UMFan83

I'm trying to figure out why your AFC picks are almost exactly like mine lol. But really I'm trying to figure out how one could win by 5 in an OT game. The only way I can see that happening is if the Packers kick a FG on their first possession of OT, then on the Falcons chance to possess the ball they get sacked in the end zone for a safety. Is that what you intended?

Just for fun, my Divisional round picks Saturday: Ravens 24 Steelers 21 Packers 21 Falcons 28 (what the hell, everyone is picking the Packers) Sunday: Bears 24 Seahawks 20 Patriots 36 Jets 27 That gives us Ravens @ Patriots and Bears @ Falcons for the Super Bowl. My early gut would be Pats and Falcons meeting in Dallas.

Post-concussion Cutler is the biggest, but those two mattered as well. I would have preferred to face New Orleans in Chicago again, but I think the Bears show up and impress this weekend. Yeah...the Seahawks might be the easiest road. But I really would've enjoyed beating the Saints in Chicago again. There's nothing worse than getting a bye and losing the first game. We felt that pain in 01 and 05. You have this great year, then get to skip an entire round of the playoffs, and get a home game in at least the 2nd round, meaning you only have to win 2 games to get to the Super Bowl, so you start to feel like you are goig to make it and then you lose. Shitty feeling. I'd rather play the easiest possible team and get that first win off our backs and be 1 game from the Super Bowl.

Post-concussion Cutler is the biggest, but those two mattered as well. I would have preferred to face New Orleans in Chicago again, but I think the Bears show up and impress this weekend. I don't know if you can definitively say that post-concussion Cutler was the biggest issue. We simply don't know how severe the concussion was 2 weeks prior. Rodgers returned 2 weeks after his 2nd concussion of the year and threw for 400 yards and 4 TDs. I'm willing to accept it as a possibility, but I don't think you can say with certainty the concussion affected Cutler any more than a crappy o-line, lack of running game and bad playcalling did. He sure as hell looked goofy to me. They were still developing as an offense and the concussion delayed that development by a few weeks at least. And if he was loopy, calling 39 passing plays, regardless of the fact they trailed for most of the game, certainly didn't help the Bears cause. So the two things go hand in hand. But you are completely right that the concussion delayed things by a couple of weeks.

Post-concussion Cutler is the biggest, but those two mattered as well. I would have preferred to face New Orleans in Chicago again, but I think the Bears show up and impress this weekend. I don't know if you can definitively say that post-concussion Cutler was the biggest issue. We simply don't know how severe the concussion was 2 weeks prior. Rodgers returned 2 weeks after his 2nd concussion of the year and threw for 400 yards and 4 TDs. I'm willing to accept it as a possibility, but I don't think you can say with certainty the concussion affected Cutler any more than a crappy o-line, lack of running game and bad playcalling did.

When is the last time Chicago had a 92% chance to win a game...a playoff game no less. It's almost scary to be this much of a favorite, even when it's a computer calculating the odds.

Neifi Perez

There's no doubt the Seahawks have a shot of winning. And that's not just me saying that to not feel overconfident. They really can win. But as you said, I think the Bears are clearly the better team and if it plays up to its abilities, will win. But if the Seahawks play as well (at least offensively) as they did last week, and the Bears play a mediocre or worse game, they will lose.

Random depressing note. Cutler's last playoff game was in the 2000 Indiana State Championship game. In the game he threw 3 INTs and 0 TDs (But did catch a TD pass on a trick play to win the game).

I wonder if Lovie secretly wishes the Bears go the Eagles or Saints. I gotta imagine losing to the Seahawks would hurt his extension efforts. If they lost to the Seahawks, his bounce back season goes up in flames and all the sudden is the perception of the season is the Bears got fortunate with injuries (for other teams and lack of for the bears) and an easy schedule and they were exposed by losing at home to a 7-9 team in the playoffs. Whereas even if they lost to the Saints or Eagles, you gotta think unless they got destroyed, it wouldn't do too much to hamper his hopes of an extension.

I don't know who I want to win this. I guess Oregon, but I have nothing against Auburn except for the fact that I dislike Cam Newton and I'm mad that Alabama didn't beat them to allow TCU to play in this game.

Your semblence of respect is "Bears have a good defense but can be picked on by a smart QB"? Thanks for the kind words? I have no problem with the enthusiasm. I'd be pumped too. But I mean, one guy said something like "the Bears say they are a different team since week 6, but we're light years better than we were in week 6. How so? You are something like 3-7 in your last 10 games. OK you beat the Saints, thats solid but that doesn't mean all the sudden you are necessarily a better team. I also saw people saying things like "Bears fans are likely scared after seeing us destroy the Saints." And "Chicago is pissing their pants because they have to play us. They saw us put up 41 on NO." I know I'm getting way too worked up about it (and I'm not actually that worked up, just more or less stunned), but I was hoping to see some mature discussion on at least one of the boards/blogs but all I saw was a ton of blind irrational favortism. Anyways, I was looking forward to seeing your remarks on the game. I've always known you as a good Seahawks fan so I wish you good luck this weekend.

