BigbadB

I'm guessing Fangio takes most if not all of the defensive coaching staff with him. He'll probably be hard after guys like Amos and Callahan if the Bears blink. The good news is that the Bears defensive unit in general will be in tact and it makes for a potential lucrative landing spot for a successful veteran DC. Nagy also seems like a guy a DC can get along with, as he gave Fangio all the liberties he needed. He certainly deserves a HC gig after everything he has accomplished so far. Denver media is about to get extremely frustrated with post game interviews, so there is that.

It's Nagy thinking he's duping the secondary into leaning back thinking pass play and then Trubisky hands the ball to Mizzell for no gain. It doesn't work. Place that play in the trash can and pick a new one!

You could, but I'm guessing timing is pretty important on field goals. Trying to dupe the defense by snapping early seems like a good way to decrease your chances of making the field goal.

I've always maintained that there should be a rule against calling time outs at the very last second to ice the kicker. Like in the instance where it happened last night, if the ball is snapped and kicked, you waited too long. The kicker could just as easily miss the first one and make the second one, so this isn't me being a homer. It's just a stupid practice to call it so late that the play actually happens and then you have to line up and do it all over again. If you want to ice the kicker, call the time out well before the play happens. That might seem weird, but I find it weird that kickers are subjected to two attempts because the defense has a time out at their disposal. You can still ice the kicker by calling time out at about the time the holder is about to get into position. At the point he hasn't raised his hands to accept the hike, you can call your time out up to that point. If you wait until after that, the kick either counts if it goes in, or the offense gets a 5 yard bonus for the penalty to re-kick. To me the time out before a kick is just one of the dumbest rituals that they allow defenses to get away with.

Too bad there weren't any high school or college or pro football goal posts anywhere to be found to get some real practice in.

It's not just you. I was thinking the same thing but I can't say for sure. I feel the same way. No one noticed any chance in the spin or trajectory of the ball so I don't think the slight tip had anything to do with the miss. And the first half play calling was terrible. I get trying to be somewhat conservative with a young QB in his first playoff game but it's not like Kyle Orton was under center. Yeah. Let's watch and see how conservative the play calls will be for Pat Mahomes this coming weekend. You're supposed to bring what brung you.

He clanked an XP against the Vikings in Week 17 as well so yeah 6 That's what i seemed to recall, but after reading this game thread, there was not one mention of the "5th" one and the one last night was being referenced as the 5th one.

Wasn't that Parkey's 6th goal post clank this season or am I confusing someone else doing it between the 4 clank game and last night? My biggest frustration from that game was the first half play calling. Nagy was sending in plays like they were going up against the best defense in the league. I love that you can almost always count on the defense to come through, but don't leave it entirely up to them. Make something happen. Spread the field. Move the ball. If they played the first half like they did in the second half when they pretty much HAD to move the ball, the Bears win easily and it isn't left up to Cody horsefeathering Parkey.

Holy horsefeathers! The Bears Super Bowl game is less than a month away!

Great news. I thought Miller might be a no-go. i don't think there was any chance of him not suiting up. It's his shoulder, not his legs. Even running routes as a decoy would be better than not playing in an elimination game. But I'm guessing the kid will tough it out until he can have post season surgery.

I know Conner and Samuels filled in pretty well in Bell's absence, but I'm under the impression Bell will still be the fall guy even if Antonio Brown is trying to deflect blame. There were some lost games where Bell could have pushed them over the top. Most specifically is the tie game against Cleveland early on. Given how well Conner and Samuels did in Bell's absence, I'm curious how many teams will be willing to pony up a number equal to or better than what Pittsburgh was offering this past offseason, which I seem to recall averaged 15 million over 3 years in guaranteed money. Still, I love the controversy there as I'm not a fan of any of the Steeler fans I know. Got my picks in for the pool I'm in. This is a fun one with hundreds of participants. Wild Card weekend picks are worth 3 points. Divisional game weekend is worth 4 points. Conference championship games are worth 6 points and Super Bowl pick is worth 8. Then there is the total points combined of the Super Bowl for tiebreakers. I'm taking Baltimore, Houston, Seattle and Chicago in week 1, KC and Houston and NO and Chi in week 2 and KC and Chi going to the Super Bowl. And I'm picking the Bears to win it all because I am a homer. I mean, it hasn't even been a full year since a 2nd year QB won a Super Bowl (even if it was Foles that played). Might as well have two of them battling it out for it this year.

