bukie

Of course, the Big Ten wasn't favored in any of their 8 matchups to this point, so they're actually doing better than anticipated. Northwestern and Wisconsin beat the spread, as well. State of Michigan with a not-so-good showing, though.

The KG injury has hugely affected the Celtics. Still no way the Bulls finish first in the East. Far outside chance at 2nd, maybe, if KG is out for most of the year.

Wow. That's an incredible stat. Or.... the biggest factor in the outcome of the game was that the defensive line was all over the place causing several holding penalties and false starts. I was at that game and somewhat inebriated. Just how many of those were holds and false starts? That was the game Cutler had an INT or two wiped out by penalties on the late drive. All of them and then some. They were holding as often as possible to keep Peppers off Rodgers. On the plus side, Rodgers didn't get much pressure. On the down side, they got a ton of holding penalties.

Except that they're playing the AFC West and NFC South.

Well, that was the first awful thing they've done all game. Terrible awareness.

Other than the inability to actually punch it in when they get close, there isn't much Illinois is doing wrong so far.

Maybe they're just learning their lesson from 2006, when they rested that last game in Green Bay, got waxed, and then disappointed in the playoffs by getting all the way to the Super Bowl.

Yeah, I think the most unwinnable game for the Bears in the NFC playoffs would be an NFC championship game in New Orleans. So, no matter what happens next week, I'd rather Atlanta get the 1 seed than the Saints. If I were to rank the five scariest potential NFC playoff games for the Bears: 1. at NO 2. vs GB 3. at ATL 4. vs NO 5. vs PHI Not that I'd think any of those were unwinnable, but I'd much rather see, say, home game vs Tampa/St. Louis than any of those above.

Simmons was talking about this on his podcast Monday. NBC has two games (both Saturday), while FOX and CBS each have one Sunday. Obviously, FOX gets an NFC game and CBS gets an AFC game. However, NBC was allowed first (and last) choice of games for Saturday. So, of course, it makes sense to pick the 3-6 NFC game first, since either AFC game is likely a good matchup (unless Jacksonville sneaks in), and the NFC West game will likely be terrible. So, NBC will pick the Eagles vs. the 6 seed (a 95% chance of either Packers or Giants) as the Saturday night matchup, sticking Fox with the NFC West winner/NFC South loser matchup. CBS will choose the better AFC matchup (likely IND-BAL/PIT/NYJ), leaving NBC with KC-BAL/PIT/NYJ for Saturday afternoon, which is still somewhat intriguing.

You really think that home field advantage in the specific NFC championship game of Bears vs. Falcons is worth going all out for? Plus they'd have a wildcard team in the divisional game (or the NFC West winner...even better!), and would eliminate the Packers from the playoffs (since having a chance at the 1 seed would mean the Bucs won). Between all that, yeah, I think they'd go for it, at least as long as the game remained winnable.

Well...that simplified things in the NFC. Clinched: - Chicago - NFC North and first round bye - Philadelphia - NFC East and 3 seed - Atlanta - playoff spot - New Orleans - playoff spot Eliminated: Carolina, Detroit, Arizona, Minnesota, Dallas, Washington, San Francisco ATLANTA Falcons Clinch NFC South and first round bye: 1) ATL win 2) NO loss Clinch homefield advantage in NFC: 1) ATL win 2) NO loss + CHI loss NEW ORLEANS Saints Clinch NFC South, first round bye and homefield advantage in NFC: 1) NO win + ATL loss CHICAGO Bears Clinch homefield advantage in NFC: 1) CHI win + ATL loss + NO loss GREEN BAY Packers Clinch #6 playoff spot: 1) GB win 2) NYG loss + TB loss NEW YORK Giants Clinch #6 playoff spot: 1) NYG win + GB loss TAMPA BAY Buccaneers Clinch #6 playoff spot: 1) TB win + GB loss + NYG loss ST LOUIS Rams Clinch NFC West and 4 seed: 1) STL win or tie SEATTLE Seahawks Clinch NFC West and 4 seed: 1) SEA win AFC Clinched: - New England - AFC East and homefield advantage - Kansas City - AFC West - Pittsburgh - playoff spot - Baltimore - playoff spot - New York Jets - playoff spot ELIMINATED: Buffalo, Cincinnati, Denver, Cleveland, Houston, Miami, Oakland, Tennessee, San Diego PITTSBURGH Steelers Pittsburgh clinches AFC North division and a first-round bye: 1) PIT win 2) BAL loss BALTIMORE Ravens Baltimore clinches AFC North division and a first-round bye: 1) BAL win + PIT loss INDIANAPOLIS Colts Indianapolis clinches AFC South division: 1) IND win 2) JAC loss Indianapolis clinches 3 seed: 1) IND win + KC loss JACKSONVILLE Jaguars Jacksonville clinches AFC South division: 1) JAC win + IND loss KANSAS CITY Chiefs Kansas City clinches 3 seed: 1) KC win 2) IND loss NEW YORK Jets New York clinches 5 seed: 1) NYJ win + BAL win + PIT loss

The NFC south games are both at noon and will be over by kickoff of the Bears game. Yes, that was what I was implying.

The big difference this makes is now the Bears will know prior to their game starting whether it will matter, and won't depend at all on later games. Also on an amusing note, the Bears are the first NFC team to clinch a bye.

The Lakers are coasting this year. I think the only decent team they've beaten at all has been the Bulls at home by 7.

I still have a feeling that the Bears will be prepared to go all out just in case the NFC South games break the right way.

