NFC Championship (Bears fans)

[minnesotacubsfan]

I didnt realize Atlanta was like that.

[jersey cubs fan]

I didnt realize Atlanta was like that.

 

From what I've noticed and from people I know who transplanted there.

[Banedon]

At the end of a quick media spray of his Oval Office meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao, Obama was asked by a journalist if he's planning to head to the big game on Feb. 6 in Dallas.

 

"If the Bears win, I'm going no doubt," Obama said matter-of-factly.

[UMFan83]

Has it hit anybody yet that if we win this Sunday we're in the Super Bowl again? Because it hasn't really hit me.

 

 

I guess my mind is hung up on this game so much that my mind is blinded to all the hoopla that will follow if we win.

 

Same. But I was that way against the Saints too. I was so focused on that game that it didn't hit me till afterwards that we were going to the freaking Super Bowl.

 

This feels so much different than the 2006 season to me. They were destined for the Super Bowl that entire season, and were clearly the most talented team in the NFC. I'll feel differently about it Sunday, but right now it just feels like an amazing opportunity to beat GB in the NFC Conference Championship game, moreso than an opportunity to get to the Super Bowl.

 

Our group of football watchers are mainly Jets, Bears and Steelers fans though, and this weekend is going to be nuts.

 

Agreed. 2006 was way different for me. Like you said, we were waiting all year to get to the Super Bowl in 06, so when we did get there it was like a huge exhale. This year, I haven't really been 100% sure of the team. For awhile in the regular season, I figured winning a playoff game would be a good accomplishment and a successful season. But the pathway kind of opened up for us thanks to our division rivals. The Lions managed to upend the Packers, giving us much easier path to the division title. Meanwhile, the Vikings beat the Eagles for us, giving us a first round bye, making our path to the super bowl easier. Of course even then we were looking at a possibility of having to beat the Saints/Eagles then Falcons/Packers. But the Saints made our path even easier by losing to Seattle. At this point, winning the playoff game on Sunday was necessary to not have a disapointing year.

 

So its that and the fact that we are playing our arch rivals for the NFC. It almost feels like the Super Bowl. The funny thing is, in 06, I didn't really have much confidence when we played NO until we started to dominate. This year, I have a really quiet confidence in our chances of winning.

[minnesotacubsfan]

This game is so even to me, I just dont know what to think. Granted, it of course could flop to a one sided game, I just dont feel that it will.

 

I've been really happy with the Bears this season. When they had the opportunity to win the NFC North in Minnesota, the destroyed the Vikings. They beat really good teams such as Philadelphia, GB, NY Jets. They have steadily gotten better through the year on offense, and the O-line is the biggest reason. Forte looks like a legitimate RB again. We won a playoff game easily. Its been a successful season. Having said that, I DO NOT want to lose to the Packers at home in the NFC Champ. Losing wouldn't make this an unsuccessful season, but I would feel like we've let a huge opportunity slip by.

[jersey cubs fan]

But the pathway kind of opened up for us thanks to our division rivals. The Lions managed to upend the Packers, giving us much easier path to the division title. Meanwhile, the Vikings beat the Eagles for us, giving us a first round bye, making our path to the super bowl easier. Of course even then we were looking at a possibility of having to beat the Saints/Eagles then Falcons/Packers. But the Saints made our path even easier by losing to Seattle.

 

 

You know, I'm really getting annoyed at this storyline. Why is it that the Bears lucked into Philly losing to Minnesota to open up the 2 seed to them? Chicago beat Minnesota twice, and they beat Philly. They didn't luck into the Vikings beating the Eagles, the Eagles lost. Green Bay lost several games this year, Chicago didn't luck into Detroit being one of those losses. Chicago didn't luck into New Orleans losing to Seattle. New Orleans is going to struggle on the road outdoors in the playoffs. It's just the way it is with a dome team that relies so heavily on its passing game. Yes, the Bears have had an opportunity presented to them, but they have actually gone out and taken advantage of the opportunity, beating several contending teams along the way. People claim Green Bay shot themselves in the foot in week 3 against a still developing Bears team. But if they did, then the Bears went out, bought the gun, put it in their hands and forced them into the decision of shooting their foot or their arm. Chicago has stumbled along the way, but so has every team. Chicago limited those stumbles and improved as a team along the way. They made their own breaks.

