Bears vs. Seahawks, Sunday Jan 16 at noon

[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.

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

 

Well, the NE game, they just got beat. Definitely acceptable given the competition.

[Wilson A2000]

Jay Cutler, who art in Chicago, Skillfull be thine arm. Thy bowl will come, it will be won, in Dallas as it was in Chicago. Give us this Sunday our weekly win and forgive the less-passers as you will not let them pass against us. Lead us not into frustration, but deliver us from Seahawks. For thine is the MVP, the best of the NFC, and glory of the Monsters of the Midway, now and forever.

[Sammy Sofa]

[expletive] that. If the Packers win this game then there is no god, because there's no way in hell the Bears are beating them.

[Wilson A2000]

[expletive] that. If the Packers win this game then there is no god, because there's no way in hell the Bears are beating them.

 

Cause the Packers have really destroyed the Bears this year. Maybe you were exaggerating though.

[Sammy Sofa]

[expletive] that. If the Packers win this game then there is no god, because there's no way in hell the Bears are beating them.

 

Cause the Packers have really destroyed the Bears this year. Maybe you were exaggerating though.

 

Your stupid god hates the Bears and you.

[UMFan83]

I say we just throw the game tomorrow. No sense in letting the Packers get to the Super Bowl by beating us on our own turf, amirite?

[Sammy Sofa]

Oh, I want the Bears to win tomorrow. I know they'll win tomorrow. I also know that the Packers will destroy them. This is a fact. Just accept it.

[UMFan83]

I guess what I'm saying is that the Packers don't necessarily scare me. They started to, but that last game against us got me really confident that we can play them. Don't get me wrong, they are a formidable opponent that we could easily lose to, but I'm not exactly shaking in my boots and giving the Bears no chance. They have a lot of chance.

 

I kinda wish the Bears played first. I'm sure the players aren't in this mindset, but now all I can think about and speculate about is a potential Bears/Packers NFC title game. I have to remind myself that the Bears still have a huge game tomorrow against a team that could very well beat us.

[Wilson A2000]

I think a Bears/Packers matchup next week is more appealing to the fans right now than Bears. One of Lovie's strengths is that he almost always gets his teams ready to play.

[Butterscup1679666578]

Bears by 20+

[chuckywang]

Wait, I thought this was a Bears/Seahawks thread. I'm reading more Bears/Packers chatter right now.

[Magnetic Curses]

yeah, you see how packer fans suck

[BigSlick]

Wait, I thought this was a Bears/Seahawks thread. I'm reading more Bears/Packers chatter right now.

what can you talk about the intricacies of a boring and bad seahawks team?

[Sosa21MVP]

Not really worried about Seattle per se but I always get nervous for playoff games anyways. Can't wait for kickoff. Having trouble sleeping.

[minnesotacubsfan]

Having trouble sleeping.

 

3 beers + vodka and me too.

[UMFan83]

Interesting that this story was written this week. We all compared the Bears last game of the season against the Packers with the Giants/Pats game a few years ago. Many of us observed that the offense was doing things they hadn't done since before the bye, and it led to their offensive ineptitude. Now there's this from the Giants.

 

The Giants didn't pull out all the stops against the Patriots in the final game of the 2007 regular season.

 

New England defeated New York 38-35, allowing the Patriots to end the season with a perfect 16-0 record.

 

"Well, I'll let you in on a little bit of a secret," Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo, then New York's defensive coordinator, said.

 

"You know, as much as we wanted to win that game -- all of us did -- and we played it to win it, we made a decision defensively we weren't going to jeopardize trying to win the Tampa Bay game (in the first round of the playoffs) by throwing out our whole game plan in the 16th game of the season. So there was a little bit of a pullback there."

 

The Giants did play their starters until the very end of that mostly meaningless game, but they may not have realized that the game plan was scaled back.

 

 

It's nothing revealing or shocking, but it proves that teams do stuff like this because there is nothing to gain by playing to win with the same gameplan you plan on playing in the playoffs.

[chuckywang]

Wait, I thought this was a Bears/Seahawks thread. I'm reading more Bears/Packers chatter right now.

what can you talk about the intricacies of a boring and bad seahawks team?

 

Matt Hasselbeck has the most playoff experience of any NFC QB left?

[rawaction]

Feeling better this morning about today's game.

 

My keys to the game:

 

1. Strong start on D. With the bye week, the offense will probably start a little slow. The defense is the motivating unit on this team with all the leadership and experience. If the O does start slow (0 points in 1st quarter vs. Buffalo after bye), the D has to make sure they are still in the game.

