BigSlick

I can't even wrap my brain around this. I can't imagine what it'd look like. Photoshop anybody? Two words: Violet Beauregarde. Wikipedia says the Colts wore blue pants with white jerseys for their first three games of 1995, and then switched back to all white. Pictures should be online somewhere, I'm just not motivated enough to look. :o Its ok, I'll just watch your avatar for 10 minutes.

If the Bears had been assessed 7 penalties and the Saints only one, I guarantee you the Bears game thread would've been replete with complaints about the officiating. Not saying it was a poorly officiated game - although the one offensive PI call on the Saints was terrible - but that's the truth. I understand that its tough being outnumbered 300-1 by Bears fans on a forum, but you've grown to be incredibly rough with them. EDIT: Actually, going back to the NFC Championship game, I just found you hunting for a fight. Nice job Truffle. You're no better than a troll. I've lost all respect for you.

Oh thank god. Assume that Colts will wear white & white? Yeah, the Colts will wear their white uniforms-although I'd love to see all the casual fans watching the Super Bowl who would have no idea what was really going on if the Colts wore their blues :D Why don't the Colts have blue pants? They'd look sharp. I can't even wrap my brain around this. I can't imagine what it'd look like. Photoshop anybody?

Over the course of the season, including the playoffs, youd o not believe that the Bears have proven themselves to be a better team than the Colts? I do. Not that that brings in match ups or anything. May I ask how the Bears have proved to be a better team? Record against Common Opponents-Colts-6-0, Bears-3-2 That's just one statistic. Now, I am not one of these Colts fans who believe that the Colts are better than the Bears-they are not. This is going to be a very even game, although I do think there are some matchups the Colts can exploit. I certainly do not think though that the Bears have proven that they are better than the Colts, and am wondering what your evidence is for that. I would say the evidence is that Indy lost multiple meaningful games down the stretch against ho-hum competition. Indy got the ball run down their throat repeatedly, and while the playoff run stopping has been impressive, it's been as much about teams abandoning the run against them as it has been about Indy stopping people. Both teams scored the same amount of points while the Bears gave up a lot less (and when you including playoff games, the Bears have scored more ppg). I guess that would be the evidence. Although I'm not going to say that it proves the Bears are better. I think it's a great matchup of two equally matched teams. And I have no problem with Indy being a 7-point favorite. Spreads aren't about experts saying which team is better, they are a means to get people to gamble. Not many people would bet on the Bears if they were favorites due to the perception that they are somehow not deserving of being here. Honestly, this is now looking like last years match up. You got one team that kinda struggled down the stretch (Steelers-Colts) got hot during the postseason and upset a few teams no one gave them a chance. Then you got the Bears, who coasted as #1 seed throughout the season with a fairly formidable team and took care of bizness in the postseason. (The Saints can be equated with the Panthers, a team that played out of their ways in the postseason and then got smacked up in the Championship game) So you know what that means. The Bears will be hosed by bad officiating, the commercials will be dissapointing, the halftime show terrible. In the off-season Joseph Addai will retire and Peyton Manning will be hit by a bus. EDIT: Saints = Panthers

Over the course of the season, including the playoffs, youd o not believe that the Bears have proven themselves to be a better team than the Colts? I do. Not that that brings in match ups or anything.

He has a very talented and young team. In fact, this seems to be a very inappropriate time to step down, and sounds like it was a decision based on emotions. If I was a young coach (Rivera) I'd love that job. That team could be Super Bowl ready as soon as next year.

Watching football is easier when you don't care about penalties as much. If you have a well-coached team, no bad penalty should cost your team the game. If you execute it shouldn't come down to a bad call anyway. (yes i Know there will always be close games, but still) The most ridiculous thing I heard recently was that the officiating in the Bears game was poor because the Bears were only whistled for one penalty. A-doy? Whatever happened to a well disciplined team? Do they no longer exist? Clearly the Bears just didn't COMMIT penalties, not that the Reffs didn't CALL them.

Fred Thomas should be shot. He's no NFL DB and it's stunning he is still in the league. I've watched the replay several times now and it makes me sicker each time I watch it. A mediocre college DB would have been able to knock that ball away. That play almost made me throwup. Wow. The kid's doing the best he can. Look, the Saints put all their eggs into the offensive basket this year. That dictates there will be some sacrifices on the defensive side, just because of the salary cap. Also----good corners are in short supply in this league. Some teams with good defenses find themselves a little shaky at that position. Honestly? If I'm a safety and I know my CB can't cover and I see the Bears best WR lining up 1-on-1, I'm making damn sure I get over to help out in coverage. But that's just me. Speaking of which, thats been a problem for the Bears often when people want to blame our corners for some coverage problems. Its usually the Safeties fault for not coming over there in time. And/or the d-line's fault for giving the QB too much time. For any team other than the Bears, pressure coming solely from the D-line is just gravy. Most teams have to blitz in order to pressure the QB. Of course we run a defense that is predicated around not blitzing and getting pressure from the Front 4. God, I wish we had Tommie Harris. I honestly don't even think this would be a game with a healthy Tommie Harris. It would be like the Steelers game of last year, 5 or so sacks against the Colts? Beautiful. Peyton Manning is virtually unstoppable with time. But no QB can play with pressure up the middle. You can't step up in the pocket, you have no throwing lanes, and you get no time. It would be a slaughter. As it is, we got a challenge.

