NFC Championship (Bears fans)

[Guest]

The Saints were "lucky" to play the Seahawks too.

 

They were a bit unlucky that they had to play them at Seattle.

[Banedon]

The Saints were "lucky" to play the Seahawks too.

 

They were a bit unlucky that they had to play them at Seattle.

 

They were a bit unlucky that their defense sucked.

 

Loud noises don't affect tackling.

[Guest]

This might make me broke for the rest of my life, but if the Bears can give me a win against the Packers on Sunday and then beat either the Jets or the Steelers in the Super Bowl, every Bear player on that team drinks free at my favorite watering hole for the rest of their lives.

[Magnetic Curses]

one bottle of the [expletive] they drink could make me broke for the rest of my life, i don't know about you.

[rawaction]

5 of the 36 byes since the 2002 reorganization have been given to teams with records of 11-5 or worse. The one for the Bears is the first one since 2006. It doesn't happen very often. It's actually happened more often to have 12 wins or more and not get a bye then 11 wins or less and get a bye.

 

Whoa...that's painting it in a pretty light. Out of 9 playoffs since the reorganization, 5 have included a #2 seed with 11 wins or fewer.

 

True (and I think I was wrong and there have been 6 of them now including the Bears). But if you're an 11-5 team you still have to be in the right conference, in the right division, in the right year. Just like the Cubs can't plan to win 85-88 games and expect to win the division, it's a break when you get a bye going 11-5 because it doesn't happen to most teams that win that many games.

 

88 wins of 162 seems to be a lot different from 11 wins in 16 games.

[UMFan83]

It's annoying but obvious why the media is squarely against the Bears.

 

-The Bears got embarrassed on national TV, showed no semblance of an offense, and their line was a turnstyle against the Giants. For many media guys, this was their first impression of the Bears. Or I guess 2nd impression after the Packers game.

 

-The media hates Jay Cutler because he doesn't pander to them, doesn't have a media first personality, and its not likable to the public. So instead of stories about how Jay Cutler greatly improved from last year to this year, the media still sees him as the guy who threw 26 INTs last year and always refer to him as a shaky, turnover machine of a QB, while someone like Drew Brees throws 24 INTs and makes the Pro Bowl.

 

-In most season long statistical measurements, the Bears don't stack up as well against the other remaining teams. DVOA has the Bears lagging behind the others for the season I'm pretty sure. The problem is, if you take numbers from the 2nd half only, the Bears stack up really well. But the media doesn't see that. They see the Bears 30th overall in offensive yards per game, and its just another piece of evidence in their minds as to why the Bears suck.

 

-I don't know if the Bears got more "breaks" than any other team, but somehow it became the popular opinion that the Bears have gotten to where they are from luck. You can't hide how incredibly healthy the Bears have been this year. That almost never happens. But like the last page or two has argued, other teams have gotten these breaks too but because they are heavily considered good teams by the media, there isn't a focus on them.

 

There's other reasons too of course. But as annoying as the national perception of the Bears is, you can see their flawed logic as to why they think that way. Oh well, I definitely prefer being in this role. If we win the Super Bowl, they will then shut up and crown us. If we don't, well they are gonna continue underestimating us next year too.

[Banedon]

Don Banks is picking a Jets-Packers SB.

 

I'm shocked he didn't pick the Bears...he's been such a supporter all year.... ;)

[Banedon]

-The media hates Jay Cutler because he doesn't pander to them, doesn't have a media first personality, and its not likable to the public. So instead of stories about how Jay Cutler greatly improved from last year to this year, the media still sees him as the guy who threw 26 INTs last year and always refer to him as a shaky, turnover machine of a QB, while someone like Drew Brees throws 24 INTs and makes the Pro Bowl.

 

Btw, Sound FX this week on NFLN is replaying some of the old segments with the 4 teams still in the playoffs, and they show Cutler mic'd up against Buffalo, and the guy is completely different than he comes across in interviews or at news conferences. He's funny, and easy going.

 

They also show the segment with Mike Tomlin from the Carolina game. As much as I've scaled back my dislike of Lovie, I still would take Tomlin in a heartbeat.

[ctcf]

ATTENTION/ACHTUNG:

 

Might have a ticket to the game Sunday and am looking for a last minute place to crash. Anyone have a free couch?

[shnsajax]

Haha, Bayless said Cutler is the worst remaining QB in the playoffs.

[rawaction]

Haha, Bayless said Cutler is the worst remaining QB in the playoffs.

 

Brady got traded to the Jets yesterday, didn't you hear?

 

Roethlisberger isn't that great either.

[shnsajax]

Haha, Bayless said Cutler is the worst remaining QB in the playoffs.

 

Brady got traded to the Jets yesterday, didn't you hear?

 

Roethlisberger isn't that great either.

 

I got caught up in the Pujols to the Cubs rumors yesterday and missed that :wink:

[jersey cubs fan]

Haha, Bayless said Cutler is the worst remaining QB in the playoffs.

