bukie

Wow, that's an unflattering Rex picture. You must really despise him unfairly.

Wow, Rex, where was that?

That throw was not Grossman's fault. EDIT: Well, that one was.

I wouldn't say a bad throw, he simply put it in a place where nobody but Moose could have possibly caught it. And he did. So I suppose it was fortunate he caught it, but at least there was no shot of an INT.

This is the second game this year where they simply expected the opponent to lay down. This is disappointing.

I've never seen a team that panics as much when behind as these Bears.

And...ND's defense again shows that it's...not good.

Grats to Samardzija on setting the all-time ND receiving TD record.

Friendly office wager of the week: Who wins with the larger Chicago-Miami margin, Bulls over Heat (42), or Bears over Dolphins? Yes, the line of 42 is enormously high, but this is also an office full of Chicago fans. The fact that people here are actually spiritedly debating the wager indicates that the Bears are having a special year.

From the looks of things, the only thing the Bulls sorely lack is any kind of a post scorer. If the Bulls had somebody like an Elton Brand, they'd be really dangerous... Failing that, they'll either have to be really good with their jump shots, or they'll have to simply outrun the opponent/tire them out.

so then Cal/Washington...I hear that game is interesting...

Yeah, the defense just look confused the last few plays. They were on the field far too long. Svoboda/Dorrell need to stop getting conservative. I just want Svoboda gone already, he's a nightmare. And nothing the NBC crew was saying was pissing me off more than when they were compliment Svoboda and his play calling. Yeah, the offense was doing well while they were still mixing it up. Running the same play up the middle 3 straight times on that last possession was basically giving new life to a team that had just practically been defeated on a failed 4th down play. Not even trying to get a first down was near Zona-esque calling there. I'm not sure the NBC announcers really had much of a clue what was going on all game.

This is why people don't like Notre Dame. I've seen this movie a lot of times, and it always ends with a Quinn TD. See? All I see is him making a prediction, it coming true, and him quoting the prediction. Happens all the time in Bears game threads or Cubs game threads. Maybe it can come off smug in text, maybe he was being smug, who knows? ND didn't deserve to win it, especially that way, but they did. Quinn did play well despite the rest of the team doing almost nothing, and they pulled out a second game they deserved to lose. I understand being a UCLA fan has to be really frustrating, especially having watched them outplay a largely board-hated ranked ND team for about 50 minutes, but I don't happen to see anything wrong with a fan of a supposedly "neutral" team making a prediction and being happy when it comes true. There is some serious hypocrisy among board members on trolling regarding specific teams. I understand it for the Cards, this being a Cub board. I somewhat understand it for the Sox, despite it being a pot/kettle thing most often. I don't understand it for ND, and really don't think that's fair.

Well, that's the second time the Irish got lucky enough that the opposing team played the end of the game specifically to give them another opportunity. And really, I understand Raisin's frustration, but everybody else could use a few deep breaths. The NBC broadcast is the equivalent of an ND home broadcast, it's to be expected that the team is favored in commentary, and this is no worse or better than any top 15 team that was outplayed the entire game only to squeak one out. It just happened to happen to ND twice. To ND fans, the team has so many holes, it's a wonder they're still in the top 15, and unless they find an O-line, a run defense, and a secondary in the next few weeks, they'll get blown out either by USC or an other top team in a BCS bowl. Consider it fortunate that the opponent played not to lose twice and it paid off both times.

So...how do you let Samardzija get behind you when ND needs a TD with 30 seconds left? I mean, honestly?

This week's DVOA ratings: here Bears fall back to the pack, and clear separation once again between quality teams and bad teams. Buffalo falls back to the bad teams category completely now. Division net ratings: 1. NFC East: 91.3% 2. AFC North: 18.6% 3. AFC West: 8.9% 4. NFC North: 8.8% 5. NFC South: -2.2% 6. NFC West: -29.7% 7. AFC South: -42.9% 8. AFC East: -45.7% Notes: - NFC North falls mostly due to the Bears coming back from the stratosphere. Teams overall aren't as bad as other divisions' bad teams. - NFC East appears to be in a class of its own, with no bad teams. - AFC East has just one good team, AFC South has 2 of the 3 worst teams. - AFC North is improving despite Cincy's and Baltimore's struggles due to Pittsburgh coming on strong.

The Cards did their share, but the Bears still caused 2 fumbles and had a punt return. None of those were "gives" by Arizona. It wasn't like someone had butterfingers...those were legit takeaways and great "plays". The takeaways were skilled. The returns for TDs were a bit lucky. Not having to rely at all on the offense to come back from 20 down was also a bit lucky. :) Rex has been playing with fire for weeks now, throwing ill-advised passes that were fortunately dropped by defenders. This week it caught up to him, so I do hope that he learns from this and is willing to throw some shorter passes to open receivers. Also, the line really needs to give him better vision and time than they did last night.

Well, it wasn't a 6-0 turnover differential...I almost feel like I need to be more optimistic with my pessimism.

