Game 9 - Houston Texans @ BEARS - 7:20 PM SNF

[jersey cubs fan]

Good lord that is some terrible sports-writing.

...how?

 

This is pretty typical Simmons article, and more than he's written about the Bears and their fanbase all year. And if he can relate to anything, it's overconfident fanbases.

 

How is it terrible? It's unreadable. Typical Simmons doesn't mean it's well written, or makes any sense.

 

Simmons can't relate to anything. He's got one guy who works for him that is a Bears fan, living in LA mind you, so he bases his entire thought process on that.

[ctcf]

"I picked against the Bears because their fan base has gotten a little cocky."

 

Thanks, champ.

[ctcf]

Bears Talk @BearsTalkCSN

Sick bay: Texans NT Cody, TE Daniels out: The Texans won't be at full strength on Sunday when they face t... bit.ly/ZfzUYq #Bears

 

Daniels, Cody apparently out. Huge help for the Bears.

 

Link: http://www.csnchicago.com/football-chicago-bears/bears-talk/Sick-bay-Texans-NT-Cody-TE-Daniels-out?blockID=799979&feedID=10330&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

Edited November 9, 2012 by ctcf

[rawaction]

With Wright and Conte as starting safeties the Bears have allowed 10 td passes in 14 games...over that same time the Bears D has scored on 9 td passes.

 

2 of those td's have come in garbage time in the lions and cowboys games this year.

 

Conte wasn't on the field for either of those. Wright was on for the Dallas one, I believe, but was playing really soft coverage.

[Guest]

"I picked against the Bears because their fan base has gotten a little cocky."

 

Thanks, champ.

 

His writing is meant to be fun and not taken at all as serious analysis...

[Soul]

Bears Talk @BearsTalkCSN

Sick bay: Texans NT Cody, TE Daniels out: The Texans won't be at full strength on Sunday when they face t... bit.ly/ZfzUYq #Bears

 

Daniels, Cody apparently out. Huge help for the Bears.

 

Link: http://www.csnchicago.com/football-chicago-bears/bears-talk/Sick-bay-Texans-NT-Cody-TE-Daniels-out?blockID=799979&feedID=10330&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

 

The loss of Daniels is pretty big.

[ctcf]

"I picked against the Bears because their fan base has gotten a little cocky."

 

Thanks, champ.

 

His writing is meant to be fun and not taken at all as serious analysis...

 

When does the fun part happen?

[Guest]

"I picked against the Bears because their fan base has gotten a little cocky."

 

Thanks, champ.

 

His writing is meant to be fun and not taken at all as serious analysis...

 

When does the fun part happen?

 

I like him. To each his own.

 

The Book of Basketball was very good despite having to sift through all the Celtics love.

[Soul]

"I picked against the Bears because their fan base has gotten a little cocky."

 

Thanks, champ.

 

His writing is meant to be fun and not taken at all as serious analysis...

 

When does the fun part happen?

 

I like him. To each his own.

 

The Book of Basketball was very good despite having to sift through all the Celtics love.

 

He's a Celtics/Boston fan. Explains much.

[Guest]

"I picked against the Bears because their fan base has gotten a little cocky."

 

Thanks, champ.

 

His writing is meant to be fun and not taken at all as serious analysis...

 

When does the fun part happen?

 

I like him. To each his own.

 

The Book of Basketball was very good despite having to sift through all the Celtics love.

 

He's a Celtics/Boston fan. Explains much.

....I know.

[bukie]

This could be the first time all year the Bears actually need Forte to shoulder a bit of a load. He's only averaging 15 carries per game, and didn't play in Green Bay, which I'm fine with if it's kept him healthy for situations like the next couple weeks.

[rawaction]

Bill Simmons actually makes sense regarding the Bears:

 

Texans (+1.5) over BEARS

I could see this game going one of two ways …

 

Scenario A: Chicago wins a close game because of one big special teams play, one timely turnover (either a Schaub pick or a Foster fumble), one of those "35 carries for 125 yards"–type performances from Matt Forte, one huge Brandon Marshall play that either goes for a TD or a pass interference, and of course, at least one enormous turnover caused by Charles "Thank God His Wife Didn't Give Birth and He Played" Tillman, followed by Bears fans deliriously celebrating for about an hour before getting the news that Jay Cutler suffered a stress fracture in his foot on the last kneel-down play and Jason Campbell has to take over for the next few weeks.