Seemed pretty obvious to me that the Bears wanted to play Philly in the playoffs. Otherwise.........

Maybe I haven't been paying close attention on punt formations, but was it rather unusual that every guy on the front line for that punt attempt after the time out was a guy with a 40 #. It was the punt where they were going to punt, then they made a full roster switch, then called time out because Minnesota's defense looked prepared enough to not risk going for it. After that time out, there didn't appear to be a single guy on offense over 230 lbs.

They gambled on Reuben Foster later in that same first round and lost. I also noticed that San Fran traded the 3rd round pick they got from the Bears to the Saints, which the Saints took Alvin Kamara with that pick.

Their defense doesn't look good at all. Trubisky was off on his throws, or the Bears should/would have beaten them by a lot more than the actual final score. Contain Donald and you give your team a chance. No one else appears to be a threat. I find that amazing to say, but that ever so dominant team of the first half of the season isn't looking so dominant anymore. It's great that New Orleans and LA Rams will have to play their hearts out to battle for playoff position, thereby risking some of their starters getting injured. Both teams have shown some vulnerabilities the last month or so.

There were 3 different scrambling plays yesterday where I swore Trubisky had eyes in the back of his head. I saw pressure and it appeared as though he was going to be blind side sacked, but somehow he heard the footsteps and avoided all 3 of them and made something out of nothing. Amazing.

"Time to get up. Gotta make them donuts". I love that guy.

Is replacing your bench coach considered "massive"?

I'm hoping they are in San Diego and they play the Raiders in San Diego. There is a huge Raiders following here. Oh, and it would be kind of cool to see the Chargers be a visiting team at San Diego to play the Raiders.

I missed out on the playoffs by 1/2 point because of Dalvin Cook's garbage TD with a minute left. :banghead: I was only casually watching in a noisy bar, but I could have sworn I saw Cousins cross the line of scrimmage on that throw.

I lost because I didn't play the bears d. I was 11-2 with the most points and lost to a 5-8 team. Don't understand why we have 8 teams make the playoffs. If you have the Bears defense and you don't play them, you don't deserve to win.

Has their ever been a scoring play where the 11 players on offense weighed more than the Bears last night? Trubisky 222 Sowell 312 Witzmann 320 Whitehair 310 Daniels 306 Leno 306 Robertson-Harris 294 Nichols 290 Hicks 332 Bullard 296

Kinda surprised the Fangio SF Super Bowl defense isn't on that list. ETA: Maybe they are. I'm just noticing that's only a partial list.

Danny Trevathan on two of those teams.

Speaking of confidence..... Last night, those guys took it to a whole new level. The coaching staff has instilled a level of confidence in the entire unit that seems so strong at this point, I'm not really sure what will stop it. Nagy convincing Fangio to stay, giving him a defensive stud with the first pick in the draft, Pace pulling the trigger to get Mack, involving defensive players on offense and the fun these guys now seem to be having should have Aaron Rodgers shaking in his boots next week. The Falcons horrible defense sacked Rodgers 4 times yesterday. The talent was there in previous games, but now there an element of confidence that has these guys feeding off one another. Stopping a high potent offense series after series, even with the offense sputtering and forcing the defense back on the field when they should have had more time to rest. Last night was a thing of beauty. I will definitely enjoy watching this one a few more times before Sunday. Tim didn't know who to give a game ball to, and while I agree that everyone was awesome last night, I feel like the rook deserves that one. And heck, McManus even deserves some consideration with the way he stepped in for Callahan.