David

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.

EDIT - n/m

I believe it's "Sean" and not "Shawn." And if memory serves me correct but didn't Sean Payton used to be the Bears QB during the strike shorting season back in the 80s, under Mike Ditka? You're right. Sean, Shawn, whatever. But yea, he was a scab QB that year and he actually played against the Saints as a spare Bear.

I was thinking the same. If the Bears win on Sunday, imagine what the Super Bowl thread is gonna be like...especially when you factor in the bye.

So apparently Shawn Payton's sister & neice live here in Skokie. Heh, small world.

Deuce is averaging 17 carries, 62 yards, and 3.7ypc with 1 touchdown, and 1.5 receptions for 10 yards in his 6 games on grass this year. Bush is averaging 12 carries, 44 yards, and 3.6ypc, and 5 receptions for 42 yards in his 6 games on grass. Is that typically how their carries split up? I probably shouldn't be so lazy and look it up myself. Seems like a low total. Wondering if they might've gotten fewer carries in those games for whatever reason. Whatever, it probably doesn't mean a whole lot anyway, but there definitely seems to be a difference between those numbers and their overall numbers. Such a small sample size that it could be a result of anything, though.

I'm surprised you can still muster up the desire to watch football after watching the Eagles get knocked out. Seriously. When the Bears lost in 05 and 01, I couldn't watch another playoff game. The 2003 NLCS was even worse on me. I didn't watch one pitch of that World Series. I guess I'm just a baby. :?

The funny thing is, you guys (Saints fans & Saints bandwagoners) might not even realize that what you're doing in these game threads is not that different from Cards fans coming into, say, a Cubs/Cards game threads on here and cheering for the Cards. Some people find that really annoying, even trollish, and I can totally understand why. Granted, this is a Cubs site, not a Bears site, but it's not THAT far off as an analogy. I don't really have any problem with it, though. I love watching people eat crow. :wink:

Calm down, people. It's fine. I have no problem with Saints fans lamenting their loss in this thread next weekend. Neither should the rest of Bears fans.

Anyone know how Reggie Bush and Deuce do on grass as compared to artificial turf? Big factor, if you ask me.

This has me hopeful that the Bears can get back to being disciplined and play better...but I don't know. If they were going to be able to do that, you'd have thought it would happen during the bye week. I wouldn't be so sure. An off week leading up to your first playoff game is exactly the type of atmosphere that would breed going beyond the scheme and being undisciplined. They were obviously going to be jacked up for that game, and playing with a lot of emotion. That's how you "get out of your lanes" so to speak. I think this one win was a huge load off their shoulders. Plus, the defense did tighten up toward the end of the game. Also played well on all the 3rd and shorts. So that's something to build on, I guess. The run defense needs to play better, though. I think the Bears can contain Bush with their speed much in the same way they've held Mike Vick under control. Deuce worries me a lot more because he seems to be a more physical guy. The play where he and his line just carried the pile against Philly for the TD stands out in my mind. These are the type of RB's we tend to struggle more with.

Wow.

Here's hoping your Bears fare better than Carolina did the last time the Seahawks played an NFC playoff game. I'm pretty sure the Panthers were sitting at home watching the last time the Seahawks played an NFC playoff game. :wink:

Should be 1 ET. FOX is stupid. Ya. They're either flat out wrong, or they're trying to get people to watch that awful pregame show.

I look for Cedric and TJ step up the way Deuce and Bush have tonight.

It was. thank you...that sure would've put me on the spot trying to contact all the bears fans i have coming over for the game tomorrow. 12pm ET = 11am CT = pregame show 1pm ET = 12pm CT = kickoff At least this is what I assume... Yea, I think they're trying to fool people into watching that abomination of a pregame show.

Uh, Fox is still advertising 12ET for the Bears game tommorow. What's going on?

WTF? Cingular is now AT&T? Didn't AT&T Wireless already become Cingular a couple years ago?

The Eagles defense doesn't suck. They're just up against a high powered offense.