Magnetic Curses

lol, when i say results, i mean offensive ranking, really.

i think you've inferred that we've slighted your program, which we haven't. this season sucks enough for the illini, and believe me, i know that they have failed miserably and i'll get to watch my team in the NIT or worse again this post-season. no need to kick us while we're down.

Yeah, we had to depend on a 6th round rookie who didn't get his first NFL carry until December. I'll take my chances with a pretty proven RB in the league going forward, or at least splitting time with Starks. i don't know how the results are much different. the offense wasn't much better or worse without him. Our run game was obviously much worse this season compared to the last couple. again, i doubt the results are much better with he or finley. i'm sure you'd take having an experienced, successful running back over the alternative. if anything it speaks to the ability of this team to shed non-essential players seeking large contracts in the future, which they will need to do.

Yeah, we had to depend on a 6th round rookie who didn't get his first NFL carry until December. I'll take my chances with a pretty proven RB in the league going forward, or at least splitting time with Starks. i don't know how the results are much different. the offense wasn't much better or worse without him.

the 3-4 uses more than 1 ILB... and if barnett doesn't go down, bishop doesn't get his chance.

urlacher forces the quarterback to be perfect on intermediate throws and is still fast enough in pursuit to be very valuable against the short passing game, he's the bullseye of the zone.

I didn't say he was not good. I said he's overrated. And for the record Peppers had a much bigger impact then Urlacher, he was fantastic this season. i don't think he did. the difference urlacher brought to the defense was immense and he is worth every bit of his rating at this point. if you know how the tampa-2 works, you know urlacher's coverage skills make him extremely valuable and irreplaceable within the defense.

Is that true? If the Bears have already paid him 6 mill in year 1, is his cap number really 5 mill for 2011? No, it isn't. It probably is between 1.75 and 2. i don't even think it's that much. he's cheap and experienced and had a down year, i still think we keep him.

i didn't. green bay is dangerous with or without a running game.

briggs being better than urlacher has nothing to do with it. the addition of urlacher and peppers to a bad defense instantly made them respectable. any bears fan can see what kind of difference urlacher made this year.

The biggest thing to me about the Packers this year is the way they were able to overcome injuries. Few teams make it an entire season without injuries, but the Packers got hit extra hard. If they can win the Super Bowl with Grant, Finley and both starting safeties out extended periods and Driver and Woodson out for much of the Super Bowl, what can they do mostly healthy? their biggest injuries were to grant and finley, a replaceable RB and a very good TE. the others were to players who were outplayed by their backups. they lost both games that rodgers either sat or mostly sat. if they lose an important player at an important position, they're out of the playoffs. it's not like they lost a player like urlacher for the season. If Ryan Grant were "replaceable" the Packers would have developed some semblance of a consistent running game. Finley to Quarless/Crabtree/Lee is a significant drop. One of our starting tackles was on IR. Our starting ILB is on IR, and our starting safety was on IR. Say what you will about them not being "impact" players, but winning the Super Bowl with that many injuries is a testament to organizational depth. BTW, Urlacher is overrated. the packers cause their damage through the air. losing grant was minimal, it hurt the overall running game, but who's to say that wasn't a good thing as it caused them to throw more. 1. peprah is better than bigby 2. bishop is better than barnett 3. for the urlacher comment, you're a pathetic troll

They would be the same as any other team that loses an elite quarterback. I'm not sure what that's supposed to prove. ok, clay matthews then. they lost luxury-type players. sure, if they had lost Matthews on top of starters like Barnett, Grant, Finley, Jones, Burnett, Tauscher, they might not have had the 2nd-best point differential in all of football point taken. you were the one pimping bishop as one of the very best players in the league at his position and then mention the loss of barnett as a bad thing. well done

Grant's yds/att for his career: 4.4 Jackson's yds/att this year: 3.7 Not a huge difference, but nearly a full yard less per carry isn't insignificant. Plus, consider John Kuhn (3.3 ypc) got more carries than he might have otherwise and that difference gets a little larger. It's not crippling for a team that passes most of the time, but it still hurts. And a guy who, in his second year in the league, caught 55 passes for 676 yards (12.3 ypc) and five touchdowns is a good player to have around – even if he is only luxury. In eight fewer games this year, Finley caught 70 more yards, as many touchdowns and 3 more ypc than Andrew Quarless. the overall difference was about a half yard per carry and still they weren't an incredibly different team from last year.

Cutler's not over 30. their best offensive players are young or younger. they will need to replace urlacher and peppers within the next 3 years and briggs within the next 5, maybe sooner. the good thing is that in lovie's scheme, there are positions you don't ever have to draft high.

They would be the same as any other team that loses an elite quarterback. I'm not sure what that's supposed to prove. ok, clay matthews then. they lost luxury-type players.

The biggest thing to me about the Packers this year is the way they were able to overcome injuries. Few teams make it an entire season without injuries, but the Packers got hit extra hard. If they can win the Super Bowl with Grant, Finley and both starting safeties out extended periods and Driver and Woodson out for much of the Super Bowl, what can they do mostly healthy? their biggest injuries were to grant and finley, a replaceable RB and a very good TE. the others were to players who were outplayed by their backups. they lost both games that rodgers either sat or mostly sat. if they lose an important player at an important position, they're out of the playoffs. it's not like they lost a player like urlacher for the season.

the bears in the 80's only went to won superbowl and were about as dominant a team as there could have been. the packers played great in spurts in the postseason, but were by no means unbeatable. good, but incredibly lucky, as many super bowl teams are wont to do.

No, but it's clear the Bears have developed a strategy that at least gives them a chance. It's a really tough offense to stop. Lots of teams found this out. Interestingly -- the Lions fared well too, relatively speaking. I think the familiarity helps. I think so too. Don't forget the Lions only fared well because they played against an unprepared Matt Flynn most of the game. If Aaron Rodgers didn't get hurt, the Packers win easily, IMO. I just think the Bears know the Packers really really well by now. The Packers never play well against them. They might have one or two good drives but that's it. Packers defense really needs to step up to win those Packers/Bears game, and that's what happened the last two times. they always seemed to make a big defensive play when they needed it, it was infuriating.

why do you say that? Maybe he was referring to last year, where they lost in the 2nd round as a 1 seed. Go MVC schools. I find it hard to believe an Illinois fan would be making fun of KU's tourney success. i assumed that he meant ku is good enough to win the tourney from any top 3 seed in any given year, but they are not above pooping on the mountaintop and getting beaten by UNI, bucknell, or bradley.

I'm going to do everything I can to take work off on Tuesday so I can make it to Green Bay. I'll be crying like a little bitch all day if that happens. I really want to but that's not something I can do. But I know for sure I am going to find a way to buy all kinds of championship [expletive]. I know for sure I need the DVD and the shirt and I know I'll buy more crap than that. if the cubs pull a 2003 this year, i will take solace and delight in knowing that you are cubs fans too.

there's probably a reason that i post on a cubs message board i'm not convinced

the phillies won the world series a couple years ago.

perhaps we can trade our pick to the packers for their pick and a 7th rounder. they can then use that to take someone who would have benefited us greatly.

for the record, though, the stanley cup is the most grueling and difficult trophy to win.

it is very scripted though. this always happens to teams i hate.