Bears vs. Seahawks, Sunday Jan 16 at noon

[Magnetic Curses]

Wow I'm listening to Seattle sports radio...they don't have a lot of respect for the Bears. They are saying how dare their garbage team think they can so confidently predict a Bears victory. "The Bears don't scare anyone. A lousy team that have irked their way into a 2 seed. Congratu fricken lations". The Chicago media is downplaying the Seahawks and pumping up the bears because they are insecure about how bad their team is.

 

I put this on 5 mins ago and I've never heard such hatred of a football team and a city in my life. If anyone has streaming radio put on espn Seattle.

 

lol...if the Bears are bad, what's the make the seahawks?

 

Make sure to listen on Monday after the hawks loss and give us an update on the mood.

 

seattle fans were wild when the cubs hired dusty baker

[minnesotacubsfan]

Wow I'm listening to Seattle sports radio...they don't have a lot of respect for the Bears. They are saying how dare their garbage team think they can so confidently predict a Bears victory. "The Bears don't scare anyone. A lousy team that have irked their way into a 2 seed. Congratu fricken lations". The Chicago media is downplaying the Seahawks and pumping up the bears because they are insecure about how bad their team is.

 

I put this on 5 mins ago and I've never heard such hatred of a football team and a city in my life. If anyone has streaming radio put on espn Seattle.

 

lol...if the Bears are bad, what's the make the seahawks?

 

Make sure to listen on Monday after the hawks loss and give us an update on the mood.

 

seattle fans were wild when the cubs hired dusty baker

 

and they were jealous of us for having Lou, who they still adore.

[Banedon]

They also said Jurko was on their show earlier in the week and completely dissed the Seahawks. He said stuff like "why would I be worried about the Seahawks? You've seen them all year." and after they asked him what he expected to see this weekend, "honestly I'm just anxious to see if the packers are coming to town next week. I'm hoping we don't have to go to Atlanta."

 

Jurko is a moron, but that's funny.

[Banedon]

Lofa Tatupu has not yet passed his concussion test. Game time decision.

[Soul]

I must have missed the Seattle vitriol when I visited there awhile back.

 

They seemed really low key to me. Not particularly confrontational.

 

Maybe if I would have worn my Bears hat they would have hated on me, heh.

[minnesotacubsfan]

I wore mine today at work, and most people jsut ignored me. they seem to get more excited for home games too, tho.

 

and the vast majority I meet actually didnt like Pete Carroll earlier in the season. they feel he is to glitzy, and he came from USC. since they are all Husky or WS Cougar fans here, you can understand why. I do think they are coming around to him, more so with each win.

[Soul]

I'm actually relaxed for this game, win or lose. It's the playoffs, I think we've accomplished more this season than I thought we would. Yeah, it would suck losing to the Seahawks because they've gone further than they were supposed to as well, but -- to hell with it. This is the nature of the beast. It's a short term league. You do your best, see where the chips fall.

[minnesotacubsfan]

if we lose to the fuckin SeaHoks I'm going to be absolutely miserable next week

[Flames24Rulz]

I'm actually relaxed for this game, win or lose. It's the playoffs, I think we've accomplished more this season than I thought we would. Yeah, it would suck losing to the Seahawks because they've gone further than they were supposed to as well, but -- to hell with it. This is the nature of the beast. It's a short term league. You do your best, see where the chips fall.

 

I miss the old Soul, who used to be just like erik316. What happened to that guy?

[Butterscup1679666578]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/01/14/lets-hear-it-for-jay-cutler/

[minnesotacubsfan]

chuuuuuuuuuuuum P

[Soul]

I'm actually relaxed for this game, win or lose. It's the playoffs, I think we've accomplished more this season than I thought we would. Yeah, it would suck losing to the Seahawks because they've gone further than they were supposed to as well, but -- to hell with it. This is the nature of the beast. It's a short term league. You do your best, see where the chips fall.

 

I miss the old Soul, who used to be just like erik316. What happened to that guy?

 

Wait until the lithium wears off.

[imb]

I'm actually relaxed for this game, win or lose. It's the playoffs, I think we've accomplished more this season than I thought we would. Yeah, it would suck losing to the Seahawks because they've gone further than they were supposed to as well, but -- to hell with it. This is the nature of the beast. It's a short term league. You do your best, see where the chips fall.

 

I miss the old Soul, who used to be just like erik316. What happened to that guy?

