when you are a talking about a team that's won despite their QBs this year anyway. Replacing Henne and his 9/11 TD/INT ratio was a smart move. I actually thought Pennington would be a tough matchup with the Bears since he specializes in the dink and dunk that can hurt the Bears.

 

Miami might be a little better than their 5-4 record, but they don't really do anything particularly well. They are a minus 5 in turnovers, and have only taken it away 11 times compared to the Bears 24. They don't really stop the run all that great. They don't give up many passing yards but they don't sack the QB either.

 

Right now Miami is a 2 point favorite. This is a very winnable game. Weather should be a non-factor, but since it's Florida you never know. Chicago doesn't have a good history down there, but if they can pull this off they will then be in position to contend for a home playoff game.

[rawaction]

Miami has been all over the place this year. Eeked out 2 wins vs. Buffalo and Minnesota, two teams with 4 combined wins. Played the Steelers and Jets really tough, and could/should have won both of those games. They were blown out by the Pats and Ravens, but then blew out the Titans yesterday with 3 QBs.

 

I will say the Bears are in MUCH better position to win this game on a short week than I would have imagined. Facing a 3rd string QB, Jake Long has a dislocated shoulder, and Cameron Wake (Dolphins sack leader) will likely miss the game.

 

The OL played well enough yesterday. Still not great, but I thought the middle of the line was excellent in pass blocking the Williamses. Webb at RT got beat often but Cutler was able to move around at will. Seemed like they ran the ball a lot better than a 3.4 average too.

[UMFan83]

Knock on wood but the Bears are almost too healthy for this time of year. I don't know how many nagging undiscolsed injuries they have but it definitely plays into our favor with a short week.

 

I feel pretty good about this one. But then again the Bears usually do the opposite or what I think they are gonna do so many I should continue hyping up Thigpen.

 

We need revenge for that crapfest against them in 2006. IIRC the last time we had a primetime game against Miami, it was the infamous Monday Night Football game against them in 97, where the game was supposed to be played on a Sunday but instead was moved to Monday to accomodate the Marlins game 7 of the World Series.

[jersey cubs fan]

There was a crappy weather MNF game in the early 2000's in Miami that they were beaten badly in.

[jersey cubs fan]

Knock on wood but the Bears are almost too healthy for this time of year. I don't know how many nagging undiscolsed injuries they have but it definitely plays into our favor with a short week.

 

They are only missing one starter, in Hillenmeyer. But they've been banged up on the line all season, including Kreutz now. Plus Briggs has been hobbled while Peppers has also had some issues. They don't have any significant skill position players, but they are all healthy at least. But a few went down during this game so who knows how they will be on Thursday.

[Mark Priors Calves]

AVENGE THE '85 BEARS!!!!

[rawaction]

Yeah, didn't see much of Hester late yesterday. Looked like a shoulder thing. I'm sure he'll try to be out there Thursday in his hometown.

 

I don't know anyone who could return a punt 40+ yards while never getting more than 2 yards away from the sideline.

[UMFan83]

Yay we jumped all the way to 14th in Peter King's fine 15. Only 3 teams with worse records (Oakland at 5-4, Philly at 5-3 and San Diego at 4-5) are ahead of us. And we even have a team with the same record as ours below us (Tampa Bay).

 

He did also mention that if Hester is receiving and returning like he did yesterday the Bears could be in line for multiple playoff wins.

 

I'm really hoping to see what Simmons says about the Bears this week. I'm not trying to overrate the win because I think its extremely reasonable to still hesitate calling the Bears contenders. Heck I still do. But Simmons began the season calling them a 3 win team, and then started calling them dangerous when we started 3-0, and then called us one of the bottom 5 teams in the league when we lost 3 of 4. Now we've won 2 in a row and are sitting at 6-3. Still one of the worst 5 teams in the league Bill? Or have you gone 180 on the Bears yet again?

