David

There is a difference in a throwaway game and another game. I didn't factor our throwaway game (where our starters played ONE series) just like I didn't factor your throwaway game into the stats (which in my opinion was hardly played like a throwaway game, given that Jones and Benson had over 20 combined carries and Hester returned 6 times) What do either of those things have to do with the defense? You really don't know much of anything about the Bears. That much is quite clear. I'm liking how much people are overlooking them and focusing on the supposed really hot Saints. They lost to the Redskins late in the season when the playoff seedings were up in the air. They lost many games during the season. Yet, for some reason, it's the Bears that have to prove something here. It's amusing. Didn't you realize that Rex Grossman starts at quarterback for the Bears, and that he throws 5 interceptions everytime he takes a snap?

Definitely not overall. The Bears D is a beast. But the second half of the season y'all played poor offensive teams and gave up a ton of points. I showed you stats that showed that during OUR second half we played good offensive teams and gave up few points. Right now I think the Saints D is better. The stats prove that easily. no they don't. but your belief that they do prove you don't know much about football. Cut him some slack. His bias is obvoiusly getting in the way.

Another good point.

That's a ridiculous excuse. You think Urlacher or Hillenmeyer were like "well, we're already gonna be in the playoffs, so I'm only gonna play 80% today." These guys are professional athletes who love competition. If they are in the game, they are gonna be trying their best. And yet, you refer to the Saints last game as a throwaway... By the way, DEVIN HESTER WAS IN THE SECONDARY FOR THE LAST 4 GAMES.

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/teamdef.php DVOA has the Saints as the #19 defense in the league. I'll take the in-depth statistical analysis over the yardage and points totals every time. EDIT - For those who don't know what DVOA is (although I'm sure most on here do) but want to know, here's a rundown. http://www.footballoutsiders.com/methods.php

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/6379136 Hope the quotes aren't too big...

Or with the actual predictions of the outcome.

I'm with you. This sucks. I knew it to be true already, but I have kept hoping that against all odds they'll change their minds at the last second. Nameless owns.

Some of the prettiest passes I've seen Rex throw have been up the seam to Davis. Anyone remember a similar throw he made in the Lions game? Right in his hands, right in stride. I think it was a couple plays after he threw the interception that was called back on the penalty. Also, obviously, that throw to Rashied in the first Vikings game.

I'm sure it's been asked here numerous times, but does anyone around here know of/post at any good Bears message boards? I recognize a few of the posters here from over at the chicagobears.com board, but, and I'm sure those of you who have posted there will agree, that message board is pretty much trash. Very poorly moderated and lots of idiots. Much like the Cubs.com boards...

I liked when they busted out the white on whites... One of the few things from the Jauron era that I missed.

Looks pretty sick. No way they'll be wearing those this weekend, though.

Yea, it'll be navy on white... though I'd love to see them come out in navy on navy and win, just to shut up the people who think those uniforms are somehow jinxed or that they had anything to do with the Bears losses to the Packers.

You're a good man (I'd recommend hating their basketball team too). I hate all things Gators, but my hatred for Urban Meyer trumps all else Gators. All things except Alex Brown, Rex Grossman, Ian Scott, and Todd Johnson, right? :)

Not to open another can of worms, but DVOA has the Saints defense as #19 in the league, FWIW. I didn't pull my assessment out of nowhere. EDIT - In terms of weighted defense, which weighs the most recent part of the schedule a little more heavily, the Saints are ranked 17th.

This is all I was trying to say and for whatever reason you decided to argue. Can't we all just get along? :)

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/statistics?stat=team&sort=pts&pos=off&league=nfl&season=2&year=2006 Chicago - 427 New Orleans - 413 Not a huge difference, but it's still a difference. Yes, but as I said, the Bears scored a lot of points on defense and special teams. Not really the offense's doing.

Our offense probably wasn't better in points (too lazy to look up the actual offensive points scored totals), guys. The Bears score a LOT on ST and defense. Doesn't matter, though. They all count.

The Bears had been playing throwaway games for a month. Those two situations aren't even close to comparable. You didn't point out anything that would suggest New Orleans should mow the Bears down. And this new trend of only talking about the most recent games is quite amusing. That's the same logic that had people picking the Eagles as the most complete, and most dangerous NFC team entering the playoffs. It's also why the Colts stood no chance to advance. The Saints are quite a flawed team. They lost to a bad Redskins team when the postseason positioning was still in doubt. They lost 6 games this year, to some very good, very mediocre and very bad teams. They've given up a lot of points to a lot of Only one of those losses can truly be considered throwaway. I think its pretty clear the Bears could hand them number 7 without anything out of the ordinary happening. Obviously this Bears team has its flaws, and Vegas is quite justified in only making them a 2.5 point favorite. I'll just say that I'm enjoying seeing the football world basically hand this game to the Saints, saying they are clearly the better team, and that its up to the Bears to prove people wrong. This is a very evenly matched ballgame. I don't see any reason why one side would think they're poised to mow down the other side, besides wanting to be a blowhard. Thank you, goony. This is exactly what I'm trying to say.

Wow. You don't need to prove anything as far as the Saints are concerned. I'm plenty nervous about this game myself. None of what you said, NONE of it, points to the Saints coming into Soldier Field and decisively beating the #1 seed in the conference championship game. I never said the Saints have no chance to win, or even little chance. I stated that whoever plays a better game is going to win (an obvious point, I know, but one that seems to be lost on a lot of people). But the fact is that people left and right are predicting the Saints to come in and roll through the Bears. That is ridiculous. Even a good amoutn of Bears fans are acting like the season is over already. Saints fans should be just as nervous about this game as Bears fans. You admitted as much yourself. Don't gimme that stuff about the Bears/Bucs game either. You know (at least, if you saw the game) that the Bears had that game flat out dominated and a couple of lucky big plays after the game was in the bag resulted in the OT and the high point allowed total. I would hope you also know that the Bears secondary was nowhere near in tact for the last 4 or 5 games of the season. You point out that the Bears barely eeked out a win at home against the Seahawks as if I didn't know it already. The difference is nobody is predicting (nor am I) this as a clear Bear victory. They beat the Eagles 27-24, and could have easily lost, people. EDITED- TO MAKE SENSE

I don't get where all the Saints fear has been coming from. Yes, they have weapons on offense. Scary ones. That aside, their defense is weak, and they barely eeked out a win against the Eagles at home last week. How are some people suddenly thinking they're going to come into Soldier Field and mow the Bears down (I'm not referring to anyone on here in particular, but I'm sensing that this is a common perception among NFL fans)? The game is a toss up, and it is going to come down to who plays a better game on this particular Sunday (yea, I know, obviously). It's that simple.

Yea... It's pretty much assinine to point to last year at all when the team added the best QB in the league this year and a top RB, the two most important positions on offense.

I don't know. I would have no problem saying that SOME of them are overconfident. There's a thread asking where in Chicago they can go after the game to celebrate and watch the next game to find out their opponent. One of the replies goes something along the lines of (paraphrasing), "Well, our trophy presentation is going to overlap with the second game so you might miss some of the first half." I mean, come on. I don't think I was that cocky even as a fan of the 90's Bulls.. Ok, maybe I was. But we had Mike.

Could be because they're the one team that stands between us and Miami...

Bah. I was being totally tongue-in-cheek with my post. Doesn't bother me.