 

he mellowed out once he got into fred's age bracket

[Soul]

I'm actually relaxed for this game, win or lose. It's the playoffs, I think we've accomplished more this season than I thought we would. Yeah, it would suck losing to the Seahawks because they've gone further than they were supposed to as well, but -- to hell with it. This is the nature of the beast. It's a short term league. You do your best, see where the chips fall.

 

I miss the old Soul, who used to be just like erik316. What happened to that guy?

 

he mellowed out once he got into fred's age bracket

 

Now that is probably true, and becoming more so. It happens. 8-)

[Wilson A2000]

Anyone want to give us the other 11 reasons?

 

http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/insider/columns/story?id=6022128&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fnfl%2finsider%2fcolumns%2fstory%3fid%3d6022128

[mul21]

Delete if necessary, but ESPN sucks so I figure it's ok.

 

This time of year in the NFL there's something more important than home-field advantage, more critical than the run game and more essential than defense.

 

It's called momentum. And that's the first reason the Seattle Seahawks can shock the football-watching world again this weekend.

1

 

In the age of uber-parity, games in the NFL postseason are often decided by the slimmest of margins, which is why nearly every year one of the 12 teams seems to get on a roll and surf that wave of emotion all the way to the Super Bowl.

 

Last week, only the most brilliant, experienced and (super, super lucky) prescient football minds in the business -- like me -- were able to spot that momentum blossoming in Seattle and predict a Seahawks victory over the New Orleans Saints.

 

The question now is: Can the Seahawks continue to ride that wave through Chicago and on to the NFC title game?

 

Well, sure they can, as long as they continue to follow my advice.

 

2

 

To have any success on offense the Seahawks have to slow down the critical first step of linebackers Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher. This is why establishing the run game is so key for the Seahawks: once they establish it, Matt Hasselbeck can go to work on the play-action pass, sucking in the Bears' linebackers toward the line of scrimmage with the fake handoff and then dropping the ball over their heads to a wideout on a crossing route or a tight end up the seam. Hasselbeck's use of the play-action against New Orleans was nothing short of brilliant. He completed 6 of 6 passes for 48 yards, two TDs and a 139.6 passer rating in such situations.

3

 

Seattle rookie tackle Russell Okung doesn't have to completely shut down Bears DE Julius Peppers -- no one can, really. Peppers has eight sacks, 15 QB hits, two picks and three forced fumbles this season. All Okung needs to do is make sure Peppers doesn't camp in the Seahawks' backfield and take over the game as a disruptive force with his freaky size and athleticism. Okung's playing on bad ankles, though, so I'd expect Seattle to spend a lot of energy early in the game chipping the streaky Peppers with a tight end or a back (or both) to keep him from heating up.

4

 

Late in the season, teams tried to have a cornerback blitz Bears QB Jay Cutler from the slot and he made them pay by smartly using shorter drops and quicker releases (highlighting his seamless, compact throwing motion) to find his hot reads for easy yards. Where Cutler still seems to have a problem is on the edge, which means the game could turn on just how effective Seattle DEs Chris Clemons and Raheem Brock are in the outside pass rush. They need to get to Cutler early to stop him from getting into a rhythm and force the Bears to keep one of their passing targets on the line of scrimmage to help protect Cutler. Nearly all first-time playoff QBs tend to struggle with the pressure and intensity of the postseason and no one melts down faster when things aren't going his way than the guy The Magazine nicknamed Mr. Grumpy Pants.

5

 

When I heard Pete Carroll say that the Seahawks plan to kick to Devin Hester I had two responses: 1) No. No-no-no-no ... NO! and 2) Clearly, he's lying through his teeth. There is no way the Seahawks risk giving up seven points (or more) along with an almost un-survivable momentum avalanche by kicking to Hester, the best in the business. Seattle can't risk giving up a special-teams TD and still win.

6

 

It was something to behold, wasn't it, the way Seattle targeted and then mercilessly shredded the Saints' weak DBs? So something tells me the white-hot Hasselbeck (4 TDs against the Saints) is planning to go after Bears CB Charles Tillman, who was ill this week, along with rookie Major Wright.

