I want Schwartz gone at the end of this year. The team is a total reflection of his own lack of control, and it’s unacceptable to have a head coach like that.
My ideal offseason:
Fire Schwartz and Co.
Trade Suh for multiple draft picks
Fill holes in the defensive secondary
Fun Facts:
Adrian Peterson has 1101 yards rushing in his last 7 games, even though every team knows the Vikings are going to run the ball. That’s 157 yards per game, which is phenomenal. His last 7 games alone would put him as the 6th leading rusher in the league.
Every team knows the Vikings are going to run the ball because their QB, Christian Ponder, has only 962 yards passing in those same 7 games. That’s 137 yards per game, which is awful.
Hey don’t worry. The Packers will probably find their pass rush next week.
The Packers Secondary looks much better…coughSamShieldscough
If the Vikings somehow manage to make the playoffs (not likely, but it could happen), I think Peterson has a helluva good argument for MVP. He’s been, by far, the most important player to the Vikings and is the only reason they are even in the playoff hunt. He is an amazing player.
Bears/Packers weekend, this time in Green Bay. As a Packer fan, I have maintained all year that the Bears were feasting on lesser competition to get to their 7-1 record, and with the 1-4 record since and their inability to even beat the Vikings, I’m feeling pretty confident about my view. Jay Cutler remains in the bottom 3rd in the league in quarterback efficiency rating, the offensive line isn’t good, and Mike Tice’s playcalling isn’t the least bit innovative. Were it not for the huge catching radius of Brandon Marshall, the offense would be among the worst in the NFL. Meanwhile the Packers are nowhere near as dominating as they have been in the past, but they’re still finding ways to win. Which is nice. The Packers will have Clay Matthews back for this game, so there is hope the defense will improve, and Dom Capers seems to have good plans for Jay Cutler, so it should be a fun game to watch.
But it is a NFC North rivalry games, and those generally are pretty close affairs. While I’d love to predict a Packer blowout, I think it may be a bit closer than that. Still, I think the Packers get a win, the Bears lose again, and I’ll be smiling on Sunday afternoon.
The Lions get to go down to Arizona for the Cardinals, who just got hammered last week. It’s the NFL, so I don’t anticipate another meltdown by the Cards, but the Lions should be able to get a win against a team that basically gave up last week. I think the game will be closer than people think though.
And the Vikings are an underdog in St. Louis. This is a fascinating game to me, mostly because I hate Jeff Fisher and want him to fail miserably, and I love me some All Day. I think these teams are pretty evenly matched also, so it would be a fun one to watch. It will be a make or break game for Christian Ponder, who may be on a short leash this week and has to prove he can compete. It should be a good game to flip over to while the Packers are pounding the Bears.
Correction: The Packers / Bear game is at Soldier Field
Brian
Why do you hate Jeff Fisher? I mean, you don’t have to like the guy, but why “hate”?
He played defensive back for the Bears. Maybe that’s enough. 
Because I think he coaches his players to play dirty. From 2001 to 2010, his Tennessee Titans were, by far, the most penalized team for unnecessary roughness, and roughing the passer. They were 5th in personal fouls and 5th in Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalties. Overall, in that time period, his team had 26 more of those penalties than the second place team (NY Giants) and 86 more than the least penalized team (Seahawks). That’s not a coincidence, nor is his love and protection of douchebags like Courtland Finnegan and Albert Haynesworth. I think he’s a good coach for getting the most out of average players, but other than that, I don’t think he’s good at all. Finally, I think he’s a whiny little bitch, constantly bitching to the refs and to the press. And I hate his moustache.
Despite two more misses, Coach McCarthy reiterated that Mason Crosby is going to remain the Packers kicker. This leads me too ask, “What are in the incriminating photos that Crosby must have on McCarthy?”
Time for me to start cheering for my second favorite team – anyone who is playing against the Packers.
There’s one other factor in there…one of Fisher’s defensive assistants through that period (and the defensive co-ordinator in '09 and '10) was our old Packer safety Chuck Cecil, who was well-known as a dirty player, and seemed to be pretty much a punk as a coach, too. (And, Cecil replaced Jim Schwartz as DC, another coach who’s establishing a rep for having dirty players.)