Week 6 DVOA rankings: Here Bears with high marks pretty much across the board. Still feeling the effects of the "early blowout" with Jacksonville and KC benefitting the most. However, it's showing some early patterns thus far: - The Bears are basically playing in a different league up to this point. - The Eagles and Chargers are in the "next tier", significantly better than the rest. - The Raiders and Titans are significantly worse than anyone else. - Buffalo was hit hard by last week's blowout, but there's a good separation overall there between the "decent" teams and the "bad" teams. The 11 obvious bad teams are Green Bay, Cleveland, Detroit, San Francisco, Tampa Bay, Miami, NY Jets, Arizona, Houston, Oakland, and Tennessee. By net DVOA, here's a quick division rankings: 1. NFC East - 85.2% 2. NFC North - 26.9% 3. AFC West - 20.8% 4. AFC North - 10.6% 5. NFC South - 2.1% 6. NFC West - -39.7% 7. AFC East - -48.4% 8. AFC South - -58.5% The NFC North is boosted because Chicago is so far ahead, but also not as far dragged down by GB/DET as most other divisions' patsies. The AFC East took a huge hit from 2 absolute blowouts. The AFC South is just...not good; even after Jacksonville's huge win and jump up the rankings, they are still the worst division overall. The NFC East is a fairly obvious class above the rest of the divisions. After several years of AFC dominance, it looks like the NFC is overall the better conference this year, despite not being reflected in most power rankings list (legacy rules those lists most often).

Sabermetrically, the Bears had the #6 offense, the #4 defense, and the #1 special teams heading into week 5, and should have improved at least the defensive numbers this week. Pessimistic prediction: Grossman is a bit shell-shocked by his first monday night game and throws several interceptions. Benson continues his fumble-itis and is benched after coughing another one up. Jones runs ineffectively behind a line that suddenly can't stop anybody, and the Bears struggle all night to score points. The defensive backs suffer a few man-to-man lapses and give up some big plays that turn into a couple TDs for Arizona. Hester fumbles a punt return, Gould misses his first 2 FGs of the year, Arizona wins the battle of turnovers 6-0, and pulls out a close stunner 17-13. Optimistic prediction: Grossman continues on a roll. Leinart is frustrated all day by the Bear front line and makes some bad throws. The lack of a Cardinal running game makes the game one-dimensional, and the Bears pick off 3 Leinart passes, finally score one of their own touchdowns, and the offense and special teams continues on their torrid pace. Bears roll, and the game is over by the half, 37-3.

The Bears' point differential through 5 games is the second largest in NFL history. The 1999 Rams outscored their opponents by a total of 123 points after 5 games. No team has ever finished with both the #1 scoring offense and the #1 scoring defense, which the Bears currently sport. And Robbie Gould just set a team record for consecutive FGs to start the season, and leads the NFL in points. And Devin Hester leads the NFL in punt return yards, and is tied for the league lead in return TDs. From here on out, the expectations are at a new level. EDIT: The differential is the second largest in NFL history since the merger. The 1941 Bears outscored their first 5 opponents 209-52, a 157 point margin, highlighted by outscoring the Cardinals and Lions 102-7 in weeks 3 and 4.

Something else I find interesting, looking at DVOA statistics, is how the relative strengths of the divisions work out so far this year, by net DVOA: NFC East: 98% AFC North: 32% AFC West: 31.5% AFC East: 4.7% NFC North: 4.5% NFC South: -14.1% NFC West: -66.9% AFC South: -78.3% I look at this and think to myself, maybe the NFC East is as good as they say. The only division with 4 above-average teams. There are no divisions with 4 below average teams, but the NFC West and NFC North only have 1 above-average team each right now. The AFC South is dragged down by having 2 of the worst teams in the NFL, and the AFC East simply doesn't have any doormats. Looking at this, perhaps the Bears schedule isn't as cake-easy as some of us think. Then again, there are only 4 above-average teams left on the Bears schedule, and they haven't played any above-average teams yet (according to DVOA!). Yes, Seattle's standing was severely hurt by the Bears game, so I'm sure that'll improve, but this is really just a snapshot of the league right now.

It obviously doesn't mean a lot, but I thought it was fun. I'm really surprised, actually, that the Chargers aren't even among those teams. I'd certainly rate them higher than the Rams-Falcons-Saints. Statistically, they are still the second-best team in the league, even with the loss. If I had to rate a top 10 right now at this point in the season, I'd go with: 1. Bears 2. Chargers 3. Ravens (yes, even after last week, the Chargers are a more complete team) 4. Colts 5. Eagles 6. Patriots 7. Bengals 8. Seahawks 9. Cowboys 10. Falcons Odd that two of those teams (Chargers, Cowboys) failed to make the "best team" list.

I fear after 3 division games and 1 primetime game against the reigning NFC champion, the Bears are going to come out flat against Buffalo. They'll fall behind early on a turnover TD and a FG, and then have to scramble to win in the second half. Bears 17 Buffalo 13

So, as of right now, the Bears have the #1 scoring defense (7.25 PPG, SD 7.67 PPG), and the #2 scoring offense (Indy 30.25 PPG, Bears 29.0 PPG). Currently wondering if anyone ever had the #1 scoring offense AND defense for a year.