NFL Week 15

[UMFan83]

Yeah its so weird how much this Minnesota/Chicago game means to the race. Sportsclubstats.com has the Bears at 69.7% chance to make the playoffs right now. If they lose to Minnesota, they go down to 41%, a drop of 28%. A Packerse win doesn't even really drop their odds much, only 6%. A loss to the Jets the next week only lowers the odds 12%. This Minnesota game is huge. If the Bears win, I think the Bears will win the division. If they lose, I'd have to probably admit the Packers probably win, even though they'd have to beat the Giants and Bears to clinch.

 

I wouldnt give up on the Vikings in that one yet. First of all the Bears played awful last week and their confidence has to be shaken a bit. They will recover it enough knowing that their path to the playoffs is clear, especially because they will know how the Packers did. But the confidence can't be as high as it was before last Sunday. The Vikings however, have to be having this "us against the world" mentality going on right now. They did put up a stinker the other night, but I would expect that in a "home" game 600 miles away against a very good team. Bottom line is the players still want Frazier to be the head coach, they want to play hard for their fans who have gone through all this Metrodome crap with them, and the whole 50th anniversary stuff comes into play. Finally, the Bears and Vikings don't like each other, and it's a test of their pride to come out and help keep a division rival out of the playoffs.

[UMFan83]

Do you guys really think though that GB would throw in the towel on an entire season hinging off of an injury that Rodgers COULD come back and play with?

 

I just find it so hard to believe that the Packers would go out like that.

 

He'd be back for the Giants game, so it wouldn't be throwing away the entire season. Even with Rodgers, we'd have very little chance of winning this game on Sunday. It makes sense to just hold him out and have him come back at 100% for the Giants and Bears.

 

Hopefully scoreboard watching goes our way this weekend, although it hasn't at any point this year and I doubt it's going to start now.

 

I might be crazy for suggesting this but I think the Packers have a fighting chance with Rodgers playing the NE game. The Pats have an amazing offense, but the Packers D has been playing really well lately I believe. If there's a defense that can slow them down, it's GB's. And offensively, assuming the conditions are much better than the other night, I would think Rodgers would be able to exploit that Pats passing D that is said to be so weak. I think it would be something like a 30-24 game in favor of the Pats, but one that could go either way.

[cubbyvirus00]

Do you guys really think though that GB would throw in the towel on an entire season hinging off of an injury that Rodgers COULD come back and play with?

 

I just find it so hard to believe that the Packers would go out like that.

 

He'd be back for the Giants game, so it wouldn't be throwing away the entire season. Even with Rodgers, we'd have very little chance of winning this game on Sunday. It makes sense to just hold him out and have him come back at 100% for the Giants and Bears.

 

Hopefully scoreboard watching goes our way this weekend, although it hasn't at any point this year and I doubt it's going to start now.

 

I might be crazy for suggesting this but I think the Packers have a fighting chance with Rodgers playing the NE game. The Pats have an amazing offense, but the Packers D has been playing really well lately I believe. If there's a defense that can slow them down, it's GB's. And offensively, assuming the conditions are much better than the other night, I would think Rodgers would be able to exploit that Pats passing D that is said to be so weak. I think it would be something like a 30-24 game in favor of the Pats, but one that could go either way.

 

I 100% agree with this. Rodgers would shred that secondary and the defensive struggle would obviously be interesting to watch.

[Flames24Rulz]

Do you guys really think though that GB would throw in the towel on an entire season hinging off of an injury that Rodgers COULD come back and play with?

 

I just find it so hard to believe that the Packers would go out like that.

 

He'd be back for the Giants game, so it wouldn't be throwing away the entire season. Even with Rodgers, we'd have very little chance of winning this game on Sunday. It makes sense to just hold him out and have him come back at 100% for the Giants and Bears.

 

Hopefully scoreboard watching goes our way this weekend, although it hasn't at any point this year and I doubt it's going to start now.

 

I might be crazy for suggesting this but I think the Packers have a fighting chance with Rodgers playing the NE game. The Pats have an amazing offense, but the Packers D has been playing really well lately I believe. If there's a defense that can slow them down, it's GB's. And offensively, assuming the conditions are much better than the other night, I would think Rodgers would be able to exploit that Pats passing D that is said to be so weak. I think it would be something like a 30-24 game in favor of the Pats, but one that could go either way.

 

If the Bears don't have the best D in the conference, I think we do. Our defense has played absolutely surreal, despite all of the injuries we've encountered on that side of the ball. At the very worst, I'm extremely excited about our depth on that side of the ball for next year.

 

I think something like a 28-24 score sounds about right. That way, we get another close loss to add to McCarthy's 2-14 record since 2007! But if he doesn't suit up, the Pats will dominate the TOP battle and our thin defense would definitely wear down against their pass attack. That's the main reason why I think it would be a blowout if Flynn plays.

