Week 16 The Desperate Bears @ Arizona Cardinals

[JonJayCutler]

If Seattle wins tonight, GB only needs a win over Minnesota OR a SF Loss to Arizona to clinch.

 

One thing you forgot, if SF loses to Arizona and Seattle beats the Rams in Seattle next week, Seattle wins the division and also the tiebreaker with GB for the second seed if they lose against the Vikings. Refs come back to haunt GB. Although there's not a chance in hell SF loses to Arizona so that likely won't matter.

 

But yeah, if the Packers lose, it's extremely unlikely that they'll hang onto the second seed, as they would need both a SF and Seattle loss. Therefore they are pretty much faced with a "win=bye, lose=no bye" scenario next week. Good news for the Bears.

 

Seattle winning tonight also means that it's now impossible for the Bears to play at GB in the first round. They'd either be going into SF or SEA, most likely SF.

 

Also worth noting, if the Vikings win next week, they'll almost certainly turn around and play GB again in the first round.

[UMFan83]

Welp I said at the start of this thread that the Giants losing at Baltimore would be the biggest help to us this week and I still think it was although I really kind of expected Minnesota to lose in Houston grr. Anyways considering how bad we've been and how bad the offense has continued to look its good to be in a relatively simple clinching position for next week.

 

I put our odds at about 33% but that's fine.

[BigSlick]

Welp I said at the start of this thread that the Giants losing at Baltimore would be the biggest help to us this week and I still think it was although I really kind of expected Minnesota to lose in Houston grr. Anyways considering how bad we've been and how bad the offense has continued to look its good to be in a relatively simple clinching position for next week.

 

I put our odds at about 33% but that's fine.

Yeah, whenever you need to depend on other things to happen including a win from your team, the odds are never THAT great, because there are just too many factors. Even if you put it very confident the Packers are going to win and (moderately) confident the Bears are gonna win, its still hard to even get to a coin flip

[UMFan83]

Trib says there's a decent chance Urlacher plays next week. It would be nice to see him in a Bears uni again and I think he could still help if he's healthy enough to play.

[DivineBovine]

It would be great to see the Bears in the playoffs. But 297 total yards against a crap team, Cutler below 50% completion percentage, and 3/13 on third down doesn't give me too much confidence. Damn this offense is horrible.

[Omar]

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/189acw9ez03g8gif/original.gif

[UMFan83]

It would be great to see the Bears in the playoffs. But 297 total yards against a crap team, Cutler below 50% completion percentage, and 3/13 on third down doesn't give me too much confidence. Damn this offense is horrible.

 

Not arguing that the offense isn't horrible or that the Cardinals aren't a crap team but statistically the Cardinals defense is above average.

[UMFan83]

Until yesterday the Bears were on a 3 game losing streak, losing to the Seahawks, Vikings and Packers. After beating the Bears, those teams have gone a combined 6-0 and outscored their opponents by a combined score of 264-65 (average score of 44-11)

 

Seattle:

58-0 vs. Arizona

50-17 @ Buffalo

42-13 vs. San Francisco

 

Minnesota:

36-22 @ St. Louis

23-6 @ Houston

 

Green Bay:

55-7 vs. Tennessee

 

Making me feel slightly better, the Bears only lost those 3 games by a combined score of 65-44 (average of 22-15)

[Have a seat, Neifi]

Until yesterday the Bears were on a 3 game losing streak, losing to the Seahawks, Vikings and Packers. After beating the Bears, those teams have gone a combined 6-0 and outscored their opponents by a combined score of 264-65 (average score of 44-11)

 

Seattle:

58-0 vs. Arizona

50-17 @ Buffalo

42-13 vs. San Francisco

 

Minnesota:

36-22 @ St. Louis

23-6 @ Houston

 

Green Bay:

55-7 vs. Tennessee

 

Making me feel slightly better, the Bears only lost those 3 games by a combined score of 65-44 (average of 22-15)

 

On a related note, the Bears have played the 6th most difficult schedule in terms of opponents' collective winning %. Only the Lions, Cardinals, Giants, Jaguars, and Titans have played stronger opponents. (Though I suppose those teams themselves contribute to that SOS mark by consistently losing to said teams.) Thoroughly unsurprising is that the Falcons have played the softest schedule, followed closely by the Colts and Bengals.

[BigSlick]

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/189acw9ez03g8gif/original.gif

eurgh...he could have lunged forward at gotten to the 15

[Omar]

This new 35 yard-line kickoff rule hasn't helped Devin at all.

[jersey cubs fan]

This new 35 yard-line kickoff rule hasn't helped Devin at all.

 

That has nothing to do with his huge drop off on punt returns.

 

He's a returner. History tells us those guys are flashes in the pan and do not last. He also hasn't taken anything resembling a step up as a receiver and probably should have been the guy released this week.

[UMFan83]

This new 35 yard-line kickoff rule hasn't helped Devin at all.

 

That has nothing to do with his huge drop off on punt returns.

 

He's a returner. History tells us those guys are flashes in the pan and do not last. He also hasn't taken anything resembling a step up as a receiver and probably should have been the guy released this week.

 

If anything I was surprised at this mini-resurance in 2010-2011. Most stud returners have a 2-3 year shelf life at most