UMFan83

It's amazing how nice a fan base can be when they aren't playing for anything because they already clinched the division that both teams compete in. Bears fans don't have much to be grumpy about seeing as the team pleasantly surprised most fans this year. Thus we're less likely to lash out at fans of our arch rivals. I think that makes sense.

Saints over Seahawks Packers over Eagles Jets over Colts Chiefs over Ravens Falcons over Packers Bears over Saints Patriots over Jets Steelers over Chiefs Patriots over Steelers Falcons over Bears Patriots over Falcons

They're like the team that the world forgot or something. It's like they play in the league, they actually win a fair number of games. Everyone tries their best to ignore them. They need to move to a relevant market. They don't have any tradition (other than entering the league with a bang) since they haven't been around that long and for the past decade they've been mediocre. AFC South fans definitely think about them, but they really are pretty forgotten elsewhere. For me at least, they seemed mildly interesting a few years ago when they had a couple of playoff seasons in a row and butted heads with the Steelers in a really good playoff game. Since then they've been pretty irrelevant in my mind.

Did Isiah Thomas take over the Bulls today?

Even if they think they were going 100%, its only natural to lose some edge when there's nothing on the line.

If the offense was going to be vanilla and the Bears really didn't play to win like they had the last few games, there was no reason for the starters to play. You weren't going to beat the Packers being vanilla and you increased the likelihood of injuries. But they almost did. Like it was pointed out before, the Bears wanted to try to run the offense like they did earlier in the season with 7 step drops and forcing the ball downfield. They wanted to see if that could be an added wrinkle in the playoffs. They learned that it won't work. The positives are that the team got reps and stayed fresh, which will help them with 2 weeks between games. Also, I now feel pretty confident that Martz won't regress into pre-bye play calling tendencies. You have to believe that if the Bears had any kind of success with this playcalling today, we would probably see more of it in the playoff game. This is the true Martz system and you have to think Martz is dying for it to work in Chicago. Unfortunately it just won't with the personnel we have here right now. Also, we gained confidence that we are better than the Packers (at least the Packers as constituted now with injuries). They shut down their offense almost all game, and while the offense mostly sucked, they were able to have good field position against the Packers for a lot o the game. In a game that matters, the bears take advantage more often than not.

Bears playoff tickets are going on sale Wednesday at 10am

Please somehow miss this

The Rams return team sucks. Their offense isn't good enough to put up more than 1-2 70+ yard drives a game so starting every possession inside the 25 yard line is killing them

Nope. ok?

I figured since these teams both suck, playing together would put together a somewhat entertaining game where one or both teams looked somewhat competent. Not the case, both these teams looked like they absolutely suck.

You suck Hawks.

Yeah Seattle is awful. It would literally be the biggest upset in NFL history if they were to beat the Saints. The line will probably be something like 17

If it was ESPN, I'm sure one of the guys would be forced to pick the NFC West team and defend it fiercely.

Here is the playoff schedule according to ESPN: Saturday, January 8th: 4:30 ET - Saints @ NFC West, NBC 8:00 ET - Jets @ Colts, NBC Sunday, January 9th: 1:00 ET - Ravens @ Chiefs, CBS 4:30 ET - Packers @ Eagles, FOX Saturday, January 15th: 4:30 ET - @Steelers, CBS 8:00 ET - @ Falcons, FOX Sunday, January 16th: 1:00 ET - @ Bears, FOX 4:30 ET - @ Patriots, CBS

I'll highlight the breakdown by drive just because it interests me. -1 pass, 2 run -3 pass, 0 run -1 pass, 3 run, 1 sack -6 pass, 2 run, 1 sack -1 pass, 2 run -1 pass (halftime) -4 pass, 4 run -2 pass, 1 run (cutler scramble) -3 pass, 0 run -1 pass, 0 run, 2 sack -2 pass, 1 run -1 pass, 2 run, 2 sack -12 pass, 3 runs First half: 13 pass, 9 run, 2 sacks Second half: 25 pass, 11 run, 4 sacks First 3 quarters: 24 passes, 14 runs, 4 sacks 4th quarter: 15 pass, 6 run, 2 sacks

A lot of those throws came on the final couple possessions when we really didn't have time to run. This has really been the first time since the bye week that we trailed for almost the entire 4th quarter with a chance to still win the game (unlike the NE game). The Bills and Lions games we trailed but then scored and ran the ball to drain the clock. I thought we used the run appropriately today for the most part. With Forte's recent success, I'm not worried at all that we'll abandon the run come playoffs. That's somewhat the cause, but there were a crapload of passing plays and no runs during those 2nd half drives. Those last 2 drives dont make up 19 more throws. Either way, it was uneven play calling after the first half.

They just said on CSN that the Bears playoff game will be on Sunday, January 16th at Noon.

That's hilarious that the Seahawks can make the playoffs tonight, and if they lose have the 7th pick of the draft. Keeping with my hating the Seahawks thing, I'm gonna predict the score is 38-9 in favor of St. Louis tonight. I am predicting a dominating Rams win in Seattle. It reminds me of the Chargers-Broncos game a few years ago. Two team going in different directions.

this I say go Rams because I think they would at least have some chance, albeit very small, to upset the Saints. Put the Saints in a cold, rainy Seattle and I think it would be about as likely the Seahawks pull off the miracle. Saints would run all their usual stuff against the Rams in their dome. No use kidding ourselves, we're probably looking at something like 45-13 Saints either way. This is true about the dome thing, but I am of the belief that the Rams are much much better than the Seahawks, who are downright terrible. 2-7 in their last 9 games and one of the worst point differentials on the season.

this I say go Rams because I think they would at least have some chance, albeit very small, to upset the Saints.

They weren't necessarily experimenting. They were just dropping back and trying to get the ball downfield. This is the first week the Bears passed more than run since the bye, according to CSN, and it was drastically in favor of passing (39-20). That is the kind of difference we saw in September and October. There were probably more 7 step drops today than in the previous 8 games combined

If that's true, then NBC picked an AFC game first for some reason. That's odd. Maybe they were thinking NY market and one of the most marketable stars in the league was worth accepting the NFC West game. Of course that game probably won't be competitive, but it does involve last year's champs and an exciting team to watch, and possibly against a young upcoming star in Bradford. Not the route I would have gone though.

I hope that was the real defense at least. Yeah I think it was the real defense. The Bears have been running the same formations on defense for years. There is no point in trying to mask our defensive gameplan because everyone knows what defense the Bears are gonna run.

They took the game as an opportunity to try some things that they could afford to fail. Just to see how some options developed during the year. Exactly. And I don't mind that at all. I would have loved to have seen those things work and lead to a victory, but I will not at all be terribly concerned about the outcome. It was the ideal way to play to preserve confidence. If we would have gotten blown out it would be excused as us not taking the game seriously. If we had struggled to 3 points and a close loss while the playcalling resembled the post-bye Bears, it would be pretty deflating for the offense.