UMFan83

I remember when we hired Q, some of the talk was that he couldn't win in the big games, couldn't win in the playoffs. You can't win the big games, until suddenly you do win the big games. He's been the right guy at the right time for the Hawks. He still has the stigma that he can't beat Detroit in the playoffs. His alltime record in the playoffs against Detroit is 6-20 and his regular season record against Detroit (not including last season) is 21-49-12. Detroit has also beat a Quenneville coached team in the playoffs during each of their last 4 Stanely Cup championship runs. Seriously? Do you mean seriously as in "I hadn't heard those stats before" or seriously as in "I can't believe you are ripping on the coach that just gave us a cup" If its the latter, that is not my intent. I love Q for the most part. I'm just saying that not beating Detroit and not winning the Cup were his 2 stigmas that kept him from being an elite coach. He has fixed the bigger of the 2 issues, but the Detroit issue remains, fairly or not.

I remember when we hired Q, some of the talk was that he couldn't win in the big games, couldn't win in the playoffs. You can't win the big games, until suddenly you do win the big games. He's been the right guy at the right time for the Hawks. He still has the stigma that he can't beat Detroit in the playoffs. His alltime record in the playoffs against Detroit is 6-20 and his regular season record against Detroit (not including last season) is 21-49-12. Detroit has also beat a Quenneville coached team in the playoffs during each of their last 4 Stanely Cup championship runs.

Whenever we have a horrible season, at least we are able to dominate the Cardinals. 11-8 against them in 2006, 8-4 against them this year so far.

Our crappy team just went into St. Louis and swept the Cardinals in a three game series where the Cardinals had Garcia, Wainwright and Carpenter starting.

C'mon put the best relievers in, I want to [expletive] sweep these losers.

And probably ended whatever tiny hope that the Cardinals had of getting back into the race.

Umps make a bad call that ends up giving the Cardinals a run, blah.

Molina made a horrible throw. The steal was off a hit and run that Z swung through.

Funny that every team on that list has more than 85 wins, while the Cubs will struggle to get to 75.

Wow the Cardinals suck more than us. The Cubs got out of it with a line drive to RF and a DP by Carpenter. Awesome.

Bases loaded 0 outs for the Cardinals. This won't end well.

I can see it. The defense was pretty awesome te more I think about it. 168 yards allowed. Both Lions TDs were off TOs. The first Lions TD was allowed to happen only because of a bad roughing the passer penalty on a 3rd down incompletion. We got decent pressure, forced 3 tos, had at least 3-4 three and out possessions, and generally limited any big plays. I know DVOA is more complicated that that but on the surface I definitely see why they'd like us so much.

Fine you win the argument. Updated scoreboard: Nuts&Gum 47 UMfan83 2

Why is that insane? That could easily have meant that a team allowed those 5 runs in a single game (yes, I know the Cubs didn't do that). I didn't say it was impossible. I just said its unlikely that a team that has only given up an average of 1 run a game over a 5 game span had lost one of those games.

I can understand where they are coming from I guess, but I'd think there are better games to use the Cowboys in your suicide pool. I mean they do play the Lions this year. There must not be a ton of obvious mismatches this weekend. That or the public's perception of the Bears is a lot worse than I thought.

2.9 YPC gives you NFC OPOY these days? Although, the NFL might just consider 2.9 YPC with our offensive line to be a huge accomplishment. (I know about his great game receiving, I'm just kidding)

Why would the Cubs open on a Saturday? the 2nd is a Friday, the 1st is a Thursday When you go over to April on your Windows Calendar, make sure you change the year to 2011 as well. The 1st is on a Friday lol.

Yeah but I thought the Packers were the best match, making the playoffs almost as often as the Braves, and only winning 1 title each, in the mid-90's.

I respect the argument on Pats-Yankees. I figured there would be one. It's hard to find a team that has the historical and recent success combined with the cast of colorful characters and a general hatred from fans of the other teams in the league. Pats don't have the historical success, but they are generally hated by the rest of the league, they have had a consistent dominance for the last 10 years, even in non-Championhsip years), and they have a cast of well known colorful characters on their side (Moss, Brady, Belichick to name a few) to match the Yankees. It's not ideal, but the Cowboys lack the recent success, and the Steelers aren't generally as reviled as the Pats/Yanks are among the entire NFL.