[jersey cubs fan]

Yay we jumped all the way to 14th in Peter King's fine 15. Only 3 teams with worse records (Oakland at 5-4, Philly at 5-3 and San Diego at 4-5) are ahead of us. And we even have a team with the same record as ours below us (Tampa Bay).

 

He did also mention that if Hester is receiving and returning like he did yesterday the Bears could be in line for multiple playoff wins.

 

I'm really hoping to see what Simmons says about the Bears this week. I'm not trying to overrate the win because I think its extremely reasonable to still hesitate calling the Bears contenders. Heck I still do. But Simmons began the season calling them a 3 win team, and then started calling them dangerous when we started 3-0, and then called us one of the bottom 5 teams in the league when we lost 3 of 4. Now we've won 2 in a row and are sitting at 6-3. Still one of the worst 5 teams in the league Bill? Or have you gone 180 on the Bears yet again?

 

I thought I read or heard him say one of three worst teams at one point. He's used words like terrible on numerous occasions. I've been hard on them because it's obvious they have the potential to be a 10-12 win team but they blew multiple opportunities with stupidity. I think they were a 6 win team if things went poorly, with the potential for many more. They have weaknesses but Cutler and the defense can make them contenders.

[bukie]

I'm not sure I'm necessarily a believer that this is a Super Bowl contender, but there are only 3 teams with a better record than them. Really wish they had even one of the Seattle/Washington games back.

[UMFan83]

Yay we jumped all the way to 14th in Peter King's fine 15. Only 3 teams with worse records (Oakland at 5-4, Philly at 5-3 and San Diego at 4-5) are ahead of us. And we even have a team with the same record as ours below us (Tampa Bay).

 

He did also mention that if Hester is receiving and returning like he did yesterday the Bears could be in line for multiple playoff wins.

 

I'm really hoping to see what Simmons says about the Bears this week. I'm not trying to overrate the win because I think its extremely reasonable to still hesitate calling the Bears contenders. Heck I still do. But Simmons began the season calling them a 3 win team, and then started calling them dangerous when we started 3-0, and then called us one of the bottom 5 teams in the league when we lost 3 of 4. Now we've won 2 in a row and are sitting at 6-3. Still one of the worst 5 teams in the league Bill? Or have you gone 180 on the Bears yet again?

 

I thought I read or heard him say one of three worst teams at one point. He's used words like terrible on numerous occasions. I've been hard on them because it's obvious they have the potential to be a 10-12 win team but they blew multiple opportunities with stupidity. I think they were a 6 win team if things went poorly, with the potential for many more. They have weaknesses but Cutler and the defense can make them contenders.

 

Yeah the problem is that when someone like him hasn't taken a close look at a team and wants to make judgements on 32 different teams, he (and most of the media) uses generalizations combined with their performance the last few years. Oh also, if the team doesn't have many dominant skill position players, its that much harder to gain respect in the media. It seems Bill has done that too. They were pretty awful the last 12 games of last year, and despite their FA spending, they didn't improve the O-line and their WRs were still all unknowns besides Hester. And the biggest thing is the general media impression is that Cutler is talented but they've already decided that he'll be the wild 25TD-25 INT Cutler until he gets better receivers (or for some he will never grow out of it). So when it's time to Simmons to rank the Bears, he sees wins over below average Detroit, Dallas and Carolina teams, and bad losses to mediocre Seattle and Washington teams and assumes that the Bears had a few lucky games to start the year and now they are terrible. This is why I think its stupid for anyone to do these power rankings each week, although they are somewhat interesting to read. There are very few people out there, if any, that are in tune with all 32 NFL teams.

[Soul]

Yeah, didn't see much of Hester late yesterday. Looked like a shoulder thing. I'm sure he'll try to be out there Thursday in his hometown.

 

I don't know anyone who could return a punt 40+ yards while never getting more than 2 yards away from the sideline.

 

He broke the kickers' ankles off on that kick return, too.

 

For some reason that makes me giggle like a kid.

 

Kicker vs. Hester. Now that is entertainment.

