UMFan83

If we listened to you instead of playing the games, the Bears would be like 6-11 right now.

The funny thing is, the Bears have been known for years as a rather bland team. Except for the fact that they had one of the most colorful teams in sports history 20 years ago. Since then though there hasn't been a lot of reason to have national interest in the Bears, beyond their history and their laughable mistake prone QBs.

It's annoying but obvious why the media is squarely against the Bears. -The Bears got embarrassed on national TV, showed no semblance of an offense, and their line was a turnstyle against the Giants. For many media guys, this was their first impression of the Bears. Or I guess 2nd impression after the Packers game. -The media hates Jay Cutler because he doesn't pander to them, doesn't have a media first personality, and its not likable to the public. So instead of stories about how Jay Cutler greatly improved from last year to this year, the media still sees him as the guy who threw 26 INTs last year and always refer to him as a shaky, turnover machine of a QB, while someone like Drew Brees throws 24 INTs and makes the Pro Bowl. -In most season long statistical measurements, the Bears don't stack up as well against the other remaining teams. DVOA has the Bears lagging behind the others for the season I'm pretty sure. The problem is, if you take numbers from the 2nd half only, the Bears stack up really well. But the media doesn't see that. They see the Bears 30th overall in offensive yards per game, and its just another piece of evidence in their minds as to why the Bears suck. -I don't know if the Bears got more "breaks" than any other team, but somehow it became the popular opinion that the Bears have gotten to where they are from luck. You can't hide how incredibly healthy the Bears have been this year. That almost never happens. But like the last page or two has argued, other teams have gotten these breaks too but because they are heavily considered good teams by the media, there isn't a focus on them. There's other reasons too of course. But as annoying as the national perception of the Bears is, you can see their flawed logic as to why they think that way. Oh well, I definitely prefer being in this role. If we win the Super Bowl, they will then shut up and crown us. If we don't, well they are gonna continue underestimating us next year too.

You know, I'm really getting annoyed at this storyline. Why is it that the Bears lucked into Philly losing to Minnesota to open up the 2 seed to them? Chicago beat Minnesota twice, and they beat Philly. They didn't luck into the Vikings beating the Eagles, the Eagles lost. Green Bay lost several games this year, Chicago didn't luck into Detroit being one of those losses. Chicago didn't luck into New Orleans losing to Seattle. New Orleans is going to struggle on the road outdoors in the playoffs. It's just the way it is with a dome team that relies so heavily on its passing game. Yes, the Bears have had an opportunity presented to them, but they have actually gone out and taken advantage of the opportunity, beating several contending teams along the way. People claim Green Bay shot themselves in the foot in week 3 against a still developing Bears team. But if they did, then the Bears went out, bought the gun, put it in their hands and forced them into the decision of shooting their foot or their arm. Chicago has stumbled along the way, but so has every team. Chicago limited those stumbles and improved as a team along the way. They made their own breaks. Yowza. I didn't say they lucked into those opportunities. I just said that those things happening opening our pathway a bit and raised my expectations. If the Vikings don't beat the Eagles, the Eagles are playing a 3rd string Dallas QB and the Bears need to beat the Packers to get the bye. I'm not saying the Bears couldn't do it. I'm just saying it was one of the things that happened to got us to this point and raised my expectations. There's no doubt in my mind the Bears have taken advantage of every single situation they've been presented this year. Teams don't just get HFA throughout the entire playoffs and get to the conference championship game on pure luck. They've had to beat some really good teams and they've faced some really tough situations along the way. That doesn't mean they haven't caught some breaks too. Do the Packers really score 3 on the Lions if Rodgers doesn't get concussed? Who knows. But because that happened, its one of the many factors that got us to where we are now.