If TB (possible) and CAR (yeah...no) win, then the playoff scenarios get interesting. Aside from that, it's pretty straightforward.

Sure...but I think it's a fair assessment to say the offense is on an upward trend, but there's definitely a long way to go. The trouble with the offense's numbers overall is that it's still trying to compensate for a 4-game swing that was historically awful. Beyond that, the offense has actually been above average, especially since the bye week.

I have a hard time considering any of Atlanta-New Orleans-Tampa screwed, because each of them got 6 games against Carolina and the NFC West to inflate their records.

One-day-early NFC week 17 scenarios: CLINCHED: Atlanta - playoff spot. Chicago - NFC North division. Philadelphia - NFC East division. New Orleans - playoff spot. ELIMINATED: Carolina, Detroit, Washington, Dallas, Minnesota, Arizona, San Francisco. PHILADELPHIA Eagles Clinched NFC East. - Clinches first round bye with: 1) Win v MIN AND Win v DAL AND CHI loss v GB - Clinches homefield advantage with: 1) Win v MIN AND WIn v DAL AND CHI loss v GB AND NO loss v TB AND ATL loss v CAR 2) Win v MIN AND Win v DAL AND CHI win v GB AND NO loss v TB AND ATL loss v CAR AND Win SOV tiebreaker over ATL (see few pages back) CHICAGO Bears Clinched NFC North division.. - Clinches first round bye with: 1) Win v GB 2) PHI loss v MIN 3) PHI loss v DAL - Clinches homefield advantage wtih: 1) Win v GB AND PHI loss v MIN/DAL AND ATL loss v CAR AND NO loss v TB ATLANTA Falcons Clinched playoff berth. - Clinches NFC South division with: 1) Win v CAR 2) NO loss v TB - Clinches first round bye with: 1) Win v CAR 2) NO loss v TB AND CHI loss v GB 3) NO loss v TB AND PHI loss v DAL 4) NO loss v TB AND clinch SOV over PHI - Clinches homefield advantage with: 1) Win v CAR 2) NO loss v TB AND CHI loss v GB AND PHI loss v DAL 3) NO loss v TB AND CHI win v GB AND PHI win v DAL AND clinch SOV over PHI NEW ORLEANS Saints Clinched playoff spot. - Clinches NFC South, bye, and homefield advantage with: 1) NO win v TB AND ATL loss v CAR GREEN BAY Packers Green Bay clinches a playoff spot: 1) GB win 2) NYG loss + TB loss NEW YORK Giants NY Giants clinch a playoff spot: 1) NYG win + GB loss TAMPA BAY Buccaneers Tampa Bay clinches a playoff spot: 1) TB win + NYG loss + GB loss ST. LOUIS Rams St. Louis clinches NFC West division: 1) STL win SEATTLE Seahawks Seattle clinches NFC West division: 1) SEA win

The pass to Celek at the end was the only play that the Bears D didn't basically give away in the 4th quarter. Besides that, the Eagles were doing basically exactly what the Bears wanted them to. Sure, they could have gone for TDs instead of FGs, but the Bears were more than happy to give them FG drives in the 4th, and the Eagles obliged. The game was in doubt for a grand total of about two minutes in the second half. The 90 seconds before the Bears scored to make it 28-13, and the 30 seconds it took to recover the onside kick after the Vick throw into quadruple coverage that was completed to Celek. EDIT: I mean, I think there was even a 15-minute stretch where sulley wasn't complaining about the game, so it must have been pretty well in hand.

I'll chalk that up to Australia not having a good feed of the game, but the 5 point differential hardly told the story. All of Philly is laboring under the delusion that that game was actually close. that double-harris interception - a fortunate deflection by tommie - was a huge swing in the game. there's a good chance we would have been leading at halftime; instead we ended up down by 8 points. plus we were missing our best CB and another important player in the secondary, coincidentally cutler was able to throw at will. and the eagles settled for like 35 field goals. so lots of things favored the bears and still they were outgained and won by only 5 points. i guess if that counts as an overwhelming victory then so be it. The Bears went into prevent defense with about a minute left in the third quarter, up 31-13. They basically allowed the Eagles anything they wanted offensively up the middle of the field under 20 yards with the idea that they wouldn't have enough time left to win if the Bears simply ran out the clock and didn't do anything stupid. They were right. That game wasn't nearly as close as the overall yardage and final score indicated.

In fact, here's a link! http://www.northsidebaseball.com/forum/topic?f=44&t=58319 Some of my best work. Man, you guys got PISSSSSSED. It was funny. You probably shouldn't admit trolling. And you probably shouldn't provide links to it. If that's his best work, I don't see much point to him posting.

I don't know how many times we have to go over this, but the Bears beat the Packers when they were more healthy than they are now. The Chicago defense isn't as good, but their offense is certainly better. Anyone who thinks this is a slam dunk for the Pack is blind. The defense is much improved since week 3, last week aside. Line especially.

You must not remember that week 3 thread. It may be difficult for you to remember that thread in an ocean of your ridiculous posts in the past few years, but it may be worth another read. Like I said before, I stand by every single thing I said Week 3. If the shoe was on the other foot Bears fans would have echoed a lot of my opinions. Not so much, no. Because the shoe is on the other foot. In the week 3 thread you even stated by the end of the year the standings would show the superior team. And you were actually right this time.

You must not remember that week 3 thread. It may be difficult for you to remember that thread in an ocean of your ridiculous posts in the past few years, but it may be worth another read.