This isn’t how the Vikings-Bucs game was supposed to turn out. That 15+ play drive for the TB mid-4th quarter td was just a brutal drive for MN. Lots of 3rd down conversions by Freeman. Kudos to them.
LOL. I literally called it a “brutal drive” when texting my friend earlier. Ponder needs another year of seasoning and I wish it wasn’t on my clock. Nice to see a home run from AP and, for one play, Jared Allen proving he’s not to be messed with…for one play.
Faaaaaack! My wife’s asleep, we found out earlier today our second child will be a girl, we’re closing on a house tomorrow, moving Saturday…and yet somehow this makes me feel shitty tonight.
BTW, not sure who the color guy was tonight, but he was fair and very insightful. Anyone know?
INT by Ponder…did I mention Ponder blows? I’m pretty sure we lost a chance to draft RG3 or Luck by beating Wash on the road last year. Both whose teams have beaten the Vikes this year.
Could’ve had one of those guys or a wagonload of draft picks. Time to jump on my home team’s wagon, I guess.
Wow was I ever wrong. That Vikings defense just stunk last night, and Freeman and Martin played very well. I’m not sure it’s the end of the Viking’s playoff hopes at all, though, but that defensive performance was reminiscent of their bad last few years.
I lost a bit of respect for the Viking fans who booed their QB in the first quarter of the game. It’s like they forget he’s a second year QB who is still developing. Ponder, despite his latest struggles, is still a higher rated QB than Phillip Rivers, Tony Romo, Joe Flacco, and Jay Cutler, yet his own fans are booing him for throwing what the defense gave him. Not smart and not classy.
So who’s the best team in the NFC North? GB or Chicago?
If only they had played a game so we could have a better idea on how to answer that question.
Oh, wait.
Congratulations on the good news!
‘’
Heh, three QBs whos own fans aren’t always sure about.
Last night showed why I like Martin and actually liked him a little better in the draft than Richardson. He is excellent at finding the holes, he makes quick decisions, he is a good receiver and he has excellent leg drive.
I wasn’t sold on Freeman, there were still too many passes that were in the ground or otherwise uncatchable. I think he will be a solid QB, but he won’t be that next level guy.
As for the Vikings, O agree, he is still a 2nd year QB who needs to learn more about the NFL game. But he made some excellent throws last night (and some poor throws and some poor decisions). But he didn’t fumble the ball twice and his interception hardly mattered.
The Packers get a win despite not playing all that well. Amazing how not having your top 2 wide receivers due to injury can hurt the passing game. The Packers still need work in the running game, both with blocking and Green’s rushing. They also need better communication and less blown coverages in the secondary; when you let Blaine Gabbert throw for over 300 yards, you’re doing something seriously wrong. Still, they’re tied for second in the NFC North, which is nice.
Matthew Stafford makes a “I’m not dead yet” statement and gets the Lions a win against the Seahawks. I’m thinking the early season hype of the NFC West teams was a bit overblown. The Lions gave up way too many yards on the ground to Marshawn Lynch and Calvin Johnson has been anything but Calvin Johnson-like, but they’ll take a win at this point. I still don’t understand why they don’t run the ball more and why that D Line is so hyped though. I admit I’m not happy seeing Jim Schwartz win, but hey, I hate Pete Carroll too, so we’ll call it a wash.
The Bears get yet another win handed to them, this time thanks to Cam Newton throwing a pick 6 to cost the Panthers the game. It’s the same story too, Cutler looks like Cutler, Forte carries the offense, and the defense gets the win for an anemic offense. I’m not sure how long they can continue to get lucky wins like this one, but were I a Bears fan, I’d be seriously concerned about my O Line and my QB as the schedule gets a lot tougher from here on out.
Bears did get lucky, that INT for aTD only happens because Steve Smith slipped
As a Bears fan, I’d like to politely decline to answer.
The Bears didn’t luck into a win. I was at the game, BTW. The Steve smith play was lucky, but they did a lot to win that game. Prior to the Pick 6 the Bears put together a 7 play TD drive, and they put together a 9 play drive to get the final FG from their own 22 with 90 seconds left. Had Newton not thrown the pick it’s very possible that they punt and the outcome is identical. Never mind the fact that Gould missed a gimme FG earlier in the game and the Panthers got help from the post on another. There are lucky plays, but plenty of players slip and fall and balls are over thrown, they aren’t all picked off and returned 30 yards for TD.