[Soul]

On the Phins QB situation:

 

I agree with the position that with Miami, it's not really the QB driving them anyway. Thigpen may suck, but they won't try to build a gameplan around what he does. Most likely we'll see a heavy dose of running and wildcat, with Thigpen throwing the ball to keep us honest.

 

On a positive note I think run D is still our strongpoint, so hopefully we can stop a lot of that stuff.

 

This should turn out to be a close game with scoring that is on the low side.

[jersey cubs fan]

Yeah the problem is that when someone like him hasn't taken a close look at a team and wants to make judgements on 32 different teams, he (and most of the media) uses generalizations combined with their performance the last few years. Oh also, if the team doesn't have many dominant skill position players, its that much harder to gain respect in the media. It seems Bill has done that too. They were pretty awful the last 12 games of last year, and despite their FA spending, they didn't improve the O-line and their WRs were still all unknowns besides Hester. And the biggest thing is the general media impression is that Cutler is talented but they've already decided that he'll be the wild 25TD-25 INT Cutler until he gets better receivers (or for some he will never grow out of it). So when it's time to Simmons to rank the Bears, he sees wins over below average Detroit, Dallas and Carolina teams, and bad losses to mediocre Seattle and Washington teams and assumes that the Bears had a few lucky games to start the year and now they are terrible. This is why I think its stupid for anyone to do these power rankings each week, although they are somewhat interesting to read. There are very few people out there, if any, that are in tune with all 32 NFL teams.

 

That is. It makes sense that somebody would see the 6-3 record but consider them no better than average, or maybe not even top 15. But it doesn't take much, if any, deep digging to see tha the Bears are not a bottom 5 team in this league. Simmons and Banks have embarrassed themselves with their ratings of the Bears among the worst teams. The worst teams lost those games to Detroit, Dallas and Carolina. The Bears have been a .500 team the last three years and improved this offseason. Acting as though they are a 2-3 win team in the making is just ignoring the fact that even if he's erratic, Cutler is going to win them more games than that.

[jersey cubs fan]

I'm not sure I'm necessarily a believer that this is a Super Bowl contender, but there are only 3 teams with a better record than them. Really wish they had even one of the Seattle/Washington games back.

 

I don't believe for a second they are a super bowl contender right now. I think they might be able to win a first round playoff game at this point if they get there. But they have the potential to turn into a contender if things improve where they need it most.

[Soul]

Yeah the problem is that when someone like him hasn't taken a close look at a team and wants to make judgements on 32 different teams, he (and most of the media) uses generalizations combined with their performance the last few years.

 

Exactly. It's the grain of salt that needs to be taken with each dose of these national media reports. None of these guys are going to have in depth knowledge of each team. Even if they did, the NFL is just too unpredictable. They'd still get a lot of it wrong.

 

I do find it interesting what they say because it gives a view of what outside opinion might be regarding my team. But that's about it.

[DivineBovine]

One more game where the offensive line gets abused is all the Bears need to be viewed as a bad team again. Let's hope it doesn't happen.

[jersey cubs fan]

Yeah the problem is that when someone like him hasn't taken a close look at a team and wants to make judgements on 32 different teams, he (and most of the media) uses generalizations combined with their performance the last few years.

 

Exactly. It's the grain of salt that needs to be taken with each dose of these national media reports. None of these guys are going to have in depth knowledge of each team. Even if they did, the NFL is just too unpredictable. They'd still get a lot of it wrong.

 

I do find it interesting what they say because it gives a view of what outside opinion might be regarding my team. But that's about it.

 

Oddly enough, Peter King has done a fairly good job of it without the unnecessary nonsense about how they are one of the worst teams in the league.

[JonJayCutler]

They are only missing one starter, in Hillenmeyer.

 

Hillenmeyer wasn't a starter going into this year with Urlacher and Pisa healthy.

 

I agree we've been lucky in general with injuries this year, but the Cutler concussion might have cost us that game against Seattle, as he was clearly rusty from missing time.