Fred Thomas should be shot. He's no NFL DB and it's stunning he is still in the league. I've watched the replay several times now and it makes me sicker each time I watch it. A mediocre college DB would have been able to knock that ball away. That play almost made me throwup. Wow. The kid's doing the best he can. Look, the Saints put all their eggs into the offensive basket this year. That dictates there will be some sacrifices on the defensive side, just because of the salary cap. Also----good corners are in short supply in this league. Some teams with good defenses find themselves a little shaky at that position. Honestly? If I'm a safety and I know my CB can't cover and I see the Bears best WR lining up 1-on-1, I'm making damn sure I get over to help out in coverage. But that's just me. Speaking of which, thats been a problem for the Bears often when people want to blame our corners for some coverage problems. Its usually the Safeties fault for not coming over there in time.

*pinch* Enjoy it, Bears fans. I love all you guys, and I love the whole Bears team. I love you Rex. I love you Thomas Jones/Cedric Benson. I love you Offensive Line, you scrappy veterans. I love you Bernard Berrian and Muhsin Muhammad (and you too Rashied!). You guys have made the plays when they needed to be made. When they needed to be made. I love you Defensive Line. You guys circled the wagons and have regrouped since losing your best player. Keep it up. I love you Linebackers. You guys are the best in the league. That means you too, Hillenmeyer. I love you Defensive Backs. I'll always have a love hate relationship with you guys, but you're constantly put into tough situations and have come out victorious more often than not. See how good our DB's can be when we have Tillman, Vasher and Ricky Manning all healthy? I love you Robbie Gold. I love you Devin Hester. Most of the time. Where's the love for Brad Maynard? His punt shifted the momentum back to the Bears. Clark and McKie say they want a little bit of love too. Shucks, I forgot about Maynard. Clark and McKie get some love too.

Nice to hear Lou actually cares about his pitchers and won't over abuse them again like a certain someone... Prior and Wood aside, I still remember last season when there was barely any time left in the season and we were obviously out of any race, and Dusty left Zambrano out there for like 130-140 the game after he was skipped because his back wasn't feeling right (By the way, Zam was at the Bulls game yesterday sporting dreads, and was alot slimmed down and said he worked hard this offseason to make sure the back or anything else wouldn't be a problem in 07). Zambrano's highest pitch count of the season, which was in the final game, was 128. I'm more shocked about him even playing the final game that long. I hate you, Dusty.

Hhah, fo-sho, bro. How can there be pass interference if the guy doesn't TOUCH the other player? I don't care if he dives in front of him and doesn't turn around....he didn't TOUCH THE GUY. Either way. The calls didn't make the Patriots give up 32 points or whatever in the second half. Any defensive stand on any number of drives and they'd be in the Super Bowl. That is a clearly defined rule. You cannot just turn your back and stick your hands up. Thats face-guarding and its against the rules. Its not even a controversial call. Was not aware. Either way, its a dumb play by the DB, because even if he didn't touch the guy, he made no attempt to play the ball at all, and left himself exposed to the PI. Why is this a rule anyway? If he doesn't touch the receiver, how is he interfering with his ability to get the ball? First of all, I think I over-reacted a little bit, so sorry for that. I'm not sure why its a rule. I remember having it called against my high school team several years ago and being a little confused, but I've seen it called in the NFL a few times since then. I think its just so people arent just sticking their hands in the receiver's face to try and block their vision and stuff like that. Gotcha. Either way, Hobbs knew he was going to get called for playing like that, that was flat out playing the receiver and not the ball. Some of my hopes for the future of officiating: NFL adopts NCAA rules for PI, that means: 15 yard penalty, not a spot foul. Giving the ball to the offense on the 1 yard is basically giving them a touchdown. And with how ticky-tack PI gets called nowadays, I don't think it should be penalized that hard. Or maybe it should. Either way, be more consistent with these calls. Get rid of running into the kicker/punter. Forever. (I guess roughing should stay, but be real conservative calling it. And by conservative, I mean, only call it for picking up the punter and pile-driving him into the ground) Get rid of roughing the passer. Stop it. I'd rather see quarterbacks hit IR week after week instead of seeing games hinge completely on one call like that. Or at least make it a stiuation where the 15 yards is tacked onto the play (as in, if its a 3rd and 10 at the 30 yard line, its now 3rd and 10 at the 45 yard line)

