BigSlick

I'm gonna be on top of that!

No kidding.... when you've sent six first round draft picks to the NFL and the most accomplished one is either Trent Dilfer or David Carr, that's not saying much. David Carr is one helluva QB, dude.

The only thing that worries me is Accuscore because its actually a fairly good determiner of the outcome of a game. No doubt about it, fellow Bears fans, this is gonna be a tough one.

John Clayton's article today pretty much says Harper won't play. He said that he's only been able to get about 10 min of running in this week, and that he's wearing a boot. While that bodes well for us, I hope that Grossman just doesn't key on whoever is replacing Harper and go after him...I want Rex to go through his reads as he normally would. Clayton's article also says Rex has been bad more than good this season. Which is plain wrong any way you try and look at it. It also says what Clayton harps on every time he rights about the Bears: "Fans wanted him replaced by Brian Griese." Nice generalization John. Fans always want the starting QB replaced unless their name is Manning. I had completely missed the "More times, he's been cold" comment. It also says he was terrible in the NFC Championship game. Another lie. Well, to be fair, for most of the game, he was pretty awful, which is how his stats still don't look good even with the one great drive. He didn't throw any INT's, but he couldn't complete any passes for 2 1/2 quarters and basically wasted his defense's efforts until the one drive. Sorry, but I've seen awful Rex. That wasn't awful Rex. Saying he was ineffective for the first half might be more accurate. But awful is just overstating it. It might not be awful Rex, but any time your QB is 4/18 for 54 yards at one point in the second half, it's playing awful as a QB. If any other QB had those numbers, you wouldn't say he was simply "ineffective" Rex has really simply stretched the boundaries of what it means to be awful, as 2 or 3 of his performances this year are probably listed on the 20 or 30 worst games in football history (I know the Arizona game is with 6 TO's). Of course at the same time, he's been very effective in large stretches of the year as well-I'm not saying he's awful overall, but he was awful most of the game last Sunday. The passing game is more than just the quarterback. I saw more than a few drops in his first 18 passes, and many near misses. He had one awful awful miss in the endzone with a wide open Desmond Clark, but he ddn't play awful at the beginning. Go run the tape if you have to.

Peyton will get his yards. Its the design of the cover-2. Even Drew Brees threw for 350+ yards. Its points that are the deciding factor.

Bad weather can only help the Bears, but its Miami, so I wont get my hopes up. Go bears!

Ugh, when I think deeply about this match up I get more and more depressed. I really see the beginning playing out similarly to the New Orleans game. We get some breaks and we don't capitalize fully on their mistakes. Once they get their offense back on its feet they'll steamroll up and down the field and win on a last second field goal or something. Lame.

Its pretty much how I greet my friends now. "Bears bears bears"

Jim Nantz and Phil Simms. Unlness you're at my place where you'll just hear a bunch of incoherent drunken shouts. Not like you'll be missing any hardhitting analysis, these guys are awful.

I actually thought that article was funny. It makes fun of all the obvious jokes, both Bears and Colts-he wasn't trying to be really serious, so just go with the flow and enjoy it :D Watch it someone got in trouble for saying something like that before. I'm confused, but I'll edit it anyway just to be safe-thanks. How can someone get in trouble for telling someone to "go with the flow"?

I actually thought that article was funny. It makes fun of all the obvious jokes, both Bears and Colts-he wasn't trying to be really serious, so just go with the flow and enjoy it :D No, I'm not going to go with the flow and enjoy it. Going with the flow means admitting that Rex Grossman is the worst quarterback to ever set foot on a football field. The criticism was ridiculous 2 months ago. Its even moreso after playing well in 2 playoff games and getting to the Superbowl. Enough. I'm pissed.

god I tried reading some Bill Simmons, I really did. But this is about how far I got before I had an aneurysm: "I want to see this framed photo of Kyle Orton and Brian Griese hanging in a Chicago art gallery along with the caption, "We can't believe one of us isn't starting over Rex Grossman." HURRRRRRR REX GROSSMAN JOKES FUNNY FUNNY HURRRRRR

that's what I like to hear, hopefully Lovie sees that article Its kinda an absurd thing to say. While they deserve to be underdogs, perhaps even 7 point dogs, that is by no means saying they "have no chance." These guys are repeating history over and over again. The Cardinals couldn't beat any AL team. The Gators couldn't beat the mighty Buckeyes. ( :( ) The mighty Rams couldn't be beaten by the Patriots. The Patriots were what, 14 point dogs? The thing is people don't understand how match ups are going to work out. The Colts offensive line could possibly be completely over matched or something. Sometimes the better team can have a weakness that easily exploited by a team geared towards that weakness. Random things can happen. And its one game. There are plenty of things that can happen, even barring a major injury, that would induce a Bears victory. Does anyone really honestly think the Bears are completely overmatched in this? I think thats a poor assesment. The Bears could be blown out, but I honestly don't think they don't even have a boxers shot in this.