I’ll take a second from enjoying the complete collapse of the Chicago Bears to praise the guy who should be the first mention in anything covering the NFC North, Adrian Peterson. That guy is simply amazing. 212 yards against the Rams and another win for the Vikings where he puts the team on his back and races to the end zone. I don’t think I’ve been this impressed with a running back since Barry Sanders and the legendary Walter Payton, and that’s high praise.
Now, back to the Bears. I am absolutely loving this Bears’ season, almost as much as I did back in 2010 when the Packers beat them in Chicago in the NFC Championship game to go to the Super Bowl. Back then, they were one of the healthiest teams ever, and made it to the NFC Championship through luck, great defense, and getting to play the first team to make the playoffs with a losing record and 2nd worst team (according to football outsiders) to ever make the playoffs in the Seattle. Then reality hit, and the Packers went on to win the Super Bowl.
This year, an uplifting offseason and that 7-1 start had many of my Bears fans friends and family convinced they were a great team, while I thought they were simply bumslayers, taking advantage of poor teams. Now they’ve gone 1-5 when they have to play better teams, and may be only the second team ever to start 7-1 and fail to make the playoffs. They could still win out, make the playoffs and storm their way to a Super Bowl win, but I just don’t see that happening, especially with Jay Cutler at the reigns. Speaking of Jay Cutler, I’ve always thought (and repeatedly said) he’s one of the most overrated QB’s in recent memory, and lo and behold, he has done absolutely nothing to prove me wrong. He has a couple very good games a year where he shows off his rocket arm and playmaking ability to bait his followers into continuing to believe he is better than he is, but the rest of the time he’s throwing picks, blaming everyone else around him for his failures, and being completely unable to put the team on his back. I am really hoping the Bears re-sign him to a longer term contract, pay him a ton of starter money, and keep making excuses for him for the next 5 years, because I’m convinced he’s nothing more than a highly talented, but ultimately mediocre QB.
Needless to say, I am really enjoying the recent Packers’ successes, but I am also getting too much joy out of the recent Bears’ failures too.
Let me just say that McCarthy’s trick play call in the fourth (the punt return pass back) was simply one of the dumbest play calls in the history of the NFL. Almost as dumb as his insistence on keeping Mason Crosby.
Adrian Peterson has entered Barry Sanders territory: I will watch any game he is playing in, just to see him run.
Congratulations to Calvin Johnson! So Rodgers breaks the QB rating record last year, Johnson the receiving yardage record this year and AP seems likely to break the rushing record. And if I am not mistaken didn’t the Bears defense break some sort of defensive scoring record?
Didn’t think that I’d see the Vikings with 9 wins, so this is a great season for them. I will now be a bit disappointed if they don’t make the playoffs.
Good to see that Ponder hasn’t screwed the pooch the past couple of games. Can’t say that I trust him going forward though.
I did like that Peterson seemed very happy with the win and the playoff potential. Didn’t seem to worry about a potential rushing record.
Great weekend of NFC North football coming up.
The Vikings are playing to clinch a playoff spot if they win (and possibly if they lose, the Bears lose, the Cowboys lose, and the Giants lose). Unfortunately for the Vikings, they’re playing the Packers when the Packers have something at stake. If the Packers win, they get a first round bye and the #2 seed, which is kinda a big deal. The game is in Minnesota, and the Vikings have surprised a lot of teams this year. Personally, I think the Packers will likely get the win, but it’ll be fun to watch both teams playing for something.
Meanwhile the Bears are playing the Lions and need a win (and a Viking loss) to make the playoffs. Luckily for the Bears, the Vikings are playing the Packers, so Bear fans are rooting for the Packers (if they want their team in the playoffs that is). They get to play the Lions, a 4-11 team with nothing to play for and a coach who may be on the hot seat.
As to the Bears, Lovie Smith is 19-40 in his career against teams with a winning record, and Jay Cutler has one of the bottom 15 passer efficiency ratings this year (and is 20th in QBR if that is your thing). Both have one more year on their contract, so the Bears have some decisions to make coming up. If they make the playoffs, they could both get contract extensions and the Bears can continue to be bumslayers and little else for a few more years as that defense continues to get older and older. That could be fun to watch.
So strap in for some fun in the NFC North this weekend.