bears game ten, chargers at home at 3:15

[sneakypower]

Bears Special Teams efficiency breakdown as of week 10:

FG/XP: 9th

Kickoffs: 13th

Kick Returns: 7th

Punting: 1st

Punt Returns: 3rd

 

 

Didn't realize Podlesh had been THAT good...wow

their net yardage on punts is middle of the pack, but the Bears are significantly rewarded in those rankings because of perceived weather factors

[bukie]

Bears Special Teams efficiency breakdown as of week 10:

FG/XP: 9th

Kickoffs: 13th

Kick Returns: 7th

Punting: 1st

Punt Returns: 3rd

 

 

Didn't realize Podlesh had been THAT good...wow

It's all about net punting yardage, which is avoiding touchbacks and not allowing returns to cancel the yardage of the punt. The Bears are amazing at limiting punt return yards. In fact, Hester's 82 yard return yesterday just about equals the total amount of return yardage the Bears have given up (84 yards on 48 punts, for a 1.75 average, with just two touchbacks).

[minnesotacubsfan]

their net yardage on punts is middle of the pack, but the Bears are significantly rewarded in those rankings because of perceived weather factors

 

how so exactly?

[minnesotacubsfan]

FBO has them (and SF) significantly above everyone else:

 

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/teamst

 

 

I doubt "perceived weather factors" could make that big of a jump (+ 3%)

[Fred Hornkohl]

My fearless prediction........

 

San Diego      17
BEARS          27

 

 

 

Go BEARS !!

[Magnetic Curses]

Bears Special Teams efficiency breakdown as of week 10:

FG/XP: 9th

Kickoffs: 13th

Kick Returns: 7th

Punting: 1st

Punt Returns: 3rd

 

 

Didn't realize Podlesh had been THAT good...wow

their net yardage on punts is middle of the pack, but the Bears are significantly rewarded in those rankings because of perceived weather factors

 

i do not understand your hatred of the bears

 

FBO is like the greatest thing to you, but when they mention weather factors it's "perceived" of course

[UMFan83]

You don't understand the Lions fans hatred of the Bears?

[Magnetic Curses]

no, i don't

[UMFan83]

no, i don't

 

They typically do not like us and it has been this way for years.

[jersey cubs fan]

no, i don't

 

They typically do not like us and it has been this way for years.

 

I never thought they disliked the Bears more than they disliked every other team that has beaten up on them over the years.

[minnesotacubsfan]

Bears Special Teams efficiency breakdown as of week 10:

FG/XP: 9th

Kickoffs: 13th

Kick Returns: 7th

Punting: 1st

Punt Returns: 3rd

 

 

Didn't realize Podlesh had been THAT good...wow

their net yardage on punts is middle of the pack, but the Bears are significantly rewarded in those rankings because of perceived weather factors

 

i do not understand your hatred of the bears

 

FBO is like the greatest thing to you, but when they mention weather factors it's "perceived" of course

 

I like to take SP's posts as a troll against me, personally. its much more entertaining that way.

[sneakypower]

Didn't realize Podlesh had been THAT good...wow

their net yardage on punts is middle of the pack, but the Bears are significantly rewarded in those rankings because of perceived weather factors

 

i do not understand your hatred of the bears

 

FBO is like the greatest thing to you, but when they mention weather factors it's "perceived" of course

that really wasn't meant with any pejorative tone, my point was more that it's almost purely speculative to try to determine the impact of weather in punting aside from a plain outdoors/indoors standpoint, but i'll admit ignorance to their exact methodology for factoring that

 

the Bears employ Rod Marinelli, a man specifically against whom i'll always wish miserable failure, but i don't know that my opinions about the team itself are wildly biased in any way

[UMFan83]

Great article by KC Joyner using in depth stats to explain why the Bears are dangerous and the team no one wants to play in January:

 

http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/7245819/why-wants-face-chicago-bears-playoffs-nfl

 

It's an insider article....I'll try to post snippets in a bit.