7

 

Last week Captain Obvious told you that third-down defense would be a key for the Seahawks because in six of their seven wins during the regular season they did not allow opponents to convert more than 33 percent of the time on third downs; in their nine losses, the rate jumped to 51 percent. The Saints landed somewhere in between with a 46 percent conversion rate. But when the Seahawks beat the Bears earlier this season they held them to 0 percent (that's right, an amazingly bad 0-for-12). The Bears have converted 40.6 percent since that debacle thanks, in large part, to the work of wideout Earl Bennett. For the Seahawks to win, that can't happen.

8

 

A mental key for the Seahawks will be to forget that first game, a 23-20 win in Week 6, ever happened. Seriously. For starters, Briggs, the heart and soul of the Bears' D, didn't play, the team's O-line was in total disarray and the offense was a one-dimensional mess on the verge of a total cratering. If Seattle is counting on a repeat of that performance from the Bears, it's in big trouble. A better way to approach this game is for Seattle to be loose and fly around the field knowing that all the pressure is on the Bears, who are heavy favorites at home.

 

9

 

Certainly the first meeting between these two teams was a low point for the Bears' offensive line. Seattle hit Cutler 10 times and sacked him six times, including 4½ by defensive backs. It was so bad even the uber-stubborn Cutler finally started getting rid of the ball quicker. The next move in this chess match is for Seattle to show blitz the same way it did in Game 1 and then, after the snap, back the DBs into the shallow zones Cutler likes to use as his safety valve. Or, even better, send the DBs again but this time alert everyone on the weak side to step in front of any quick slants and take 'em to the house.

10

 

Stay balanced. I know what you're thinking: duh. But, trust me, every offensive coordinator I've ever talked to in the NFL says this is the hardest -- but most deadly -- thing to achieve in the game. Again, it bears repeating: If Hasselbeck can stay hot this week and continue to connect vertically downfield, it stops teams from loading the box with an extra defender to stop the run. On the flip side, the more you run the ball, the softer the coverage becomes downfield for a big guy like Mike Williams, who dominates in single coverage. If you're the Seahawks, you want to see a Bears safety constantly moving back and forth from the deep third to the line of scrimmage, never certain if he's playing the run or the pass -- that's when you know you're in control.

11

 

We've paid a lot of attention to Cutler so far but the truth is that Bears running back Matt Forte is probably a bigger key. The Seahawks have to contain him on first and second down in order to tilt the field in their favor and go after Cutler. That said, the health and effectiveness of Seattle linebackers Will Herring (wrist) and Lofa Tatupu (concussion) could end up being the difference. Not in the first half, mind you, when adrenaline, the nasty crowd and pregame treatments keep the pain in check, but late in the game when the temperature on the shores of Lake Michigan really starts to drop.

12

 

Feed Marshawn Lynch the ball -- and then repeat. As we all saw last week, when Lynch is running angry, downhill and with purpose, it can produce earth-rattling results -- like, say, the 131 yards and a 6.9 yard average he had against New Orleans. But do you know how many carries he had before he ripped off his epic 67-yard TD that put away the world champs? Sixteen. Seattle kept feeding him the ball, didn't shy away from the run and Lynch got stronger as the game progressed.

 

He will in Chicago, too.

 

And just in case the Seahawks do the unthinkable -- again -- someone better test to make sure Soldier Field is earthquake proof.

[UMFan83]

I finally got around to reading the Simmons article, and found his reasoning for picking Seattle to be illogical. Thought I'd break it down piece by piece.

 

I planned on taking the Bears all week -- thinking they would throw with impunity on Seattle like Brees did last weekend -- until my friend Connor asked me, "Wait, why should I trust Jay Cutler laying 10 points in a playoff game again?

"

 

Because he's at home, he's playing a 7-9 team that rarely plays well on the road, he's a pretty good QB, and the Bears offense has averaged 26 points a game for their last 7 meaningful games they've played.

 

Cutler hasn't thrown for 250 yards since Week 7.

But has led the team to a 6-3 record in that span

 

For the season, he threw 16 picks, fumbled nine times and got sacked 52 times.

Fine our offensive line was mediocre, and Cutler throws a few more INTs than you'd like him to. Valid point but you had no issue picking a QB with 8 more INTs this year in last week's game against the same team. Obviously he has more of a SB history but still.

 

His career record in the NFL? 24-29. His career record at Vanderbilt? 11-34. His career number of playoff games (college or pro): 0.

And the AL Cy Young winner this year went 13-12, and played for a 90 loss team. What's your point?