 

As for the Vikings-Bears game, I think it's a game where the Bears will struggle for a little bit. They've played down to the Bills and Detroit on the road. I think Minnesota might keep it close for a good portion of the game, but the Bears will find a way to win it at the end.

[Flames24Rulz]

Do you guys really think though that GB would throw in the towel on an entire season hinging off of an injury that Rodgers COULD come back and play with?

 

I just find it so hard to believe that the Packers would go out like that.

 

He'd be back for the Giants game, so it wouldn't be throwing away the entire season. Even with Rodgers, we'd have very little chance of winning this game on Sunday. It makes sense to just hold him out and have him come back at 100% for the Giants and Bears.

 

Hopefully scoreboard watching goes our way this weekend, although it hasn't at any point this year and I doubt it's going to start now.

 

I might be crazy for suggesting this but I think the Packers have a fighting chance with Rodgers playing the NE game. The Pats have an amazing offense, but the Packers D has been playing really well lately I believe. If there's a defense that can slow them down, it's GB's. And offensively, assuming the conditions are much better than the other night, I would think Rodgers would be able to exploit that Pats passing D that is said to be so weak. I think it would be something like a 30-24 game in favor of the Pats, but one that could go either way.

 

I 100% agree with this. Rodgers would shred that secondary and the defensive struggle would obviously be interesting to watch.

 

To be fair, he wasn't shredding the Lions' awful secondary. Never underestimate the stupidity of Mike McCarthy's playcalling.

[Banedon]

To be fair, he wasn't shredding the Lions' awful secondary. Never underestimate the stupidity of Mike McCarthy's playcalling.

 

Yeah...if the secondary doesn't have to worry about playing the run, it makes pass coverage a whole lot easier.

[sneakypower]

To be fair, he wasn't shredding the Lions' awful secondary. Never underestimate the stupidity of Mike McCarthy's playcalling.

awful secondary? we're 13th in the league for passing yards allowed, and quite a bit of that is due to poor pass D from the LB corps, namely Julian Peterson

 

you're a year late with that declaration

[Flames24Rulz]

To be fair, he wasn't shredding the Lions' awful secondary. Never underestimate the stupidity of Mike McCarthy's playcalling.

awful secondary? we're 13th in the league for passing yards allowed, and quite a bit of that is due to poor pass D from the LB corps, namely Julian Peterson

 

you're a year late with that declaration

 

Yep, I definitely didn't know all of that.

[jersey cubs fan]

13th in passing yards allowed is elite

[Flames24Rulz]

13th in passing yards allowed is elite

 

It's not awful though.

[jersey cubs fan]

13th in passing yards allowed is elite

 

It's not awful though.

 

It is when you consider nobody has to pass on them much since the opponent is usually ahead and Detroit gives up the 4th highest yards per attempt. They are in 6th place, 3 off the lead, in sacks. It's quite obvious the secondary is the weak link.

[UMFan83]

13th in passing yards allowed is elite

 

It's not awful though.

 

It is when you consider nobody has to pass on them much since the opponent is usually ahead and Detroit gives up the 4th highest yards per attempt. They are in 6th place, 3 off the lead, in sacks. It's quite obvious the secondary is the weak link.

 

I seem to feel like a majority of the games Detroit has played this season have been really close, and quite a few of them had the teams seperated by a score well into the 4th quarter. Some with Detroit leading until the end.

[UMFan83]

GB - DET trailed 3-0 going into the 4th, won 7-3

CHI - DET led 20-17 going into the 4th, lost 24-20

NE - DET tied 24-24 going into 4th, lost 45-24

DAL - DET trailed 21-19 going into 4th, lost 35-19

BUF - DET trailed 14-3 going into 4th, lost 14-12

NYJ - DET led 13-10 going into 4th, lost 23-20 (OT)

WAS - DET led 14-13 going into 4th, won 37-25

NYG - DET trailed 21-10 going into 4th, lost 28-20

STL - DET led 31-6 going into 4th, won 44-6

GB - DET trailed 28-20 going into 4th, lost 28-26

MIN - DET trailed 24-10 going into 4th, lost 24-10

PHI - DET trailed 28-17 going into 4th, lost 35-32

CHI - DET led 14-13 going into 4th, lost 19-14

 

That's 11 of the 13 games where the score was either within 1 score entering the 4th or the game ended with the teams being within 1 score of each other. And one of the two games that isn't, it was the Lions up by a ton, so it's likely the opponent was passing a lot. The Minnesota game is the only one I could say that without a doubt the opponent probably gave up on the passing game early on.