 

2. Pressure. Gotta get after Hasselbeck with the front 4. If you make him hold the ball long or get rid of the ball before he's ready, it's a positive for the Bears. On the other side, the Bears are going to get pressured. Really no way around it with this OL. But they have to counter that pressure with big plays and maybe force Seattle to play more coverage (which they aren't good at).

 

3. Turnovers. Self-explanatory. Get them. Don't give them up.

 

4. Briggs, Forte, Olsen. That's what was missing the last time the Bears and Seahawks played. Forte and Olsen played, but Matt only got 11 touches (8 on the ground) and Olsen had ZERO. A heavy dose of these 3 and the Bears can roll.

[Soul]

Sounds good.

 

Last time around, we dropped Cutler back constantly, couldn't protect, gave up 6 sacks.

 

Use Forte. Use the short drop passing game + screens.

 

Agreed on the defense. This is another precious opportunity for some of our aging veterans who are running out of time, frankly. If they want another bite at the apple, today is a good time to wheel out the A game.

[JonJayCutler]

As horrible as it's been watching the Packers get into the playoffs and win their first two games, they really have given the Bears the easiest road possible to the SB.

 

One can debate that home vs Seattle and then at Atlanta would have been more desirable, but on second thought just give me home-field in the NFC CG and see what happens. Most people predicted a Saints win against us in 2006 and we dominated. Of course we'd be playing the hottest team in the NFL, but as someone said I do think we matchup well with them.

 

Let's win today first though.

[Guest]

Home field today and next week if we don't lay an egg. While not a huge advantage, one that the Bears earned winning some big games this year. Bigger games than today's game, that's for sure.

[Guest]

Interesting that this story was written this week. We all compared the Bears last game of the season against the Packers with the Giants/Pats game a few years ago. Many of us observed that the offense was doing things they hadn't done since before the bye, and it led to their offensive ineptitude. Now there's this from the Giants.

 

The Giants didn't pull out all the stops against the Patriots in the final game of the 2007 regular season.

 

New England defeated New York 38-35, allowing the Patriots to end the season with a perfect 16-0 record.

 

"Well, I'll let you in on a little bit of a secret," Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo, then New York's defensive coordinator, said.

 

"You know, as much as we wanted to win that game -- all of us did -- and we played it to win it, we made a decision defensively we weren't going to jeopardize trying to win the Tampa Bay game (in the first round of the playoffs) by throwing out our whole game plan in the 16th game of the season. So there was a little bit of a pullback there."

 

The Giants did play their starters until the very end of that mostly meaningless game, but they may not have realized that the game plan was scaled back.

 

 

It's nothing revealing or shocking, but it proves that teams do stuff like this because there is nothing to gain by playing to win with the same gameplan you plan on playing in the playoffs.

 

I'm still convinced they weren't trying their best to win the game against GB. That they only ran one play between the 3:00 to the 2:00 minute warning is where I think they gave away their secret agenda to eliminate the Giants from the playoffs. It looked to me like they played a click or two below their true abilities, didn't get creative with their game plan to prevent anything meaningful for oppoents on game film and just made it look good.

 

Yeah, they played the starters most of the game. But it was a lackluster effort. And that they still only lost by 7 points seems like a good thing to me if they weren't playing 100%.

 

Racing down the field and tying the game might have meant overtime, which meant playing the starters even longer. You can't pull the starters in overtime, right? IIRC, Chicago already knew that if they played Green Bay at all in the playoffs, it would be in the final game. What better match up in the final game than a team you will be playing at home, play twice a year and know everything about that team, and it really wasn't all that likely they'd even face GB.

 

Lovie and the boys took a thumping against the Giants. Maybe Lovie didn't like how the Bears matched up against the Giants if they matched up in the playoffs. Eli certainly has more playoff experience than Rodgers.

 

Maybe I really am way off base here. But something about that Packers game tells me that we weren't seeing the best of effort in that game.

[mhuber92211]

happy gameday morning all. Here's hoping Lofa will make it but other than that, it should be a fun game. Breaking out my Shaun Alexander road jersey for this one...

 

Had a dream that the NFC championship game rolls through Seattle now...wouldn't that be wonderful

[JonJayCutler]

Had a dream that the NFC championship game rolls through Seattle now...wouldn't that be wonderful

 

Not unless you can beat GB, which you can't.

[mhuber92211]

Had a dream that the NFC championship game rolls through Seattle now...wouldn't that be wonderful

 

Not unless you can beat GB, which you can't.

 

But it would be played in Seattle should the Seahawks win today...so the game "rolls through Seattle" Perhaps my urbanspeak is missing this morning