Bears vs. Seahawks, Sunday Jan 16 at noon

[jersey cubs fan]

Somebody is coming to Chicago in 2 weeks. If current seeds hold, Philly would be coming in for a revenge game. If the dogs wins, the Bears would get another crack at the juggernaut Seahawks team. If Green Bay pulls off the road upset and New Orleans wins, as they should, then the Saints come back to Chicago for the first time since 2008 and the Bears would be looking to extend their winning streak against New Orleans to five.

 

Obviously the two most likely opponents are New Orleans and Philly, which are both playing their own rematch games this coming weekend.

 

Everybody in this playoff group is beatable. Philly hasn't looked impressive for 60 minutes of football since the week after losing to the Bears, when they came from behind against Houston. For some it took the Vikings loss to "prove they were beatable". New Orleans was sloppy in the first half of the season, rolled through the midsection with five straight 30 points games, then slipped at the end with losses to Baltimore and Tampa and an average of just 18 points per game. Seattle sucks at football. And the two teams Chicago can't meet until a potential conference championship matchup will be discussed at a later date.

Edited January 10, 2011 by jersey cubs fan

[Banedon]

I think I want New Orleans, but then that means that GB will have won. Which I don't want. So I guess I'm pulling for a Bears-Eagles rematch.

[Mark Priors Calves]

this is gonna be a long two weeks.

[kujay]

I think I want New Orleans, but then that means that GB will have won. Which I don't want. So I guess I'm pulling for a Bears-Eagles rematch.

 

I'm equally good with any of GB, NO or PHL at home.

[Banedon]

I think I want New Orleans, but then that means that GB will have won. Which I don't want. So I guess I'm pulling for a Bears-Eagles rematch.

 

I'm equally good with any of GB, NO or PHL at home.

 

We aren't getting GB until the NFCC game.

[kujay]

I think I want New Orleans, but then that means that GB will have won. Which I don't want. So I guess I'm pulling for a Bears-Eagles rematch.

 

I'm equally good with any of GB, NO or PHL at home.

 

We aren't getting GB until the NFCC game.

 

I know, but he mentioned GB and we could get them later on. I'm not happy with the way things went down yesterday, but I like our chances are home against them.

[rawaction]

Yeah, I'm good no matter what happens. The Bears should win with an off-week, at home vs. either a team they already beat, a sub .500 team, or a dome team that has a terrible track record in cold weather.

[Banedon]

Someone may have posted it, but there's a lot of football threads right now...so if it's posted, I missed it...

 

Bears 2011 schedule

 

Home

Atlanta

Carolina

Kansas City

San Diego

Detroit

Green Bay

Minnesota

Seattle

 

Away

New Orleans

Tampa Bay

Denver

Oakland

Detroit

Green Bay

Minnesota

Philadelphia

[UMFan83]

Wow I didn't even see this thread yesterday. I was wondering when it was going up.

 

I wonder what the schedule will look like if they goto 18 games or if they chop off a couple due to an extended lockout.

[Banedon]

Wow I didn't even see this thread yesterday. I was wondering when it was going up.

 

I wonder what the schedule will look like if they goto 18 games or if they chop off a couple due to an extended lockout.

 

Personally, I don't think they'll miss games. Maybe some offseason stuff, but I don't think anybody wants to give up the money from games.

[Banedon]

Profootballtalk posted their week 17 power rankings...this was their comment for the Bears...

 

7. Chicago Bears (No. 6; 11-5): If the Bears face Atlanta for the NFC crown, it’s going to be hard not to pick the road team to win.

 

But yet, they have Atlanta as their number 2 team. I'm confused.

 

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/01/03/week-17-power-rankings/

[rawaction]

Wow I didn't even see this thread yesterday. I was wondering when it was going up.

 

I wonder what the schedule will look like if they goto 18 games or if they chop off a couple due to an extended lockout.

 

If it goes to 18 games, I'd imagine that instead of the 1st place teams playing the other 1st place teams in its conference (i.e. Bears vs. Eagles and Seattle next year), the 1st and 2nd place teams in each division will play the 1st and 2nd place teams in the other divisions in the conference. And the 3rd and 4th play 3rd and 4th in the other divisions. Only adds 2 games because you are already playing 1 entire division.

[Banedon]

This one is for Wilson...

 

No one seems to be talking about it of late, but the Bears won the Jay Cutler trade with Denver. Cutler didn't do much against the Packers in Week 17, but he has played very well of late. The problem Sunday was an old one -- pass protection. Green Bay's speed gave Chicago's protection all sorts of problems. And Cutler didn't help by often holding the ball too long. And yes, the interceptions came back again to haunt the Bears. All that being said, Kyle Orton had a fine season, but no way does he lead the Bears to the No. 2 seed in the NFC this season. This is exactly what Chicago envisioned when it made the blockbuster deal for its franchise quarterback.

[minnesotacubsfan]

Profootballtalk posted their week 17 power rankings...this was their comment for the Bears...

 

7. Chicago Bears (No. 6; 11-5): If the Bears face Atlanta for the NFC crown, it’s going to be hard not to pick the road team to win.

 

But yet, they have Atlanta as their number 2 team. I'm confused.

 

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/01/03/week-17-power-rankings/

 

 

maybe Chicago is their sentimental favorite

[UMFan83]

Wow I didn't even see this thread yesterday. I was wondering when it was going up.

