UMFan83

Nice, Michigan ends up at 15th in the BCS. Need to jump one more spot to be eligible. With Georgia playing LSU/BAMA/ARK in the SEC title game, it seems likely that GA is the team UM jumps (unless of course they lose to Ohio St). However, Wisconsin and Clemson are right behind them, and with Wisconsin possibly having wins over Penn State and Michigan State over the next 2 weeks, and Clemson with possible wins over VA and VT, they could both jump Michigan with ease. It should be interesting.

I hope so. How awesome would it be to have Jay coming back to play in the Wild Card round?

Yeah John Mullin was on CSN a few minutes ago and stressed that nothing has been confirmed by the Bears, and that those running with the 6-8 week timeline are likely speculating based off of 1 report. Maybe we'll wake up and find out its determined that he will not have surgery and will play next week ha. It does seem weird how Jay seemed to show absolutely no concern in his post game press conference. Maybe he was hiding it well or maybe he didnt understand the severity of it at the time, or maybe there has been erroneous information out there being widely reported as fact. I still think that's highly unlikely to be the case, as major media outlets like ESPN and CSN have deemed their information credible enough to report as fact.

I want to say the Bears can win this, but I have no idea what to expect from Hanie so I'm not even going to try to predict a winner, much less the score.

He was clearly rubbing the thumb/hand and looking at it way too much on the last drive of the game. I noted it but thought nothing of it when he actually threw the ball a few times on the drive. Was that play where Cutler tied to dump a throw off towards Forte on the sidelines, but it slipped out of his hands and went like 3 feet in front of him after the injury or earlier in the game? I thought it was rather odd when he did that.

Why do you assume Detroit gets the 5 seed? Have you seen their schedule from here on out? I dunno, I forgot to include them to be honest. It is possibly that they could finish 2-4 or so, which would likely put the Bears ahead of them. Unfortunately, the tiebreaker is murky at best, it doesn't look horrible for the Bears, but its not great either. Considering the Bears will almost surely lose to GB, if we beat Minnesota, we will finish the division 3-3. Detroit is 2-1 with 2 games left against the Packers and one against the Vikings. However, one of the Packers games is week 17. If Detroit and the Bears tie in division record, it goes to record in common games. The 2 non common games between the 2 teams is SF (L) and DAL (W) for the Lions and SEA (?) and PHI (W) for the Bears. This means that if they tie at lets say 10-6, the Lions would win the tiebreaker by having a 9-5 record in common games, while the Bears would have an 8-6, assuming they beat Seattle. If it does get to conference record, it looks good for the Bears. Bears currently lead 6-3 to 5-3, with the Bears having 3 conference games left (Sea, @GB, @ Min), Lions with 4 left (GB, @NO, MIN, @ GB). It's gonna be hard for Detroit to go even 2-2 in those 4 games, while the Bears have a good shot at going 2-1. If that holds, we get the tiebreaker. If we tie on that, we go to strength of victory, which I don't feel like figuring out.

Its so weird watching Cutler's postgame press conference, no kind of protection on his thumb, no mention of any sort of injury, just talking about the game and the season as if he is going to be a major part of it. Combine that with not one sign of injury shown on TV during the game, and this is a really bizarre, completely out of nowhere injury. I don't think I could have been less prepared to hear about the injury and its severity. Talk about being blindsided. I even cleaned the house today after the game because I was in such a good mood because of the win.

Yeah that looks like an 8-8 season, maybe 9-7. If the Bears finish 9-7 then it just wasn't our year.