Same. But I was that way against the Saints too. I was so focused on that game that it didn't hit me till afterwards that we were going to the freaking Super Bowl. This feels so much different than the 2006 season to me. They were destined for the Super Bowl that entire season, and were clearly the most talented team in the NFC. I'll feel differently about it Sunday, but right now it just feels like an amazing opportunity to beat GB in the NFC Conference Championship game, moreso than an opportunity to get to the Super Bowl. Our group of football watchers are mainly Jets, Bears and Steelers fans though, and this weekend is going to be nuts. Agreed. 2006 was way different for me. Like you said, we were waiting all year to get to the Super Bowl in 06, so when we did get there it was like a huge exhale. This year, I haven't really been 100% sure of the team. For awhile in the regular season, I figured winning a playoff game would be a good accomplishment and a successful season. But the pathway kind of opened up for us thanks to our division rivals. The Lions managed to upend the Packers, giving us much easier path to the division title. Meanwhile, the Vikings beat the Eagles for us, giving us a first round bye, making our path to the super bowl easier. Of course even then we were looking at a possibility of having to beat the Saints/Eagles then Falcons/Packers. But the Saints made our path even easier by losing to Seattle. At this point, winning the playoff game on Sunday was necessary to not have a disapointing year. So its that and the fact that we are playing our arch rivals for the NFC. It almost feels like the Super Bowl. The funny thing is, in 06, I didn't really have much confidence when we played NO until we started to dominate. This year, I have a really quiet confidence in our chances of winning.

04: W @ GB, L @ CHI 05: W @ GB, W @ CHI 06: W@ GB, L @ CHI 07: W @ GB, W @ CHI 08: L @ GB, W @ CHI 09: L @ GB, L @ CHI 10: L @ GB, W @ CHI 4-3 at GB, 4-3 in Chicago. Started out 6-2 overall, has gone 2-4 since.

Peter King named him DPOY. I don't see anything about him winning the AP award.

Regardless of whether Peppers manhandles the Oline or not, there's noway the refs are going to call anything close to 18 penalties in the NFC Championship game.

lol at this blog article on the LA Times website:

Hope he didn't kill anyone. Dammit we should have kept Bradley so we could get the contract voided. Now we still have another year of Silva.

CBSsports.com rated the remaining playoff QBs on trustworthiness and Cutler finished last after Sanchez. Not a surprise but funny.

speaking of crazy bitter... You caught me

best decision ever I like this decision. It's very Chicago, and will make for a great scene. The anthem singer really doesn't matter on the outcome of the game, and if the Packers organization gets their panties in a bunch over it than so be it. As for the officiating, GB's offensive line has improved since week 3. I'm pretty sure Bulaga wasn't starting in week 3, and he has had a few rookie hickups, but overall has been solid on the right side. I think Harris can really abuse GB's interior if he plays the way he did last week. I'd rather not revisit the refs screwed GB conversation, that was easily the Packers worst game of the season, and the Bears deserved to win. They lost to the Dolphins and Redskins and scored 3 points against the Lions, and this was their worst game of the year?

Good. Now will Dave Kaplan take a Xanax.

Here's a plus for the Bears:

Remember when many wanted him instead of Lilly? He would have retired before the end of his contract if we had signed him. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=6033882

Haha, I wish I was smart enough to sell it. I'm not though...I'm the guy that spent $300 on a SRO ticket to game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Would a cool $160 change your mind about going??? Nah, because the only shipping option was UPS so that was an additional $16. Maybe $175 and I'll have to consider it.

I couldnt get anything on the automated, so I went to a rep...and it took literally 10 minutes to connect to a rep. When she got on, I assumed all were sold out, so I dejectedly asked her if any were left...she searched for 2 minutes and said no sorry...and just as i was about to hang up on her, she said Wait I just saw one pop up. In section 444 for $150, do you want it? I said hell yeah. So she ran through the purchase, and I kept waiting for the call to drop due to AT&T or for her to screw it up and lose the ticket. But it didnt happen. I got it.

I GOT ONE!!!!