[minnesotacubsfan]

what is the rule that prevents orange cleats again? could Bennett wear them if the entire team wore them?

 

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/chi-report-bears-bennett-lions-vanden-bosch-fined-20111117,0,7246149.story

[Guest]

Didn't realize Podlesh had been THAT good...wow

their net yardage on punts is middle of the pack, but the Bears are significantly rewarded in those rankings because of perceived weather factors

 

i do not understand your hatred of the bears

 

FBO is like the greatest thing to you, but when they mention weather factors it's "perceived" of course

that really wasn't meant with any pejorative tone, my point was more that it's almost purely speculative to try to determine the impact of weather in punting aside from a plain outdoors/indoors standpoint, but i'll admit ignorance to their exact methodology for factoring that

 

the Bears employ Rod Marinelli, a man specifically against whom i'll always wish miserable failure, but i don't know that my opinions about the team itself are wildly biased in any way

I wouldn't hate Marinelli nearly as much as gm-guy-whose-name-is-for-some-reason-escaping-me.

[minnesotacubsfan]

Millen. Matt Millen.

 

 

I love the guy.

[Magnetic Curses]

i take everything pejoratively, haha

[UMFan83]

Great article by KC Joyner using in depth stats to explain why the Bears are dangerous and the team no one wants to play in January:

 

http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/7245819/why-wants-face-chicago-bears-playoffs-nfl

 

It's an insider article....I'll try to post snippets in a bit.

 

Through nine games, Forte has gained 1,308 yards from scrimmage. Prorate that yardage pace over a 16-game season and it would equal 2,325 yards, a total that would rank seventh all-time for a single season.

 

That is impressive enough, but what makes Forte's showing even more amazing is that he is doing it with lousy run blocking. Chicago's blockers have given Forte good blocking (loosely defined as when they do not allow the defenders to do anything to disrupt the rush attempt) only 40.3 percent of the time. To put that total into perspective, consider that in the entire 2010 season, only one team had a good blocking rate lower than 40.3 percent.

 

This is an important factor because in all the years I have graded run blocking, it has become clear that no running back gains many yards on plays with poor blocking. It is rare to see anyone gain as many as 2 yards per attempt when this happens. Forte is no different -- he is averaging only 1.2 yards in these situations (which is a reflection of just how bad the blocking truly is in these cases).

 

So how has Forte been able to offset this? Simply put, he is posting through-the-roof totals in the good blocking yards per attempt (GBYPA) metric.

 

To get an idea of just how dominant his 11.2 GBYPA mark is, consider this: In Chris Johnson's 2009 season that gave him the nickname CJ2K, Johnson posted a 9.0 GBYPA. The run-block grading system has been slightly altered since that season, but nothing to the extent that would vault Johnson's total to anywhere near Forte's number. If the Bears can find a way to get their run blocking to be more consistent over the last seven regular-season games, it is quite possible that Forte will break Johnson's single-season NFL record for yards from scrimmage (2,509).

 

Cutler's six interceptions so far may look like a huge improvement over his usual pick pace (he's on pace for a career low in this category), but the truth is that Cutler has made 16 bad decisions so far this season (a bad decision being defined as when a quarterback makes a mistake with the ball that leads either to a turnover or a near turnover such as a dropped interception, fumble recovered by the offense, etc.).

 

That total is only five short of the 21 bad decisions Cutler made in the entire 2010 season (a total that was third-highest in the league).

 

The Bears' defense is also playing at an extremely high level.

 

Chicago ranks tied for eighth in the league in passing yards per attempt (YPA) allowed (6.6), sixth in opponents' passer rating allowed (77.5) and tied for fourth in interceptions (13).

 

One of the main reasons is the strong play of starting cornerbacks Tim Jennings and Charles Tillman.

 

Jennings was one of the most underrated cornerbacks in the NFL last year, as his 6.9 YPA was tied for 30th in that category. He has improved on that performance this year with a 6.5 YPA.