[rawaction]

People claim Green Bay shot themselves in the foot in week 3 against a still developing Bears team. But if they did, then the Bears went out, bought the gun, put it in their hands and forced them into the decision of shooting their foot or their arm.

 

Kevorkian'ed their asses! But yeah, I agree completely. I'm tired of the luck storyline. This is a damn good team, which has as good of a chance as anyone (despite what the odds say) of hoisting the Lombardi trophy in 2 1/2 weeks.

[Guest]

I didnt realize Atlanta was like that.

 

In the mid to late '80's, many union factories in the northern cities laid off hundreds of thousands of workers, and Atlanta opened up some huge non union factories. I have relatives that relocated to Atlanta. I believe Atlanta was the fastest growing city for more than just a few years between the mid '80's to the mid '90's.

[Banedon]

Heh...the Trib has an article about the Blackhawks following the Bears...I thought this was good stuff....

 

http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2011/01/blackhawks-begin-to-feel-familiar-vibe-with-bears.html

 

There are, of course, cheeseheads in the midst. Two Wisconsin natives, Jack Skille and Jake Dowell, are excited for wholly different reasons.

 

"I know the politically correct thing to say for me is 'Go Bears,' " Skille said. "But you know what, I'm a cheesehead at heart. Go Packers. For sure. I might roll in here with a cheesehead. We'll see what happens. We'll see if one of my relatives can send one down."

 

Said Dowell: "I got some old sweatpants and sweatshirts that I can dig out from when I was younger, that I used to wear on a daily basis. It could prove not to be very smart, to wear that around town. But I'm excited for the Packers, so I have to represent them a little bit."

 

Skille got hit in the face with a ball of tape when he was talking, which was either on general principle or for his Packers allegiance or both. Anyway, it's enthusiasm that some Hawks consider ... suspect.

 

"It's funny, because they all of a sudden became huge Packers fans," Sharp said. "Haven't heard from them all year long, but all of a sudden they're huge Packers fans. But I know my boy Robbie Gould and the Bears are going to pull it out."

[UMFan83]

But the pathway kind of opened up for us thanks to our division rivals. The Lions managed to upend the Packers, giving us much easier path to the division title. Meanwhile, the Vikings beat the Eagles for us, giving us a first round bye, making our path to the super bowl easier. Of course even then we were looking at a possibility of having to beat the Saints/Eagles then Falcons/Packers. But the Saints made our path even easier by losing to Seattle.

 

 

You know, I'm really getting annoyed at this storyline. Why is it that the Bears lucked into Philly losing to Minnesota to open up the 2 seed to them? Chicago beat Minnesota twice, and they beat Philly. They didn't luck into the Vikings beating the Eagles, the Eagles lost. Green Bay lost several games this year, Chicago didn't luck into Detroit being one of those losses. Chicago didn't luck into New Orleans losing to Seattle. New Orleans is going to struggle on the road outdoors in the playoffs. It's just the way it is with a dome team that relies so heavily on its passing game. Yes, the Bears have had an opportunity presented to them, but they have actually gone out and taken advantage of the opportunity, beating several contending teams along the way. People claim Green Bay shot themselves in the foot in week 3 against a still developing Bears team. But if they did, then the Bears went out, bought the gun, put it in their hands and forced them into the decision of shooting their foot or their arm. Chicago has stumbled along the way, but so has every team. Chicago limited those stumbles and improved as a team along the way. They made their own breaks.