Why would the Cubs open on a Saturday?

This is random, but I was intregued by comparing NFL teams to their MLB counterparts and this is what I came up with. Note: There are obviously 32 NFL teams and 30 MLB teams. As I got further down, it got a lot harder for a perfect match. The last 2 NFL teams I used an MLB team a second time. New England Patriots - New York Yankees Buffalo Bills - Cleveland Indians New York Jets - San Diego Padres Miami Dolphins - Baltimore Orioles Pittsburgh Steelers - St. Louis Cardinals Cincinnati Bengals - Tampa Bay Rays Cleveland Browns - Washington Nationals Baltimore Ravens - Los Angeles Angels Indianapolis Colts - Philadelphia Phillies Tennessee Titans - San Francisco Giants Houston Texans - Toronto Blue Jays Jacksonville Jaguars - Oakland A's San Diego Chargers - Los Angeles Dodgers Oakland Raiders - Pittsburgh Pirates Denver Broncos - Florida Marlins Kansas City Chiefs - Milwaukee Brewers New York Giants - Chicago White Sox Philadelphia Eagles - Minnesota Twins Washington Redskins - Detroit Tigers Dallas Cowboys - Boston Red Sox (without the 2 recent titles) Chicago Bears - New York Mets Green Bay Packers - Atlanta Braves Minnesota Vikings - Chicago Cubs Detroit Lions - Kansas City Royals Arizona Cardinals - Colorado Rockies St. Louis Rams - Seattle Mariners San Francisco 49ers - Cincinnati Reds Seattle Seahawks - Houston Astros Carolina Panthers - Texas Rangers Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Arizona Diamondbacks ------------------- New Orleans Saints - Philadelphia Phillies (repeat) Atlanta Falcons - Minnesota Twins (repeat)

Sure they can....lose your franchise QB, oh here's another one down on your depth chart. The Packers always find that player they need. It's weird that you said that after referencing 2005 when they went 4-12. I didn't say it always leads to victories. Also funny you reference my reference when its one of only 2 losing seasons the Packers have had in the last 18 years. Yipee, we're the Atlanta Braves of the NFL. Much better than being the New York Mets of the NFL (good every 5-6 years for at most 1-2 seasons, and never winning it all except for one time in the mid-80's and a couple more way back when).

Yeah, but you can't count on the Packers finding that guy. I sure as hell hope they do, but it's not a guarantee. This week should certainly be interesting, personnel-wise for the Packers. Sure they can....lose your franchise QB, oh here's another one down on your depth chart. The Packers always find that player they need. It's not like Aaron Rodgers was some scrap-heap journeyman who just happened to have an amazing few years after Favre left. He was drafted to take over once Brett left, and at least on the day he was drafted was no lower than the #2 QB on a lot of draft boards. There are a lot of QBs that are drafted much higher than Rodgers each year that never end up half as good as Rodgers has been. My bitterness comes from the Bears 50 year search for a competent QB, while the Packers are blessed with one of the best QBs in NFL history, then make one 1st round QB pick in 20 years and it so happens they get their next Top 5 QB. Not that you care but imagine how frustrating that is for Bears fans that have been waiting all this time for Favre to retire so Packers fans have to become nomads in the QB desert like we have been.

6-11 to get to 70 wins 9-8 to avoid 90 losses 17-0 for a .500 season

1) I think Dallas is overrated. I know others have the same sentiment. Don't get me wrong, they are a good football team, but not a great one. 2) Lovie Smith is operating on a level of despiration all year long. Not saying that the despiration will match the level of Dallas' for this one particular game, but the despiration is there on the Bears part. 3) I do agree however that a lot of the matchups don't look good for the Bears in this game. Ware is going to destroy the Bears o-line most likely. Austin and Bryant are going to be extremely tough to contain with the secondary. As usual, the key to shutting them down offensively is probably going to be how well we can pressure the QB and force him into mistakaes. I am not worried about shutting down the running game all that much unless the Bears are forced to only keep 5-6 in the box because they are tearing up the secondary. Bottom line is I think it's a game we CAN win, but I don't think its game that's going to be particularly likely to win.