(Pats back in slightly arrogant smugness) Over at ESPN Bears MB, I go under the name of doctazycrazy. In the last couple of days, I decided to make my "predictions" of the Bears/Saints game. Originally, I said the Bears would win 28-14. But after doing some research, and looking at the score of previous Conference Championship, in which a dome team on the road was involved, I averaged out the scores, and my second predictions was 27-10. http://boards.espn.go.com/boards/mb/mb? &tid=444610&tsn=6&rls=Chicago+Bears And I made that post, HOURS before the game even played. But alas, I am not the only Bears fan, who believe the Bears would hold the Saints to below 10 points. A guy by the screenname of noonthirtyjoe, "prediciting 31-10" and was closer them my predictions. Nonetheless, there was atleast TWO Bears fans who believe the Bears would hold the Saints to below 20 points. (Tooting my own horn) BTW, I know it was fortunate that it worked out the way I wanted it to, but....I played on the fact that dome teams on the road in the NFC Championships +rookie head coaches leading teams to the NFC Championship +Saints playing all but 1 game in the last 5 friggin' yrs, in cold weather like the game they just played +Drew Brees being 0-3 lifetime (before Sunday) in his pro career in weather below 40 degrees +SI's Dr. Z picking the Saints to win (we ALL know who Dr. Z is, right fellas? Equals, Bears beating the Saints down. I wish Dr. Z picked us to finish last in the NFL every year. Seriously. He's like some kind of reverse jinx.

Hhah, fo-sho, bro. How can there be pass interference if the guy doesn't TOUCH the other player? I don't care if he dives in front of him and doesn't turn around....he didn't TOUCH THE GUY. Either way. The calls didn't make the Patriots give up 32 points or whatever in the second half. Any defensive stand on any number of drives and they'd be in the Super Bowl. That is a clearly defined rule. You cannot just turn your back and stick your hands up. Thats face-guarding and its against the rules. Its not even a controversial call. Was not aware. Either way, its a dumb play by the DB, because even if he didn't touch the guy, he made no attempt to play the ball at all, and left himself exposed to the PI. Why is this a rule anyway? If he doesn't touch the receiver, how is he interfering with his ability to get the ball?

*pinch* Enjoy it, Bears fans. I love all you guys, and I love the whole Bears team. I love you Rex. I love you Thomas Jones/Cedric Benson. I love you Offensive Line, you scrappy veterans. I love you Bernard Berrian and Muhsin Muhammad (and you too Rashied!). You guys have made the plays when they needed to be made. When they needed to be made. I love you Defensive Line. You guys circled the wagons and have regrouped since losing your best player. Keep it up. I love you Linebackers. You guys are the best in the league. That means you too, Hillenmeyer. I love you Defensive Backs. I'll always have a love hate relationship with you guys, but you're constantly put into tough situations and have come out victorious more often than not. See how good our DB's can be when we have Tillman, Vasher and Ricky Manning all healthy? I love you Robbie Gold. I love you Devin Hester. Most of the time.

delete this thread and start a new one! I hear Modzilla is a Bears fan. You hear correctly. :D What movie is that disturbing avatar from?

Hhah, fo-sho, bro. How can there be pass interference if the guy doesn't TOUCH the other player? I don't care if he dives in front of him and doesn't turn around....he didn't TOUCH THE GUY. Either way. The calls didn't make the Patriots give up 32 points or whatever in the second half. Any defensive stand on any number of drives and they'd be in the Super Bowl.

Don't forget Alex Brown!

Putting 2002 up there is being a little dishonest to yourself. Everyone knows that was a complete waste of a draft. One starter and 2 back ups is a successful draft? Not quite. 2004 will probably go down as the best. 4 Solid starters? 3 pro-bowl apperances. One player who has just been money in the playoffs. (Check Berrian's stats in the Panthers game too) Hell yeah. (I guess I should say 2003 over it, but I expect it to be soooo good that we lose Lance Briggs because of it :lol: )

Did you make your sig? I'm digging it. Nah, but I didn't steal it either. :-$

He's a tool. Dur. Isn't everyone at ESPN? I do find it funny, though, how the biggest tool in Bristol (Berman) was the only one right about the game. Couldn't you call the computer (accuscore) a tool...literally? :lol:

That was a pretty heavy-handed apology. He's basically saying that although the Bears were better than he thought they were, they still aren't that good, and that he somehow was responsible for Lovie Smith's increased emotions or something. He's a tool. Dur.

I'm riding such a high right now I can't see the Bears losing the Super Bowl, and I honestly don't know how I'll feel if they do. I could be destroyed, or I could be content with how the season has gone. Either way I don't want to see how i'd react. :lol: I've come to terms with the Colts being our opponents, and honestly, you gotta play the best to be the best. We got our challenge here. If we are to be champions of the NFL, we gotta beat these guys.

NEW HAMPSHIRE HAS FALLEN! The Bears are now underdogs in every state except Illinois, where our stronghold stays ... er... strong!

:? They better if we want a shot in this game. The really really scary thing is that whatever Peyton needs, that is what he'll get. Down 18? He'll get you 21. Down by 3 at the end of the game? He'll get you 7. This Colts offensive is so absurdly powerful its almost unstoppable. We're gonna need to keep them off the field. Even so, I don't even know if we can keep them under 28 points. (I know I said the same thing about the Saints, but we got er, "luckY" with some key fumbles early, and they kept testing us with the passing game. I don't think that Dungy will be that unbalanced in his playcalling, nevertheless the defense came to the challenge) I would have much rather preferred the rematch with the Patriots. Oh well. It would be glorious to dash Peyton's only Superbowl hope.