 

Yowza. I didn't say they lucked into those opportunities. I just said that those things happening opening our pathway a bit and raised my expectations. If the Vikings don't beat the Eagles, the Eagles are playing a 3rd string Dallas QB and the Bears need to beat the Packers to get the bye. I'm not saying the Bears couldn't do it. I'm just saying it was one of the things that happened to got us to this point and raised my expectations. There's no doubt in my mind the Bears have taken advantage of every single situation they've been presented this year. Teams don't just get HFA throughout the entire playoffs and get to the conference championship game on pure luck. They've had to beat some really good teams and they've faced some really tough situations along the way. That doesn't mean they haven't caught some breaks too. Do the Packers really score 3 on the Lions if Rodgers doesn't get concussed? Who knows. But because that happened, its one of the many factors that got us to where we are now.

[jersey cubs fan]

Yowza. I didn't say they lucked into those opportunities.

 

I realize you didn't exactly say that. But ESPN was running a collection of lucky breaks for the Bears this year that pretty much said the same thing as you. They talked about the 3rd string QB thing too which is just stupid. Miami didn't have a legit NFL starter on their roster, who cares who was 3rd? Every team that played them "lucked" into playing a garbage QB. Minnesota used a backup to beat the Eagles. Chicago lost their QB to concussions for 1.5 games and probably suffered from the hangover of that concussions for a couple more games. They lost a game because of a BS fumble call and horrible non challenge. They didn't luck into their record and things didn't fall into place anymore than they fall into place for everybody who moves on. Chicago beat Philly. That is the biggest reason they got the 2 seed. Chicago beat the Jets, but in the eyes of many they will be a sizeable underdog to them in a potential SB matchup because the Jets are real or something. This wasn't a 9-7 team that skated into the playoffs thanks to a better opponent resting its best players. They won the games they had to win and did as good a job as anybody in the regular season outside of New England. But New England was its own flawed self for all but about a 3-4 week period this year. Every one of these remaining teams is a good football team with flaws.

[Guest]

If the Vikings don't beat the Eagles, the Eagles are playing a 3rd string Dallas QB and the Bears need to beat the Packers to get the bye.

 

The Bears can play this game, too. If Lovie challenges the touchdown run vs. Washington and Cutler doesn't have cob webs from his concussion against Seattle and we actually had a reason to REALLY play Green Bay in week 17, maybe we finish 14-2 and have HFA against every team in the playoffs.

 

It's kind of pointless to play the what if game.

[CubColtPacer]

Probably the biggest break for the Bears is that as an 11-5 team they got a bye (which is somewhat unusual). They then beat a team with a losing record to get to the conference championship game and now get to host that game. For a team that goes 11-5 you can't draw it up much better than that. That doesn't mean they're a bad team-during the regular season they proved they are a very good team and would be a worthy Super Bowl winner. But they have had a historically easy path.

[jersey cubs fan]

Probably the biggest break for the Bears is that as an 11-5 team they got a bye (which is somewhat unusual). They then beat a team with a losing record to get to the conference championship game and now get to host that game. For a team that goes 11-5 you can't draw it up much better than that. That doesn't mean they're a bad team-during the regular season they proved they are a very good team and would be a worthy Super Bowl winner. But they have had a historically easy path.

 

No they have not. They've beaten 2 of the remaining top 4 teams. There is nothing unusual about an 11-5 team getting a bye. 10-6 teams have gotten them.

 

Is everybody going to count Pittsburgh as lucky for getting to host the Jets instead of going to New England? How about for stealing a win against Miami on a crazy call which would have meant they didn't even win their division this year?

[Banedon]

There is nothing unusual about an 11-5 team getting a bye. 10-6 teams have gotten them.

 

Just to back you up here, it's the 4th time in the last 7 years that an 11 win or less team has gotten the 2 seed in the NFC.

[CubColtPacer]

Probably the biggest break for the Bears is that as an 11-5 team they got a bye (which is somewhat unusual). They then beat a team with a losing record to get to the conference championship game and now get to host that game. For a team that goes 11-5 you can't draw it up much better than that. That doesn't mean they're a bad team-during the regular season they proved they are a very good team and would be a worthy Super Bowl winner. But they have had a historically easy path.