Sweet, he can be ready for the playoff game we don't play in. Have you seen Dallas's schedule the rest of the year? Only one team gets in from the NFC East. I just said this in the other thread, but Dallas has a schedule that can easily allow them to finish 5-1 to bring them to 11-5. If that were to happen and the Bears were able to finish 3-3 to go 10-6, the Giants would have to go 3-4 the rest of the year (including tonight) for the Bears to make the playoffs. The Falcons could also go 5-1 the rest of the year with their schedule too and finish ahead of us. It's gonna be very tough unless we somehow manage to go 4-2. Even if you assume the last 2 home games are victories (KC, SEA), you are going to have to go 2-2 on the road @ Oakland, Denver, Green Bay and Minnesota. I was already thinking next week was a possible loss, and now it seems likely, and theres no way we are beating GB in GB unless they are resting starters. So the season might come down to weather we can win in Denver vs. a hot broncos team and winning in Minnesota where the Bears are like 2-8 the last 10 years (not counting last year) in a loudass dome with our banged up o-line and inexperienced backup QB. Sorry for sounding pretty pessimistic. I guess this is the other shoe dropping for having almost no major injuries last year. In the last 2 weeks we've lost likely our best offensive line player and the most indispensable part of our offense (and our long snapper). We missed our #1 WR for 5 weeks, our #1 safety for 3-4 weeks (ok it was Chris Harris but whatever). Thankfully the defense has remaining mostly healthy. Look for a lot of 13-10 wins (hopefully) the rest of the year. The Giants aren't going to make the playoffs. Yeah after watching the game tonight, I feel a bit better about that. Dallas wins the East and the Giants fade. That leaves us and Atlanta for the 6 seed, and we hold the tiebreaker over them, so they would need to go 5-1 to even have a chance unless we really [expletive] the bed without Cutler.

The only thing about Green Bay is that they also have the whole perfect season thing going. If that's still intact in week 16 regardless of whether they clinced the division and byes, I could see them playing their starters throughout.

lol, yeah, hiding behind optimism, sure. yeah, it sucks, but let's not get carried away. and i never said he couldn't be bad, where in the hell did i say that? you're making [expletive] up now, i'm just not saying "um well, he could be good he could be bad he could be in the middle, eh, i don't know". i'm saying that i think he will be good, don't confuse my non-milquetoast stance with a complete and absurd optimism. Dude you are calling my points stupid because I'm arguing that the Packers game doesnt really tell us much. What other evidence do you have that he is unlikely to be bad? no, i was calling your points stupid because you'd make one and then make a disclaimer statement. yeah, we get it, hanie could be bad or he could be good. no need to say any more. Who the hell cares, regardless I'm bringing points up for discussion that are not stupid, regardless of a "disclaimer" afterwords.

I'm surprised that no meatball talking head has made a "Cutler's quitting on his team again, Stafford and the Rapist both played through broken thumbs" comment yet.

I don't feel like our season was robbed from us, as I recognize just how lucky we were with injuries last year. Not that this has any effect on injuries suffered this year, but it doesn't feel as unfair due to how fortunate we were last year.

Thanks for that, sounds optimistic. I have a hard time seeing him back in less than 6 weeks once he has surgery. Maybe he's saying he might not need surgery if the break occurs in a certain spot. We'll see.

lol, yeah, hiding behind optimism, sure. yeah, it sucks, but let's not get carried away. and i never said he couldn't be bad, where in the hell did i say that? you're making [expletive] up now, i'm just not saying "um well, he could be good he could be bad he could be in the middle, eh, i don't know". i'm saying that i think he will be good, don't confuse my non-milquetoast stance with a complete and absurd optimism. Dude you are calling my points stupid because I'm arguing that the Packers game doesnt really tell us much. What other evidence do you have that he is unlikely to be bad?

Meh, they will again have a ton of cap space this offseason, even more than last year, and even with extensions, there will be a lot of pressure to use more of it than they did last year.

It's being reported by multiple beat writers. The Bears front office isnt Theo/Jed. It's a bunch of clowns who leak everything. Yeah I don't think there's any doubt that it's something serious at this point. Even if he gets a second opinion, its pretty unlikely that the 2nd xray is going to show somehow that its not broken as badly. The guys on AM 1000 are talking like there is no question that Cutler is having surgery tomorrow and out for the regular season.

Good point, and he tweeted VIA his blackberry, so it wasn't SIRI Yeah its hard to type 40 characters without the use of a thumb, lol

sample size it was a pretty huge game, though. just relax, he could come out and tom brady it for all we know. plus he knows the offense and he has the same escapability as cutler. his arm is fine. Again, Hanie was the 3rd string QB going into the game and had almost no chance to enter the game. I guarantee you none of the Packers had any clue what to expect from Hanie. i thought i made my point by ignoring your insipid remark, my bad. the fact that hanie has anything that could surprise a team like the packers last year proves that he has ability. they scouted the bears offense, they scouted cutler, hanie's foot speed is about the same and his arm is weaker, yet he managed to do damage against the packers. any vanilla, generic defense that the packers threw at hanie with the amazing defensive players they had at the tops of their game should have been enough to shut him down if he wasn't able. that didn't happen. he showed poise in the pocket and he showed an arm against a bunch of incredibly fast and intelligent defensive players with nick collins directing things in the defensive backfield. he's got enough for me to give him a chance. your other points are stupid since you've strangely chosen to undermine them yourself. I know your devastated with this news and hiding behind your rare show of optimism (you're not fooling anyone), but not necessary to call my points stupid as they make more sense then you claiming Hanie will be good based on a half of a game and some preseason games against 3rd string defenses. I'm not saying that Hanie cant be good, I actually feel decent about his chances to be competent, but anyone who refuses to believe that he could come out and be awful is in denial.

