You know, I had a snarky comment about injuries all typed out and ready to post, but then I thought that I may be too harsh in these football threads and maybe I should just relax a bit. I was impressed with the O Line for a few games in there. I’m still not sold on them, but Cutler and Martz have been helping them out a lot recently.
Fines were posted for the Bears and Lions game last week.
http://blogs.suntimes.com/bears/2011/11/details_on_fines_from_lions-be.html
It seems that they haven’t gotten all the way through the bench-clearing brawl. I was under the impression that any player who gets involved would get fined, so I assume they’re still working on that. I was expecting a list of 30 or so players from the size of the incident.
Stafford got fined $7,500 for yoinking down on DJ Moore’s facemask on that play, which the blog author thinks is low for Stafford’s paycheck, but since it’s what I assume a first time fining for him, I can see why they started there. Now if he starts making a habit of it every time he throws an interception…
Also, Suh did not get fined though I thought he had a late hit on Cutler that was not the helmet-ripping-off play. I don’t know if ripping off a helmet is a fineable offense.
That was Fairley.
There was another late hit but Suh though, not just the Fairley hit (which he was fined for).
shrug The Saints were dominating people in the latter half of last season and the Bucs knocked them off on the road. Just saying- take the points.
I am officially in the Tyler Clutts fan club. Please laminate the ID and send it to me.
I don’t know why these guys don’t buckle their helmets better. I made damn sure mine did not come off. But they are all over the field, usually wide receivers.
Bears fans,? are you in trouble ? I checked to see who was tossing after the QB got hurt. Who is the backup?
Cutler done for the regular season. Fuck me. Wonder if we can squeak into the playoffs without him. Everyone is going to have to step up, especially Hanie. We’ll see if that 2nd half performance against the Packers last year was a fluke or not.
He’s thrown like 30 passes in his career. Luckily the Bears have a pretty easy schedule for the rest of the season and rely on defense, special teams, and running quite a bit. Detroit has GB twice and the Saints. I think the Bears still are looking decent for the wild card.
Caleb Hanie. He’s no Cutler, but I think he’s serviceable.
The Chicago Tribune says Cutler is out 6 - 8 weeks with the injury, so there’s a chance that he could be back for the playoffs.
In the meantime, it’s time for Haniemania!
Another great week for the NFC North, but at great cost. Adrian Peterson leaves his game with an ankle sprain (nothing broken, MRI scheduled today) and Jay Cutler breaks his thumb, plays through it, and will now be out for 6-8 weeks. The Vikings’ season was all but done anyway, so they should be patient with Peterson, but the Bears are in the midst of a playoff hunt and I’m not so sure Mike Martz likes Caleb Hanie all that much. That could be costly.
Meanwhile, the Packers keep rolling along. It wasn’t pretty (I think that tacklers are still bouncing off Blount) with some poor tackling, Rodgers having an off day (and an off day for him would be great for anyone else), and too many mistakes. But they got a couple interceptions off Freeman, and Rodgers took the team to a TD when they really needed it. The injury to Starks is a concern, as is the defensive regression, but still, they’re 10-0 and sitting pretty.
The Bears get another convincing win, this time against the slumping Chargers. As usual, special teams and turnovers were a big part of the win, but it was the passing game that looked very good that was a pleasant surprise. Cutler had a lot of time to throw (Chargers are 26th in the league in sacks), but was able to find his guys over and over. The real story will be how it goes from here on out with Cutler being out. They have three games against the AFC West coming up, so they have a bit of leeway, but going to Oakland next week might be a challenge. But this team isn’t built on the strength of the QB, so the Bears will have to count on defense and special teams a bit more than usual.
The Lions bounce back, both from an embarrassment last week and from an early deficit this weekend, and get a big win. The big story here was Kevin Smith looking like a world beater in this game. If he can keep it up would really help the Lions in their playoff run. The Lions defense also got 4 interceptions off of Cam Newton, which was nice. Stafford was hit or miss, but hit a lot more than miss. Although it was against a bad team, the Lions win was big for that team.
The Vikings are … well the Vikings. The story of this game was the injury to Peterson, which doesn’t appear to be too serious. Rough game for the rookie QB Ponder too. The Raiders, and the refs if you’re to believe the whining from Oakland, tried to let the Vikings back into it, but they didn’t have enough to get it done. The continued development of Ponder and the testing of their young players is all that is in store for the rest of the season this year.
So the NFC North continues to look like the best division in football, with an undefeated Packers and two currently playoff qualifying teams in the Bears and Lions playing well. With Cutler’s injury, the emergence of a running game in Detroit (against a bad team, though), and the Packers undefeated storyline, the division stays very interesting also.
I told you guys to take the Buccaneers and the points. Also, Kevin Fucking Smith.
Hanie played pretty well in the second half of the NFC Championship Game last January, and came surprisingly close to leading the Bears back against the Packers that afternoon. It could be worse for the Bears; they could be in the Chiefs’ shoes.
Where did you say to take the points? AS far as I can tell you said the Bucs would end the Packers streak.
Serviceable? He is untested huge question mark. The NFL is a game of quarterbacks.
Packers secondary still worries me a lot. They are fine against the run (despite Blount’s steamrolling over them). But man there seem to be a lot of open receivers at times.
No kidding. Winslow was open at will yesterday (much as Gates was two weeks ago). If any of you have Pettigrew or Calvin Johnson in your fantasy leagues, start them this week. 
The Packers linebackers cannot cover TEs for their life.