 

No they have not. They've beaten 2 of the remaining top 4 teams. There is nothing unusual about an 11-5 team getting a bye. 10-6 teams have gotten them.

 

Is everybody going to count Pittsburgh as lucky for getting to host the Jets instead of going to New England? How about for stealing a win against Miami on a crazy call which would have meant they didn't even win their division this year?

 

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.

 

And yes, Pittsburgh caught a break on getting to face the Jets. But they also had to face a 12-4 team in the divisional round while Chicago faced a 7-9 team. That's a huge difference.

[jersey cubs fan]

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.

 

There is nothing unusual about an 11 win team getting a bye.

[Guest]

Probably the biggest break for the Bears is that as an 11-5 team they got a bye (which is somewhat unusual). They then beat a team with a losing record to get to the conference championship game and now get to host that game. For a team that goes 11-5 you can't draw it up much better than that. That doesn't mean they're a bad team-during the regular season they proved they are a very good team and would be a worthy Super Bowl winner. But they have had a historically easy path.

 

No they have not. They've beaten 2 of the remaining top 4 teams. There is nothing unusual about an 11-5 team getting a bye. 10-6 teams have gotten them.

 

Is everybody going to count Pittsburgh as lucky for getting to host the Jets instead of going to New England? How about for stealing a win against Miami on a crazy call which would have meant they didn't even win their division this year?

 

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.

 

And yes, Pittsburgh caught a break on getting to face the Jets. But they also had to face a 12-4 team in the divisional round while Chicago faced a 7-9 team. That's a huge difference.

 

We don't know how the last game of the season would have turned out if it actually meant something to both teams, so I don't see how it is fair to just assume the Bears would have been 11-5 with a bye.

[CubColtPacer]

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.

 

There is nothing unusual about an 11 win team getting a bye.

 

Tell that to the last 11 teams who finished 11-5. None of them received byes.

 

BigBadB does bring up a good point that it is possible the Bears change their gameplan and figure out a way to beat the Packers and go 12-4. And 12-4 teams do more often than not receive byes unlike 11-5 teams. So that's a possibility.

 

And let me reiterate. I am not one who believes the Bears had a lucky regular season. They did catch some breaks but so did most teams. They beat some very good teams and finished 11-5 in a pretty good division. That's a strong regular season.

 

But during the playoffs, they've had a very easy path. They got lucky to get a bye, then got a major break to have one of the weakest playoff teams in history come to their field, and now they get lucky again to have the conference championship on their home field (albeit against a good opponent).

[Banedon]

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.

[minnesotacubsfan]

THE BEARS ARE LUCKY.

[CubColtPacer]

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.

[Banedon]

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.

 

No...it's not a break, because the tiebreakers account for head to head matchups, beating teams in your division, conference...

 

It's not like you put all the 11-5 teams in a hat and pick one. That'd be luck.

[Guest]

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.

 

There is nothing unusual about an 11 win team getting a bye.

 

Tell that to the last 11 teams who finished 11-5. None of them received byes.

 

BigBadB does bring up a good point that it is possible the Bears change their gameplan and figure out a way to beat the Packers and go 12-4. And 12-4 teams do more often than not receive byes unlike 11-5 teams. So that's a possibility.

 

And let me reiterate. I am not one who believes the Bears had a lucky regular season. They did catch some breaks but so did most teams. They beat some very good teams and finished 11-5 in a pretty good division. That's a strong regular season.

 

But during the playoffs, they've had a very easy path. They got lucky to get a bye, then got a major break to have one of the weakest playoff teams in history come to their field, and now they get lucky again to have the conference championship on their home field (albeit against a good opponent).

 

Yeah, I'll give you the rest of it. We were lucky to play a team with a losing record, and we are lucky to be hosting the Championship game. But, there really were no stand above the rest teams in the NFC this year like the Saints were last year.

[Banedon]

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