That said, the Bears played like utter garage for the first 3 quarters and didn’t really deserve to win that game. The first 3 quarters were a failure in every aspect. Even some seriously chickenshit Special Teams play by the Panthers was never capitalized on. However, the defense and punt team played just well enough to make the Panthers work really hard to get what few points they got so they were in position to steal one when the 4th quarter started.
I didn’t say they won only because of luck, but, as you pointed out, their biggest play of the game was luck. And that wasn’t the only one.
A drive that started on the Carolina 38 yard line because of a 6 yard punt by the Panther punter. Maybe you want to argue that it was a stellar special teams play by the Bears, but, to me, it was just plain old luck.
Sure. And had he not thrown the pick, maybe magic pixies carry Forte to the end zone on their magic wings. You never know.
We agree.
Um, let me quote you:
Soo… what exactly are you saying again?
Lemme guess, every time the Panthers dropped a pass, over threw the ball, or missed a tackle the Bears were lucky. Every time the Bears dropped a pass, missed a throw or missed a tackle they were just bad. Sound about right to you?
If you’d have watched the game at all, you’d have noticed that the Panthers were treating Devin Hester like he was wearing a red cape out there. They squib kicked every single kick off to keep it out of his hands and they horrible punt was a failed attempt at a kick away from Hester.
Now, you may want to say the Panthers were stupid for doing that, and yes their punter mis-hit the ball, but the Bears forced them into that decision and created the opportunity for a break. It’s what the Bears do, make you work hard for everything, bend but don’t break and trust that everyone makes big errors in football if you give them enough opportunities to. you’d think by now people would be used to the fact that this is the way the Bears win games, they’ve only been doing it this way for a decade.
The play wasn’t the decisive one. There was a lot of time left after it and a lot of players were made after it when the game was still in doubt. By your logic every good bounce that shifts momentum and leads to points invalidates a victory.
It’s always idiotic to say that one play decided a game and it’s particularly lazy to say that a play was wholly attributed to luck, as if there were no preparation or skill in capitalizing.
The Bears gave the Panthers 3 quarters of opportunities and they didn’t make it pay off, the Panthers gave the Bears one opportunity and they capitalized big time.
That luck played a big part in the Bear win.
Nope, not even close. More like: everytime a WR fell down and the pass resulted in an interception returned for a TD, the Bears got lucky. Every time a punter shanks a punt for only 6 yards, that’s lucky. Everytime
Sure Omni, it was Devin Hester’s great play, and not a piss poor punt, that made the punter shank it. How could I have not seen it earlier!
Again, you have to build a strawman to try and make a point. The pick 6 was a lucky play that resulted in a decisive 7 points for the Bears. It wasn’t the only play by any stretch, but the way the game turned out, it was the biggest play of the game and it was mostly just luck.
Good thing I didn’t say that then, isn’t it?
Nope, Jennings had to reach up a few inches, catch a ball thrown almost right to him, and run a whopping 25 yards with no one in front of him without tripping over his own legs. Amazing skill right there!
Of course it wasn’t just luck that the Bears won. Whenever we have these arguments, that’s the strawman you build to try and misrepresent what I say.
But you’re kidding yourself if you think luck didn’t play a big factor in the Bears win.
Yep, the Bears are better than the Panthers. Kudos to you!
[Quote=Omni]
It’s always idiotic to say that one play decided a game
[/quote]
Are you drunk or something?
Yes, but that is beside the point. Maybe “decisive” is a bad word choice. How about “vitally important” or “the biggest play in the game” instead.
In case we wanted to devolve this thread into idle speculation and rumor mongering, I’ll say that I’m intrigued by the trade deadline this Tuesday (although it may be changed thanks to Sandy). Alex Green has been less than stellar in his performance as a running back and there are a couple players (Steven Jackson and DeAngelo Williams) who might be of interest. They are both overpaid and there may not be salary cap room for Williams, but at least it is something to pay attention to.
I’d take either of those guys over the nonsense we have now.
http://blogs.suntimes.com/bears/2012/11/bears_cornerback_charles_tillm.html
Charles Tillman named NFC defensive player of the month. Sure was lucky wasn’t he? All luck I s’pose, no skill or practice needed when we’re talking about the Bears’ D.