Are Seahawks fans really all idiots? I have read a ton of different Seahawks boards and blogs, and none of them seem to have any respect for the Bears. I have never seen one team's fan base so pumped up for one win. A lot of them think because they beat us in October that means they will roll over us in this one. Ever heard of "Any Given Sunday"? A lot of their analysis seems to be "I can't wait for Cutler to throw us like 5 INTs, that's all he's known for. The more he passes the more likely he will give us several boneheaded decisions.", "The Bears offense finished 30th in the league, and their D wasn't that good late in the season", "I expect all of our front 7 to have huge days against the offensive line" etc. But the biggest discussion seems to be whether they want to play Atlanta or Green Bay in the NFC Championship game. No really... I can't believe how delusional they are. I mean they have a right to think they can win the game...they can. But a lot of them are giving the Bears no chance. You are a 7-9 garbage team that managed to win the game of their lives. It's not like they started badly and got better as the year went on. They actually got worse and fluked their way into the playoffs. Anyways, every fan base has idiot fans no doubt, but I haven't seen one level headed Seahawks fan that acknowledges that the Bears could actually win this game amazingly enough. After scouring the internet tonight, I now really really want to see a 30 point win to shut their fanbase up.

No but they are going to use those comments as proof the Bears would rather face the Seahawks and don't respect them. Or something. I don't necessarily believe it matters, but teams seek out thing kinda stuff all the time and Gould delivered it to them on a platter.

Maybe poor luck plays a little bit into the Hawks poor record. They do have the 4th best goal differential in the West after tonight, and 9th best in the NHL.

I disagree. They weren't as good as the first half of the season clearly but they were still a playoff caliber team. And they proved it by making the Super Bowl. In the second half they beat next years Super Bowl champs by 18, lost to the AFC runners up by 4 points in a game they should have won if Grossman didn't unleash the sex pistol and throw 4 ints, went 6-2 overall and still won 2 of their last 3 despite locking up HFA.

Nice post

BTW, why is your name Lo Pan Fan? Why did you leave sulley?

Yeah I think they are slightly better. Going into the playoffs the 2006 team did not have a better overall defense. They were without Harris and Brown. This year's defense is healthy, has a better defensive line, and better safety play. The 2006 was not flawed, but they did not have the kind of QB play that Cutler brings right now. And since that is the most important position in major sports, it is key. Cutler is what makes this team better. Minus Brown and Harris, the 06 Bears were still a better team than the 10 Bears. Grossman was clearly not in the realm of Cutler, but still gave you a chance to have a great game. He wasn't Todd Collins and despite his issues with protecting the ball could still move the ball down the field and score points.

What confidence 1 win gives you. I am reading these blog comments in the Hawks blog: http://www.fieldgulls.com/2011/1/9/1925384/road-to-the-big-game-path-to-the-super-bowl#comments Not one single comment shows any fear for Chicago. The biggest discussion has been about who is going to wave the 12th man flag in the NFC Championship game or something.

What's the point in comparing this to 2006? The obvious point is that the Bears should easily win. The Saints should have easily won too.

You really think this team is better than the 2006 team? The 06 Bears had a differential of +172. The 10 Bears had a differential of +48. The 06 Bears won in Minnesota for only the 2nd time in the last decade. They blew out the previous year's conference champs by 31 points. They had 4 other 25+ point blowouts and 9 of their 13 wins were by 10 points or more (and 2 of the wins that weren't came after clinching HFA). They shut out the Packers for the only time in Brett Favre's career. I mean I think this years team is better at this point than it's differential but there is no way they are more complete than the 06 team. Better offensive line, better running backs (arguably), better overall defense and probably just as good special teams. The QB spot is the only position group where the 10 Bears are clearly better IMO. I don't know why some people seem to think the Bears were a flawed team that fluked its way into a Super Bowl. This was a really really good team.

all the bears fans I know focus on the gould kick but that wasn't that important to me because, perhaps i'm delusional, i already considered it a forgone conclusion because its robbie gould and he is the best guy ever the play that i remember the most in that game is right before it when grossman hit rashied davis for a 30 yard gain or so. that year was the pinnacle of rashied davis' career as he was good for one insane clutch 30 yard catch (but only one!) every game. now he sucks. i also remember hester broke one but it was called back for some bullcrap penalty. don't call phantom holding this time! I still have this game on my computer and watch it occasionally. I honestly think almost as big as the Davis catch is the stop on 4th and inches around midfield towards the end of regulation. If the Seahawks had gotten a 1st, they'd be about 15 yards from FG range with plenty of time on the clock, but also at a spot where the Seahawks could milk the clock down if they got into FG range. If I remember correctly, the ball was just barely short of a first like an inch short, so they probably should have gotten the first 80-90% of the time. But Hasselbeck and Alexander botched the handoff, giving (i think) Briggs enough time to get through the wall and make the game saving play. Also, after the Bears got nowhere on the next possession, the Seahawks got it back to about midfield again with a minute left and Tank Johnson made a nice coverage sack to kill that drive and send the game into OT. Just a fantastic game all around and everyone made big plays. Edit: Also, I forgot about this but it was also huge that a play after the Davis catch, Benson fumbled the ball and the Seahawks recovered, however the play was luckily called dead. Huge break.

Not only rematches, but all 4 games have been played on the same field this year.