 

Brady got traded to the Jets yesterday, didn't you hear?

 

Roethlisberger isn't that great either.

 

Ben is pretty damn good. His early success was more about the team, but his past 4 years have been terrific. He has similar offensive line problems as Cutler, but better weapons at his disposal. He's also had a more dominating defense on his side.

[Banedon]

Haha, Bayless said Cutler is the worst remaining QB in the playoffs.

 

Brady got traded to the Jets yesterday, didn't you hear?

 

Roethlisberger isn't that great either.

 

I've seen a lot of rankings for the 4 QB's left. It seems like everyone has Ben and Rodgers as some combination of 1-2, and Cutler and Sanchez as some combination of 3-4. But Bayless isn't the first person I've seen to list Cutler as #4. Mostly it's Sanchez's playoff record that gets these ppl.

[SpongeWorthy]

Wasn't Bayless something of a Cutler fan boy even last year?

 

Of course now that people are starting to come around on him Bayless has to phase shift to claiming he stinks.

[Guest]

one bottle of the [expletive] they drink could make me broke for the rest of my life, i don't know about you.

 

Good thing my hangout doesn't carry that stuff. Single barrel Jack and the equivilent are about as pricy as it gets here. I'll get a second job if one of them gets traded to San Diego and takes a liking to that place.

[Guest]

Wasn't Bayless something of a Cutler fan boy even last year?

 

Of course now that people are starting to come around on him Bayless has to phase shift to claiming he stinks.

 

 

Bayless still loves Cutler... It's because he went to Vandy.

 

He doesn't claim he stinks but for some reason people are a little bit on Mark Sanchez's nuts.

[JonJayCutler]

A lot of the disrespect the Bears get from the media stems from the fact that they don't really do anything exceptionally well. They're pretty good at a few things instead of being extremely good at one thing, and it doesn't really make for good media.

 

Those in the media have a hard time pumping up the Bears like they can the Packers, Patriots, etc. It's not like they can write article after article about our special teams, nobody wants to read about that. People want to read about high-powered offenses (which is why I don't understand the Jets love), and the Bears have never had that. And because of their long history of offensive futility, people think it's an absolute fluke when they put up 35-40 points in a game.

 

Same thing goes for Cutler: "The Bears haven't had a good QB in 60 years, I can't accept that this one might actually be good!" This of course would contribute to blasphemous things such as Cutler being left off the "Top 10 QBs under 30" list. And people like Mark Sanchez being unanimously considered better QBs. Give me a break.

[Guest]

If Cutler had played better, he would've been put on that list. It wasn't due to him being the Bears' QB. It was because he was an interception machine last year.

[JonJayCutler]

If Cutler had played better, he would've been put on that list. It wasn't due to him being the Bears' QB. It was because he was an interception machine last year.

 

Sanchez had a 12-20 TD/INT ratio last year but was 7th on the list. I'd take Cutler's 27-26 last year over that any day.

[jersey cubs fan]

A lot of the disrespect the Bears get from the media stems from the fact that they don't really do anything exceptionally well. They're pretty good at a few things instead of being extremely good at one thing, and it doesn't really make for good media.

 

Those in the media have a hard time pumping up the Bears like they can the Packers, Patriots, etc. It's not like they can write article after article about our special teams, nobody wants to read about that. .

 

They are excellent at stopping the run and special teams. It's not like they are devoid of blue chip players either.

 

It is true that they just gloss over the big scoring outputs. 27, 31, 40, 38, 35 all over the past two months and they are still considered offensive failures.

[SpongeWorthy]

The Bears are nondescript nationally.

 

You know how certain teams in the NFL have their own dedicated reporter from ESPN (i.e. Werder and Sal for Dallas and Philly)? The Bears would never ever have that.

 

I've always said the Bears national imprint is not commensurate with having the largest unshared market in the country.

[UMFan83]

The funny thing is, the Bears have been known for years as a rather bland team. Except for the fact that they had one of the most colorful teams in sports history 20 years ago. Since then though there hasn't been a lot of reason to have national interest in the Bears, beyond their history and their laughable mistake prone QBs.

[jersey cubs fan]

The Bears are nondescript nationally.

 

You know how certain teams in the NFL have their own dedicated reporter from ESPN (i.e. Werder and Sal for Dallas and Philly)? The Bears would never ever have that.

 

I've always said the Bears national imprint is not commensurate with having the largest unshared market in the country.

 

The Bears national imprint is very large. They might not have a Sal Palentonio, who is a Philly guy because he's from Philly, but they will always attract one of the largest audiences in primetime. They are one of the biggest draws in Vegas as well. They were more or less a non-entity for 1.5 decades and when they splashed on the scene 4 years ago it was with defense, and very short lived. If Chicago turns into a consistent contender with offense, they will be as marketable as any team in American sports.

[chuckywang]

Is anybody noticing the incredible amount of hero worship for Jay Cutler on sports radio lately?