 

I wonder what the schedule will look like if they goto 18 games or if they chop off a couple due to an extended lockout.

 

If it goes to 18 games, I'd imagine that instead of the 1st place teams playing the other 1st place teams in its conference (i.e. Bears vs. Eagles and Seattle next year), the 1st and 2nd place teams in each division will play the 1st and 2nd place teams in the other divisions in the conference. And the 3rd and 4th play 3rd and 4th in the other divisions. Only adds 2 games because you are already playing 1 entire division.

 

In that case, I am assuming that the H/R games would be opposite the H/R games for the 1st place teams meaning the Bears would play @ St. Louis and at home against the Giants.

[UMFan83]

I was looking at the Football Outsider rankings today and noticed that if the Bears Pass Blocking didn't regress for the GB game, we might have actually finished 31st in the league in Pass Protection over Carolina. This is an amazing improvement because the Bears were in last place by a pretty significant margin around week 7-8.

[UMFan83]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=clayton_john&id=5972554

 

John "Ponytail" Clayton rated all the NFL starting QBs, as he does a couple of times a year, and put Cutler into the 2nd of 3 levels he defines as "Elite", "Chad Pennington" (Cutler was here), and "Hit or Miss"

 

Overall Cutler was ranked 16th after names like Carson Palmer, San Bradford, Josh Freeman, Eli Manning, Matt Schaub, Joe Flacco and Tony Romo (all names I think should be below Cutler).

 

[expletive] you Clayton.

 

Oh and this is his remarks on Cutler:

 

Analysis: The combination of Cutler's arm and Mike Martz's play calling helped to win the NFC North. But Cutler threw too many interceptions (16) to advance him back into the elite group he was a member of while with the Broncos in 2008.

Chance of being elite: 95 percent

 

 

So 16 is too many interceptions, but 4 other people above Cutler threw more than him this year. Eli Manning threw 9 more interceptions than Cutler, but he's still improbably living off his fluke Super Bowl title from 4 years ago.

[Banedon]

So 16 is too many interceptions, but 4 other people above Cutler threw more than him this year. Eli Manning threw 9 more interceptions than Cutler, but he's still improbably living off his fluke Super Bowl title from 4 years ago.

 

Yeah, his QB rankings are junk.

[Banedon]

According to Sports Illustrated's esteemed NFL columnist Peter King, the Bears will be seeing the Packers again soon. King predicts the Packers -- who qualified for the playoffs with their 10-3 victory Sunday at Lambeau Field -- will beat the Eagles and Falcons to earn an NFC Championship Game rematch against the Bears, who he says will defeat the Saints in the divisional round.

 

But bad news, Bears fans: King predicts in this week's issue that the Packers will beat the Bears again (this time when it counts for both teams) and earn a Super Bowl berth against New England, where he says they will lose 30-24 to the Patriots.

[Soul]

What Peter King predicts doesn't constitute "bad news" for Bears fans.

 

 

 

It does constitute a wild guess by yet another prognosticator. But it isn't news.

[Wilson A2000]

This one is for Wilson...

 

No one seems to be talking about it of late, but the Bears won the Jay Cutler trade with Denver. Cutler didn't do much against the Packers in Week 17, but he has played very well of late. The problem Sunday was an old one -- pass protection. Green Bay's speed gave Chicago's protection all sorts of problems. And Cutler didn't help by often holding the ball too long. And yes, the interceptions came back again to haunt the Bears. All that being said, Kyle Orton had a fine season, but no way does he lead the Bears to the No. 2 seed in the NFC this season. This is exactly what Chicago envisioned when it made the blockbuster deal for its franchise quarterback.

 

Obviously Cutler is better than Orton, but I wouldn't be surprised if Orton could have got the Bears in the playoffs with two first round linemen the Bears would have had.

[UMFan83]

This one is for Wilson...

 

No one seems to be talking about it of late, but the Bears won the Jay Cutler trade with Denver. Cutler didn't do much against the Packers in Week 17, but he has played very well of late. The problem Sunday was an old one -- pass protection. Green Bay's speed gave Chicago's protection all sorts of problems. And Cutler didn't help by often holding the ball too long. And yes, the interceptions came back again to haunt the Bears. All that being said, Kyle Orton had a fine season, but no way does he lead the Bears to the No. 2 seed in the NFC this season. This is exactly what Chicago envisioned when it made the blockbuster deal for its franchise quarterback.

 

Obviously Cutler is better than Orton, but I wouldn't be surprised if Orton could have got the Bears in the playoffs with two first round linemen the Bears would have had.

 

what makes you think they would have take lineman, and if they did what makes you think they would pan out?

[UMFan83]

Last year the only OT that would have made sense at the position the Bears would have picked would have been Anthony Davis, who the 49ers picked in the Bears slot. He was a huge disappointment and was one of the most penalized lineman in football this year. We got enough of that from Webb. The only other OT taken after Davis in the 1st round was Bryan Bulaga, who went 23 to the Packers and we've all heard about the struggles he's had.

[Guest]

We'd be lucky if Angelo drafted 1 offensive line with those two 1st rounders. Hell, he might have drafted Tebow to replace Orton.

[Banedon]

Don Banks may not use the word "luck" when talking about the Bears in the Playoff Power Rankings, but it's right there between the lines....

 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/don_banks/01/05/nfl-playoff-power-rankings/index.html