 

Scenario B: Houston avoids giving up a big special teams play AND spitting up a costly turnover, pounds the ball down the throats of Chicago's defense, dominates the time of possession, locks down Brandon Marshall, harrasses Jay Cutler for four straight quarters to the tune of seven or eight sacks, gets Cutler to do a couple of Cutler-y things (pick three results from: a horrific throw into triple-coverage, a third-down interception in Houston's end zone, a deflected pick because he became the latest QB who thought it was a good idea to throw the ball over J.J. Watt's head, embarrasses one of his linemen on national TV, gets in a yelling match with his offensive coordinator), followed by Bears fans freaking out for a solid week because Cutler just crapped the bed and now they have to play in San Francisco on Monday night.

 

(Thinking … )

 

I could see either happening. It's practically a coin flip. You know what swayed me toward Houston? Bears fans are a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittle too confident right now. Just a tad. Just a smidge. Their boys haven't lost since Week 2. Deep down, they've hit that freaky "Should I just roll the dice and book my New Orleans flight and hotel room right now, then not tell anyone so my friends don't blame me for jinxing the season?" part of any NFL contender's schedule. Houston fans would never do that because they've never been to a Super Bowl and don't know any better. But Chicago fans? It's been a constant mental battle between loving this particular Bears team and trying to not jinx what's happening … and now they just can't fight it anymore. That 31-point shellacking of Tennessee tested their resolve, as does the realization that their boys might finish with the greatest fantasy defense of all time. Over these first two months, the Bears clearly established an identity that their fans embraced: namely, "Old-school monster defense, great special teams, good running game, gunslinger QB … and by the way, if our QB didn't get hurt last year, maybe we would have won it all."

 

They're about 19 percent too confident. So what if they blew these next two games, got caught by Green Bay in the standings, went back to being the self-loathing, beaten-down Chicago fans we know and love, and THEN belatedly made that Super Bowl run? That makes more sense … right?

 

 

That's almost exactly how I feel. I feel very confident about the Bears right now, but at the same time I wonder 'should i really be this confident?' I see the team built on an absurdly abnormal amount of turnovers against mediocre to bad teams and I feel like I should be a little scared. At the same time, we throttled those teams, what a great team should do. So I am outwardly confident right now, but losing this game will definitely cause me and other Bears fans to look behind us and see the Packers 1 game behind with the 49ers come up. I'm not saying that even if we lose both of these games, I will give up on our chances to make the Super Bowl, but I'll be a whole lot more worried that's for sure.

 

Also.....everyone points out that Green Bay apparently destroyed us in week 2. No we didn't play well, yes they played better, but I don't think it was the blowout people make it out to be....We were down 3-0 just before halftime when a fluke fake FG put us down 10-0. But even then, it was a 10 point game (13-3....really 6-3 without the fake FG) until midway through the 4th quarter when they kicked another FG to make it 16-3 (9-3) and then broke our backs with a TD after yet another Cutler TO. I dunno, obviously they dominated our offense, but it almost seemed like it was their scheme and plan against Marshall that killed us, not because they were all that more talented. Defensively I thought we were great, and held the offense to 16 points (and who knows how many were short fields because of Cutler INTs...dont feel like going back and remembering). Anyways, the Packers deserved to win, no doubt, but I'm not necessarily looking at the Packers like a team we can't beat.

 

The Packers game was also on the road on the first short week of the NFL season. The team had gone from practicing to half the team playing 2-3 drives in the preseason opener, to playing a quarter in the 2nd preseason game, to playing a half in the 3rd preseason game, to a week off (4th PS game), to a home opener where starters got to either sit (Urlacher) or take it easy late, to playing 4 days later against one of the best teams in the league in their house. That's not to excuse the loss at all. I was still pissed about how poorly they played.