Just reading the title got me thinking though, I don't think Urlacher has a Hall of Fame spot yet. We'll see. He needs about 3 more really high quality years, and thats never a guarantee in the NFL.

I'll probably drinking, so not so much for me. :D Of course, I'll like to be decently sober for this game so I can have all my attention concentrated. I had a dream before the Saints game I was at my parents house and there was a party going on and I couldn't quite see the television but I kept hearing that things were going bad and that the Bears would probably lose. I can only hope I have a similar dream this time.

Sorry to society? What? Did Tank kill someone or something? How did the charges against him adversely affect society? Tankful of Excuses You saw it coming...what a hypocritical hack. ETA: I thought the judge who let him come here was a Packer fan, not a "judge in Bears clothing." While I agree with you...Johnson did say some pretty stupid things there. If you watched the interview, you'll see what Plaschke wrote doesn't match up with the questions Tank answered, making him look much, much worse. And ask Bill where he is when USC athletes are accused/suspended due to rape/assault/drug possesion/etc. "Of course I would say that. I've never felt racism in my life before, but now … I look at it like, is this because I'm a certain thing?", "I'm young, I'm black, I have tattoos, I'm easy to stereotype. I don't look like you, I don't walk like you, I don't talk like you." - Tank Johnson While I agree with you (Raisin) for the most part on the stupidity of Plaschke, these two quotes by Tank are just ludicrous. WHATEVER, JESUS God can we stop talking Tank? He's a pretty average footballer. ENOUGH WITH HIM. JESUS.

I'd just prefer a bunch of reffs that don't nose in and don't make many calls in general. IMO, let the boys play. You make the calls when you have to, you throw the holding penalties when you have to, etc. But please, for the most part, keep the flag in the pocket.

you forgot to mention 3 things: 1. the patriots, for some mystifying reason, maybe they wanted to lose or something, ran the ball 5 times in the second half after dominating the line of scrimmage in the first half. why did big fat slobby want brady in the shotgun for the entire half? who knows? all i know is that both dillon and faulk averaged nearly 7 yards per carry in that game and the belichek, looking like he just fell out of bed, doesn't go with the ground game in the second half, unbelievable--this perception of belichek as some sort of genius has made him the ultimate arrogant poo-hole. 2. the ravens just kept turning the ball over, and that's a credit to the colts defense, no doubt. but it's not like jamal lewis was held down or anything. both lewis and mike anderson were over 4 yards per carry in the game--they just didn't have a chance to run the ball very much, what with the exalted steve mcnair throwing goal-line interceptions and such. 3. the chiefs just didn't have time to get johnson started. most of that can be attributed to the colts ball control offense holding the ball for twice as long as the chiefs. The Chiefs had an awful gameplan and didn't gain a 1st down until waaaaaaaaay into the 3rd quarter. It was one of the worst offensive efforts I've ever seen in a football game. (And yes, I've seen the 2004 Bears) Literally, they ran Larry Johnson into a stacked line on 1st and second down, and then some receiver would drop a ball on 3rd down. It was excruciating. That is really the only game where the Colts run defense looked phenominal. Not to say it wasn't pretty good in the other games, but it isn't "OMG JUGGERNAUT WHERE DID THIS GREAT RUN DEFENSE COME FROM" It has been improved and all, but not that tested.

So if Dallas Clark goes in the slot, who would be assigned to cover him? Well, this isn't backyard (you got that guy I got that guy) football, that could change on any given play. It could be a lineback, it could be a dback, or it could be nobody if they are in zone. True, but usually one player gets the bulk of the responsibility-my main question was which linebacker usually gets coverage responsibilities in that sort of base-my guess is that in the Cover 2 system it's your WILL, but I'm not completely sure which outside backer your WILL is. Briggs. However, you are mistaken if you think we run a textbook Cover-2 . We change plenty of things around to fit Urlacher's skillsets. Yeah, I can tell-it's a testament to the Cover 2 being changed when your MLB leads the team in tackles-it should be the WILL who gets all the stats but is not completely deserved (for example, Cato June for the Colts got a Pro Bowl appearance last year, was tied with Urlacher in tackles this year (5th in the league)), but people are not calling him one of the top free agents this year with good reason, because his stats are inflated by the whole defense designed to bring the runner back to him. The fact that Urlacher has so many tackles shows both his extreme talent level, and the fact that the defense has been adapted in some way. Many people have said that the Cover 2 sorta wastes Urlacher out there, and there has been a lot of debate about this. I'm kinda on the fence. I don't especially like the Cover 2 scheme, but with all the talent on our defense we could probably run any scheme. (I.E. we could basically run anything and our defense would still be awesome)