 

His offensive coordinator is the immortal Mike Martz, who has a storied track record of stubbornly out-thinking himself in big games.

 

This is valid. I am slightly worried he does something like this. But even so, against the defense he's facing, they might be able to succeed despite this.

 

And he isn't exactly inspiring as a leader, as Rick Reilly pointed out in a recent column.

 

What does how he responds to the media have anything to do with his ability to be a leader? From all accounts, he is the leader of the offense, and his work ethic and attitude around the team is a great example for other players. Also, this was mostly a poorly received article that has been ripped apart but his colleagues since the article was posted.

[Soul]

The Simmons article is nonsense.

 

Seattle may very well win. Not because of those reasons though. If you can call them reasons.

[MWV]

The Simmons article is nonsense.

This statement is almost universally true.

Hopefully, we can anticipate more palatable inanity next week.

Jay Cutler is unbeaten as a playoff QB, so you have to bet on the Bears taking it to the Packers. This situation reminds me of when John Cutter, played by Wesley Snipes in "Passenger 57", famously advised "always bet on black". What does that have to do with this game (aside from Cutter being another guy who never lost a playoff game in the NFL)? Maybe you noticed that "John Cutter" sounds a lot like "Jay Cutler", and "Black" starts with the same letter as "Bears"? If I'm Aaron Rodgers, I'm making sure no one is climbing up my landing gear.

[rawaction]

Trying to get confident about this game, but just can't. I'm still so nervous. There's really no reason the Bears shouldn't roll over the Seahawks, but there wasn't a reason to not do so in Week 6 either, when Seattle won their 1st road game in like 3 years.

[Soul]

Trying to get confident about this game, but just can't. I'm still so nervous. There's really no reason the Bears shouldn't roll over the Seahawks, but there wasn't a reason to not do so in Week 6 either, when Seattle won their 1st road game in like 3 years.

 

It's because you like to apply reason and logic to stuff, and the NFL just doesn't allow us to do that with any reliable consistency.

[JonJayCutler]

Trying to get confident about this game, but just can't. I'm still so nervous. There's really no reason the Bears shouldn't roll over the Seahawks, but there wasn't a reason to not do so in Week 6 either, when Seattle won their 1st road game in like 3 years.

 

I'm as confident as you can be before a playoff game. I don't think it will be close.

 

Bears 31

Seahawks 13

[BigSlick]

i just hope our defense doesn't play like it did the last few weeks in soldier field. the turf is soooo bad that it basically nullifies our defensive advantage, as seen in the pats and jets games, if we lose this game because our defense can' t move at all it'll piss me off sooooo much

 

on the other hand our offense seems to play pretty well on the crappy turf against similarly slowed down defenses, so who knows

[rawaction]

i just hope our defense doesn't play like it did the last few weeks in soldier field. the turf is soooo bad that it basically nullifies our defensive advantage, as seen in the pats and jets games, if we lose this game because our defense can' t move at all it'll piss me off sooooo much

 

on the other hand our offense seems to play pretty well on the crappy turf against similarly slowed down defenses, so who knows

 

Good point. But they did play well in GB and Minnesota on fields that weren't exactly in pristine condition. And the Soldier field turf wasn't all that great vs. Philly either when the D played well. I'd like to think that it was simply a motivation thing (or lack thereof) being that they were facing two AFC teams in games that were all but meaningless in the grand scheme of things. And when they needed to show up vs. the Jets, they did by allowing only 45 yards on 16 4th quarter plays.

[BigSlick]

i just hope our defense doesn't play like it did the last few weeks in soldier field. the turf is soooo bad that it basically nullifies our defensive advantage, as seen in the pats and jets games, if we lose this game because our defense can' t move at all it'll piss me off sooooo much

 

on the other hand our offense seems to play pretty well on the crappy turf against similarly slowed down defenses, so who knows

 

Good point. But they did play well in GB and Minnesota on fields that weren't exactly in pristine condition. And the Soldier field turf wasn't all that great vs. Philly either when the D played well. I'd like to think that it was simply a motivation thing (or lack thereof) being that they were facing two AFC teams in games that were all but meaningless in the grand scheme of things. And when they needed to show up vs. the Jets, they did by allowing only 45 yards on 16 4th quarter plays.

they seemed pretty motivated the entire week before the new england game, hell i think urlacher said they were the best team in the nfl, and then recanted after the butt whooping