 

As for Simmons' point..... At some point, everybody has to get over the eye test with the Bears. Sure the offense struggles at times, but they have more often than not performed when they've needed to and enough to win. It just so happens that the big offensive meltdowns (and there have not been that many) have come with everyone in the world watching (SNF vs. Giants, Playoffs vs. Packers, TNF vs. Packers). This may be a game where they play poorly again, against a very good defensive team, but it's not the end of the world. And I'd take the chances that the team will at least have a shot to still win, just like they did in those 3 disaster games I mentioned until late. And easy schedule or not, they all count. Teams that beat teams they are supposed to beat, usually keep winning them....ask the Colts. They aren't going to lose every game against other good teams.

[bukie]

Defensive efficiency: http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/teamdef

 

The Texans' pass defense is vulnerable against the #2 WR and the RB out of the backfield, but is the best in the NFL against the #1 WR. So...go Earl Bennett and Matt Forte, and hope Cutler doesn't try to force too much to Marshall if it's not there.

 

The Bears' pass defense is vulnerable against...nothing. They're just awesome everywhere.

 

And even though the Texans have the 2nd most efficient pass defense in the NFL, the difference between the Bears and Texans is more than the difference between the Texans and average.

 

As for rushing... http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/dl2012

 

The Texans' D-line is 11th against the run, vulnerable up the middle. They're 4th in pass rushing efficiency, which is bad news for the Bears' OL and Cutler.

 

The Bears' D-line is 2nd against the run, vulnerable on left tackle runs (Bears' right DE). They're 7th in pass rushing efficiency, basically the only spot in which the Houston defense has an advantage over the Bears' D.

[bjam12]

Bill Simmons actually makes sense regarding the Bears:

 

one of those "35 carries for 125 yards"–type performances from Matt Forte

 

 

Yeah, Matt Forte never has performances like that.

[Magnetic Curses]

Bill Simmons actually makes sense regarding the Bears:

 

one of those "35 carries for 125 yards"–type performances from Matt Forte

 

 

Yeah, Matt Forte never has performances like that.

 

He's literally never carried the ball more than 27 times in a game and he hasn't done that since 2008. is this simmons getting bears things wrong a thing now or something? does he think it's cute?

[JonJayCutler]

Yeah, I lol'd at the 35 carries for Forte part.

[rawaction]

He's also not a "grind out yards" type of RB like Foster can be. If Forte gets 135 yards on the ground, it's because he probably broke one for 60 and it's on like 15 carries. If he gets 35 carries, the Bears are winning comfortably and Michael Bush is probably dead.

[DivineBovine]

Not to take anything away from Foster, because he's very good, but a lot of guys can run real well in the Texans offense. L

 

To me this game comes down to the Texans pass rush. There's a lot of confident Bear fans around but surely we've all considered the very real possibility that Cutler gets killed again like vs GB this year.

[Banedon]

http://i.imgur.com/IFiha.jpg

[cubbyvirus00]

http://i.imgur.com/IFiha.jpg

Outstanding.

[Rizzo Smash]

http://i.imgur.com/IFiha.jpg

http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lltzgnHi5F1qzib3wo1_400.jpg

[Careless]

Bill Simmons actually makes sense regarding the Bears:

 

one of those "35 carries for 125 yards"–type performances from Matt Forte

 

 

Yeah, Matt Forte never has performances like that.

 

He's literally never carried the ball more than 27 times in a game and he hasn't done that since 2008. is this simmons getting bears things wrong a thing now or something? does he think it's cute?

Simmons doesn't watch NFC games. He has no idea what's going on in half the league.

[rawaction]

Everyone knows these are 2 of the top 5 scoring defenses. Most might know they are 1-2 in point differential. But how many people realize these teams are 2 and 3 in points scored per game? The Bears have had a lot of help from the defense, but maybe this game isn't going to be 2 teams that can't move the ball as much as I thought it would be.

[Magnetic Curses]

Im really confident that we stomp on these guys nuts

[Guest]

simmons is actually very pro-chicago as a sports town. he usually says nice things about the bears/bulls/cubs and the city in general.

 

but i get it, it's cool to hate simmons because he talks about bad reality shows