What? Being a writer on ESPN requires growing up rich? most people who get jobs that there is a very competitive market for are pretty likely to have well off families with connections......obviously Obviously you don't know what you're talking about. You think Bill Simmons got his job based on family connections? Think that's how Scoop Jackson got his? What about Hunter S. Thompson? dude you really need to find something to do besides try to argue in online forums. I mean who honestly cares about this? I am going to guess all of them had some type of connection that got them the job Bill Simmons and Scoop Jackson. LOL. Those guys are the epitome of journalistic excellence, aren't they.

So if Dallas Clark goes in the slot, who would be assigned to cover him? Well, this isn't backyard (you got that guy I got that guy) football, that could change on any given play. It could be a lineback, it could be a dback, or it could be nobody if they are in zone. True, but usually one player gets the bulk of the responsibility-my main question was which linebacker usually gets coverage responsibilities in that sort of base-my guess is that in the Cover 2 system it's your WILL, but I'm not completely sure which outside backer your WILL is. Briggs. However, you are mistaken if you think we run a textbook Cover-2 . We change plenty of things around to fit Urlacher's skillsets.

I'm going to shamlessly bump my own post, only because I was silly enough to post it at 1:30 in the morning, and don't want it to get buried with only 1 or 2 responses. I really would like to know what defensive alignment Bears fans think they should stay in most of the time, and how they match up with the Colts in that particular alignment. The Colts don't allow anyone to substitute often. But the Bears really don't play that way anyway. We stick with our base defenses, or just run nickel, and then key off that for everything else. The Bears are fairly equal in effectiveness between their nickel and base packages. The only difference you will see personnel-wise is, in nickel Ricky Manning Jr. will be on the field, and the base package has Hunter Hillenmeyer. RMJ is basically a rough-guy, not a real good cover CB (that's why he's nickel) but he hits very hard. Hillenmeyer isn't the toughest linebacker, but his coverage is alright. Either way, we can key off those packages and run whatever we want, so I'm not sure this is the key you are thinking it is. Here's the key in my view: our safeties suck. Sometimes they do alright, but alot of times they're late in over-the-top coverage, and they don't stick in run support all that well (that's why the dropoff in defensive efficiency can be traced to Mike Brown's injury more than Tommie Harris). I think if Manning can call the plays that exploit our weakness at safety, he can get us going backwards. If he can't, I don't think the nickel vs. base package is going to help all that much. You should just go with my way of thinking and just consider anything the Bears defense does as gravy. What? Thats mad talk? Not really. The Colts will get their yardage. They'll get points. We wont stuff them. Just focus on two things: Getting turnovers, not giving up touchdowns instead of field goals. Everything else will be on the offense, just like every other team that beat the Colts this year. Run, run, run. Kill that defense. Its really our only chance to beat them.

Some of these guys I don't think I've ever seen play. I was surprised to see Cameron Worrell still on the field. How funny would it be to see Kyle Orton wear a championship ring for the rest of his life? He could be out of the NFL as soon as next year and he could still have won a championship. I'll be honest though. He sorta did save our season last year. Because he wasn't Chad Hutchinson.

Some of these guys I don't think I've ever seen play. I was surprised to see Cameron Worrell still on the field. How funny would it be to see Kyle Orton wear a championship ring for the rest of his life? He could be out of the NFL as soon as next year and he could still have won a championship. I'll be honest though. He sorta did save our season last year. Because he wasn't Chad Hutchinson.

For Bears fans -on these down and distances, do you run the ball somewhat consistently? Or is it going to require more consistent gains on 1st down? 2nd and 6 2nd and 8 2nd and 10-12 3rd and 4 3rd and 5-7 Honeslty we probably run more on 2nd and 8 than on 2nd and 6. :x I don't think we've ever run on 3rd and 4 if the game is still in balance. It pisses me off, but thats the way it is.