Isn't selling tickets for more than face value illegal? Yup Anyways, I don't think anybody who can afford to spend $1200 per game really needs to recoup season ticket costs. Why not? People that have the money to afford them are probably smart enough with their money to know that if you can recoup that much money from selling the tickets to one game, its worth doing. I should mention every season, he goes to maybe 2-3 of the games and gives the rest to his kids and family. He doesn't like to goto the really cold games, but likes being the generous guy who can provide tickets to his family and go to any game he feels like.

Some stats about divisional matchups in the NFL playoffs since the current playoff format was developed in 2002. This will be the 13th playoff game matching up 2 teams from the same division. Here are a bunch of useless stats about divisional games in the playoffs since 2002: When occured.... Wild Card Round - 7 Divisional - 4 Conference - 2 (Baltimore @ Pittsburgh 2 years ago, and now Green Bay @ Chicago) Breakdown of divisions represented..... AFC North - 4 (PIT/BAL (2), CIN/PIT, PIT/CLE) NFC East - 4 (NYG/PHI (2), NYG/DAL, DAL/PHI) AFC East - 2 (NE/NYJ (2)) NFC North - 2 (GB/MIN, CHI/GB) NFC West - 1 (SEA/STL) NFC/AFC South, AFC West - 0 And by team... Pittsburgh - 4 New York Giants - 3 Philadelphia - 3 Baltimore - 2 Dallas - 2 Green Bay - 2 New England - 2 New York Jets - 2 Chicago - 1 Cincinnati - 1 Cleveland - 1 Minnesota - 1 Seattle - 1 St. Louis - 1 Record when...... One team sweeps the other (4-2 in the 3rd game) When the home team wins each game (Home team is 0-1 in the 3rd meeting) When the road team wins each game (Road team is 2-3 in the 3rd meeting) Overall... Home team is 6-6 in the playoff matchup And...the actual list of all games (HOME team in caps) 2002: AFC North - PITTSBURGH 36 Cleveland 33 (Wild Card) (Season: PIT WINS 2-0) 2003: NONE 2004: NFC West - St. Louis 27 SEATTLE 20 (Wild Card) (Season: STL WINS 2-0) NFC North - Minnesota 31 GREEN BAY 17 (Wild Card) (Season: GB WINS 2-0) 2005: AFC North - Pittsburgh 31 CINCINNATI 17 (Wild Card) (Season: 1-1 Road) 2006: AFC East - NEW ENGLAND 37 New York 16 (Wild Card) (Season: 1-1 Road) NFC East - PHILADELPHIA 23 New York 20 (Wild Card) (Season: 1-1 road) 2007: NFC East - New York 21 DALLAS 17 (Divisional) (Season: DAL WINS 2-0) 2008: NFC East - Philadelphia 23 NEW YORK 11 (Divisional) (Season: 1-1 road) AFC North - PITTSBURGH 23 Baltimore 14 (Conference) (Season: PIT WINS 2-0) 2009: NFC East - DALLAS 34 Philadelphia 14 (Wild Card) (Season: DAL WINS 2-0) 2010: AFC North - PITTSBURGH 31 Baltimore 24 (Divisional) (Season: 1-1 Road) AFC East - New York 28 NEW ENGLAND 21 (Divisional) (Season: 1-1 Home) NFC North - Green Bay @ CHICAGO (Conference) (Season: 1-1 Home)

Isn't selling tickets for more than face value illegal? Yup

Favre is going public cheering for the Packers because now that he's retired he realizes he needs to be in good graces with the team he's synonamous with. He's trying to get his number retired and have the fans back on his jock strap. Packers fans being the gullible idiots they are will latch back on and embrace Favre for life once he starts saying the right things about GB again.

4 of the 10 Packer wins were by 7 points or less. 5 of 12 if you count playoffs. He's saying the Packers can't win a close game here, meaning in Chicago. Of the 4 wins by 7 points or less, 3 were at home and the 4 games they won were vs. Detroit by 2, vs. Minnesota by 4, vs. nothing to play for Chicago by 7 and @ Philly by 7. The only one that is even a bit impressive of a 'close win' was Philly, and that was a game the Packers led by a lot and the Eagles made it close late.