[jersey cubs fan]

13th in passing yards allowed is elite

 

It's not awful though.

 

It is when you consider nobody has to pass on them much since the opponent is usually ahead and Detroit gives up the 4th highest yards per attempt. They are in 6th place, 3 off the lead, in sacks. It's quite obvious the secondary is the weak link.

 

I seem to feel like a majority of the games Detroit has played this season have been really close, and quite a few of them had the teams seperated by a score well into the 4th quarter. Some with Detroit leading until the end.

 

Teams have thrown the 6th fewest pass attempts against Detroit and they have given up the 4th more yards per attempt. Nobody tries to pass on them, but when they do, they are successful.

[UMFan83]

13th in passing yards allowed is elite

 

It's not awful though.

 

It is when you consider nobody has to pass on them much since the opponent is usually ahead and Detroit gives up the 4th highest yards per attempt. They are in 6th place, 3 off the lead, in sacks. It's quite obvious the secondary is the weak link.

 

I seem to feel like a majority of the games Detroit has played this season have been really close, and quite a few of them had the teams seperated by a score well into the 4th quarter. Some with Detroit leading until the end.

 

Teams have thrown the 6th fewest pass attempts against Detroit and they have given up the 4th more yards per attempt. Nobody tries to pass on them, but when they do, they are successful.

 

OK that refutes my research. In that case teams arent passing nearly enough on Detroit because the game situations and statistics certainly dictate that they should be passing more

[Soul]

I wouldnt give up on the Vikings in that one yet. First of all the Bears played awful last week and their confidence has to be shaken a bit. They will recover it enough knowing that their path to the playoffs is clear, especially because they will know how the Packers did. But the confidence can't be as high as it was before last Sunday. The Vikings however, have to be having this "us against the world" mentality going on right now. They did put up a stinker the other night, but I would expect that in a "home" game 600 miles away against a very good team. Bottom line is the players still want Frazier to be the head coach, they want to play hard for their fans who have gone through all this Metrodome crap with them, and the whole 50th anniversary stuff comes into play. Finally, the Bears and Vikings don't like each other, and it's a test of their pride to come out and help keep a division rival out of the playoffs.

 

The Bears have no idea what to prepare for. And there's no telling what that field is going to do to either team's gameplan or execution.

 

That game is far from an automatic Bear win. And I agree, it's pretty amazing how important that game has become to the Bears.

[sneakypower]

13th in passing yards allowed is elite

as is your reading comprehension

[Vanilla Ice]

FO has them ranked 18th in pass defense

[jersey cubs fan]

OK that refutes my research. In that case teams arent passing nearly enough on Detroit because the game situations and statistics certainly dictate that they should be passing more

 

They have had close games, but in a lot of cases teams had leads that Detroit ate away at. The Bears dominated game 1 and should have won walking away until Detroit made it close. The Giants led by 11 going into the 4th quarter, Detroit cut it to 4, then NYG extended it back to 11 before the Lions brought it back to 8. The score was relatively close but the Giants weren't going to throw much in the 2nd half. Philly led by as much as 18 in the 4th quarter but Detroit made it close late, and it was Vick's first start. They lost by 2 at Green Bay but were down by 14 early in the 3rd. The Packers only threw 17 passes that day. Teams probably should pass more against them, but Detroit isn't great against the run either and when NFL teams get leads they generally don't like to chuck it around, unless they are the Patriots.

[sneakypower]

FO has them ranked 18th in pass defense

the secondary or the entire defensive unit? we're also much improved since the start of the season, due mainly to C.C. (can't cover) Brown and Wade getting benched, and Levy getting healthy.

 

Teams have thrown the 6th fewest pass attempts against Detroit

imagine that.

[jersey cubs fan]

FO has them ranked 18th in pass defense

the secondary or the entire defensive unit? we're also much improved since the start of the season, due mainly to C.C. (can't cover) Brown and Wade getting benched, and Levy getting healthy.

 

Teams have thrown the 6th fewest pass attempts against Detroit

imagine that.

 

And achieved the 4th most yards per attempt.

 

 

Imagine that.

[sneakypower]

your argument is stupid; it's an obviously terrible unit but teams choose not to exploit that?

[jersey cubs fan]

your argument is stupid; it's an obviously terrible unit but teams choose not to exploit that?

 

Your argument is stupid. They aren't successful but they are still good?

[sneakypower]

do i really have to spell out common sense for you? if teams don't pass on you, you then play the run

 

why do you suspect they don't pass very often?

[rawaction]

do i really have to spell out common sense for you? if teams don't pass on you, you then play the run

 

why do you suspect they don't pass very often?

 

Teams don't pass on them as much because they are 3-10. Teams have been able to run the ball so well and have had leads on them, so they didn't need to throw the ball as much.