They will likely split with the giants, but the time they play the eagles again they will be eliminated from the playoffs, and the game will be in Dallas. Tampa Bay is decent but is one week removed from getting humiliated by the Texans at home. Miami is solid but the game is in Dallas and Dallas is still more talented. Buffalo [expletive] sucks and should not be used as a measuring stick. I see 4-2 there, which leaves us in the mercy of the tiebreaker gods, assuming we finish 3-3. tampa bay got humliated by the texans with matt schaub and arian foster? the dolphins beat the redskins worse than dallas has this year, and they'll be playing hard, as will the eagles. you think they'll just lay down because they're out of the playoffs? you think they'll just give up? dallas is a rival and the eagles are still very talented and a matchup nightmare for the cowboys. the giants are a goocd team, by no means are either of those games going to be easy. Yeah I see the Eagles as the type of team that will completely fall apart once their playoff dreams are over. They have way too many distractions with Deshaun Jackson's contract, Vick's shoddy play, Reids job status, etc. I see them going way south once this playoff run is over. Yeah TB got humiliated by Schaub and Foster, so it seems pretty likely that Romo and Murray has a shot to do the same. They have 4 straight games and have been blown out by more than 25 points twice in their last 6 games, going 1-5 during that stretch. Nice showing today in GB but it doesnt change the fact that they arent that good. Giants are a good team prone to bad games. I think it's pretty likely that the Cowboys split at least. Miami did a nice job of beating the Chiefs (4-6, lost 2 in a row), Redskins (3-7, lost 6 in a row) and Bills (5-5, lost 4 of 5, gotten blown out 3 weeks in a row), and are decent but I don't see Dallas losing to them at home. You also have to look at Atlanta's schedule: MIN, @HOU, @CAR, JAX, @NO, TB. That's a schedule that they can go 5-1 in, putting pressure on the Bears to go 4-2 to make the playoffs.

[expletive] YOU [expletive] It was just a joke, dude. Others have been cracking jokes in this thread as well. I meant no disrespect. Losing your starting QB is tough for any fan. How do you know?

Meh, I take solace in the fact that they were almost certainly getting nervous about the Bears until about 8:00 tonight.

hanie did fine in the packer game. settle down. sample size it was a pretty huge game, though. just relax, he could come out and tom brady it for all we know. plus he knows the offense and he has the same escapability as cutler. his arm is fine. Again, Hanie was the 3rd string QB going into the game and had almost no chance to enter the game. I guarantee you none of the Packers had any clue what to expect from Hanie. Judging by the performance Collins gave us, I'm sure they assumed that if Hanie is below this douche on the depth chart, he must be really bad. So they played expecting a pocket QB to be throwing short and medium routes and looked really unprepared when he started flinging it deep and scrambling for 1st downs. Dont get me wrong, Hanie played well..but also threw a pick 6 and a game ending interception right to a Packer player (although he didnt have much preparation for the situation either). Anyways, I don't really put too much stock in his performance that game, other than knowing he's not a complete stiff. He could be decent or he could be miserably bad. Only time will tell.

They will likely split with the giants, but the time they play the eagles again they will be eliminated from the playoffs, and the game will be in Dallas. Tampa Bay is decent but is one week removed from getting humiliated by the Texans at home. Miami is solid but the game is in Dallas and Dallas is still more talented. Buffalo [expletive] sucks and should not be used as a measuring stick. I see 4-2 there, which leaves us in the mercy of the tiebreaker gods, assuming we finish 3-3.

Different team, different time. The current offense is built in a way that requires strong QB play. The 06 team had a much better offensive line and was built towards minimizing the number of mistakes the QB can make. Sure at times Grossman was given the keys to the offense, but as the season went on, especially in the last few games of the season it was a much more basic game plan most of the time (see the St Louis game)