 

The only game this year that still irks me is the Washington game, but since one could argue that we stole wins against the Lions and Packers, I can't really complain. To be able to say that we've only let 1 game slip away out of the first 9 isn't bad.

[Soul]

They are only missing one starter, in Hillenmeyer.

 

Hillenmeyer wasn't a starter going into this year with Urlacher and Pisa healthy.

 

I agree we've been lucky in general with injuries this year, but the Cutler concussion might have cost us that game against Seattle, as he was clearly rusty from missing time.

 

The only game this year that still irks me is the Washington game, but since one could argue that we stole wins against the Lions and Packers, I can't really complain. To be able to say that we've only let 1 game slip away out of the first 9 isn't bad.

 

I'd say we've had our share of breaks.

 

Last week was nice in that we took control in the 2nd half and never looked back. I'd like to see more of that, but more likely we'll be biting our nails in a lot of these games because we can't pull away, but the defense will (hopefully) keep others from pulling away from us as well.

[UMFan83]

They are only missing one starter, in Hillenmeyer.

 

Hillenmeyer wasn't a starter going into this year with Urlacher and Pisa healthy.

 

I agree we've been lucky in general with injuries this year, but the Cutler concussion might have cost us that game against Seattle, as he was clearly rusty from missing time.

 

The only game this year that still irks me is the Washington game, but since one could argue that we stole wins against the Lions and Packers, I can't really complain. To be able to say that we've only let 1 game slip away out of the first 9 isn't bad.

 

I definitely lament the Washington game more, but I feel like we let the Seattle game slip away too. But that game can't be whittled down to a touchdown that was left unchalleneged and was instead a turnover at the 1 yard line. It was more the defense having probably its worst game of the year, and the offense still in the "We're gonna make Martz's system work or die trying" mode. Still Seattle came into the game 3-18 in their last 21 road games. There was no reason we should have lost to them.

[rawaction]

Starting to get that uneasy feeling again about this game. Both teams coming off of very strong wins. While the Bears came thru much more healthy than the Dolphins, they probably had a more emotional game against a division rival, at home, in throwback jerseys. I really don't like having to travel on a short week, especially with some aging guys on defense.

 

That being said, I fear this will be an ugly game either way. I think the Bears run D matches up well against what the Dolphins like to do. But I don't like the Bears matchups with the Miami WRs.

 

Miami doesn't do anything great offensively, and that will probably be magnified without their 1-2 QBs. They do have excellent pass defense, but don't create a lot of turnovers.

 

I look for a low scoring game. If all other things are equal, the Bears special teams is much better than the Dolphins. I think we're looking at 19-17, 16-13 type game either way.

[UMFan83]

Traditionally the Thursday night games are fairly sloppy for the first quarter, sometimes the entire first half until teams start to get into a rhythm. That's the scary thing about the game because anything can happen.

[jersey cubs fan]

Traditionally the Thursday night games are fairly sloppy for the first quarter, sometimes the entire first half until teams start to get into a rhythm. That's the scary thing about the game because anything can happen.

 

I almost feel that works in the Bears favor, because under normal circumstances I hate their chances in Miami. I hate travelling on a short week. I hate primetime games. I hate going to Miami. Everything about this game begs for disappointment. But if they can win, that would be a huge shift in the potential final record, as much like the Dallas game, I've been penciling this in as a loss all along.

[rawaction]

Traditionally the Thursday night games are fairly sloppy for the first quarter, sometimes the entire first half until teams start to get into a rhythm. That's the scary thing about the game because anything can happen.

 

I almost feel that works in the Bears favor, because under normal circumstances I hate their chances in Miami. I hate travelling on a short week. I hate primetime games. I hate going to Miami. Everything about this game begs for disappointment. But if they can win, that would be a huge shift in the potential final record, as much like the Dallas game, I've been penciling this in as a loss all along.

 

Agreed on both. Last year, was the San Francisco trip on a short week. I chalked that up as a loss to start the season, but the Bears had every chance to win that game and would have if you take away any of the 5 Cutler INTs. UGH!