 

Tillman isn't far behind, as he has posted a 6.9 YPA that is nearly one-and-a-half yards better than his 8.3 YPA in 2010.

 

As much credit as those two deserve, the real story of this secondary could be the improvement it has shown since Chris Conte was moved into the starting lineup at free safety in Week 6.

 

The Bears are also forcing opposing quarterbacks into bad decisions on 3.5 percent of their plays, which means the Bears are making other teams' passers make mistakes at near the pace that Cutler makes them, thus once again offsetting the self-destructive nature of their field general.

 

All of these elements would be enough to make the Bears a very dangerous playoff foe, but when the special-teams mastery of Devin Hester is added in, it gives Chicago a hands-down victory in the category of teams that no opponent will want to face in the postseason.

[rawaction]

Good stuff. With my naked eye, I can see that the Bears are an all or nothing running team. Martz has designed some pretty good plays, as they have broken a lot of big runs by getting more blockers than defenders in an area, typically on the edge of the OL. But when they try to run inside, they typically get stopped. I'll be interested to see how things go the rest of the season, because when the Bears tried to run outside vs. the Lions, the LBs were keying on the pulling linemen and firing in that vacated gap to disrupt the play.

 

To show the eyes don't always lie. Of 166 carries that Forte has had this year, 84 of them (1 more than 1/2 his carries) have gone for 3 yards or less. Pretty amazing considering that Forte is averaging 5.2 yards per carry. Of those 83 carries under 3 yards, a whopping 46 of them have been for 0 or negative yards. That means of his 120 carries where he's at least made it past the line of scrimmage, he's averaging 7.2 yards per carry. 26 of those 120 have been carries for over 10 yards.

[rawaction]

Damnit. DJ Moore sprained his ankle in practice and is not expected to play on Sunday. Bears will mix in Corey Graham at nickel (as they did when DJ got ejected Sunday and Corey got a pick) or they will put Zach Bowman on the outside, with Tim Jennings playing a lot of nickel. Guessing Graham gets first shot and then his playing time will be performance based.

[Soul]

That sucks.

 

Looking at our schedule, if we can pull off this win, I'm going to get very excited.

 

I mean I'm already much higher on this team now than I probably should be, but I figure the Chargers are probably the most potent of the AFC West bunch, even with their diminished state.

 

I might even need to Stub Hub it and get down to Soldier Field this year if they keep this up :)

[JonJayCutler]

Damn, injuries are slightly curbing my enthusiasm for this team right now. I'm afraid of what the Williams injury is going to do to the running game, and Moore is one of our best playmakers on defense. San Diego has some weapons on offense. This could be a letdown game.

 

It was starting to feel like we weren't going to lose again, too.

[Guest]

Not arguing with the analysis but I love how Joyner feels the need to throw cheap shots at Cutler whenever he gets the opportunity.

[scarey]

That sucks.

 

Looking at our schedule, if we can pull off this win, I'm going to get very excited.

 

I mean I'm already much higher on this team now than I probably should be, but I figure the Chargers are probably the most potent of the AFC West bunch, even with their diminished state.

 

I might even need to Stub Hub it and get down to Soldier Field this year if they keep this up :)

 

Personally, I'm more worried about the Raiders than the Chargers.

[jersey cubs fan]

That sucks.

 

Looking at our schedule, if we can pull off this win, I'm going to get very excited.

 

I mean I'm already much higher on this team now than I probably should be, but I figure the Chargers are probably the most potent of the AFC West bunch, even with their diminished state.

 

I might even need to Stub Hub it and get down to Soldier Field this year if they keep this up :)

 

Personally, I'm more worried about the Raiders than the Chargers.

 

Soul, I'm not sure why you think you shouldn't be high on this team, but they are good. It would be nice to have another ballhawk back there for Rivers's floaters, but the Bears should be able to handle them regardless.