Just curious here. Just where is the Bears offense rated?
30th…31st?
Oh…one more thing.
What is the Bears home game playoff record since 1985?
For those that don’t know.
It’s 2-5
Bet low.
Take the under.
Total points the Bears allowed this season at home. 61 points.
You keep taking about teams from a decade ago.
Those that forget the past are doomed to relive it.
Sunday, November 20, 2005
That curious ringing in you ear, that’s irony my friend.
Well, I already made predictions for three of these four games earlier in the thread. Those (WAS def. SEA, IND def. PIT, NE def. DEN) won’t change, which leaves:
Carolina at Chicago:
I just don’t think the Bears are that good a football team. They’re good, certainly, and they’ve got a great defense, but that’s not enough. Their offense, Rex Grossman or not, is entirely one-dimensional, and they can be shut down by a halfway decent defense. Carolina’s defense is more than halfway decent.
I know Carolina lost in Chicago earlier in the year, but I don’t see it happening again. Neither Grossman (who’s thrown fewer than 200 passes in his NFL career, including just 39 this season) nor Orton is ready to face playoff-caliber defenses in a must win situation, and the rest of the offense is too inexperienced in the postseason to keep them on track. I think Carolina takes it by a touchdown.
Didn’t that Superbowl have one of the most boring first halves of any Superbowl ever? It was very good, but I wouldn’t go so far as to call it one of the best.
Also, I think the Panthers fans, players and coaches need to keep their perspective; the Giants played truly horribly against the Cats, and if that instills a false sense of security into the Panthers, I see bad things happening for them in Chicago.
Don’t blame Tiki. If you ask me, the coaching staff squandered the offense’s whole five minutes.
…ba dum pum!..
But seriously, regarding the notion of covering every base, how can Chicago both shut down the run and double-team Smith? Presuming a real double-team. There are only so many players on the field at any one time.
I’m not sure what you mean by a “real” double team; double coverage is almost exclusively giving safety help to your corner.
Seems simple enough to just put eight men in the box, the eighth man being the safety who isn’t doubling Smith. Then just man up a CB on Colbert and put linebackers on the backs and tight ends, and you’re good to go.
The problem with that scenario is that now you’re playing in a one deep shell, with the one being perilously close to the line of scrimmage. In theory, it would shut down the running back (both in running and on screens and whatnot) and the receiver being doubled, but you’re pressuring your linebackers and your second cornerback pretty hard, basically leaving them all on an island. Even worse is that your deep man is woefully out of position at the snap.
But if you really believe that the Panthers are only capable of running the ball and throwing to Smith, it should work like a charm.
Double team Smith and Proehl will beat them. Double team both and Foster will will beat them.
What are they gonna do?
And if you think the OL doesn’t remember 8 sacks…
Peppers healthy Rucker healthy.
Grossman will be glad their season is over.
Yeah, they’re already on their heels.
On another topic: Doctor: Palmer knee injury ‘potentially career-ending’
Ouch.
Wow. By my count, that makes four starting QBs questionable for starting day next year: Drew Brees, Daunte Culpepper, Chad Pennington, and now Carson Palmer.
Playing QB in the NFL is clearly hazardous to your health.
This just in… 
(I was going to use the “Putz” one, but then I realized I would probably be thrown into jail over that new being-annoying-on-the-internet law.)
Anyway, here’s my best wishes to all four. Not to be biased, but Drew Brees and Carson Palmer especially. Brees because (a) Rivers has yet to shake a serious case of stagefright and (b) Drew really has a champion’s heart, and Palmer because he’s so young; it’d be such a tragedy to see his career end. It sounds like his doctor’s as optimistic as he can be in the circumstances, though.
I went 3-1 last week in my straight up picks.
This week, straight up, i like Washington, New England, INDIANAPOLIS, and CHICAGO.
Against the spread, i’ll take Washington, New England, Pittsburgh, and CHICAGO.
Are we looking at a rematch of Superbowl XXXL? It could be sweet revenge.
I don’t believe that. In fact, I’d been thinking along the lines of your analysis. For any double-team scheme to be implemented, some other area must become less dense. If two men are committed to one, then that means that nine are committed to eight. The coach’s job, as I see it, is to figure out the best way to take advantage of nine against eight. (And quite frankly, Smith is of the calibre that a mere two might not be enough.)
Regarding the home game business, the Panthers are a good away team this year. Some people even believe that away teams can have certain advantages in playoff games. They aren’t concerned with excessive local news coverage, demands for tickets from friends and neighbors, the logistics balancing of individual travel, and stuff like that. The away guys can check into their hotel, get a good night’s sleep, get on a single bus the next day, and go to work. Fans in playoff games are fickle too. If the home team fails to satisfy them, the boos can be deafening.
I defer to your betting knowledge, but I’ve always wondered about the relevance of these types of stats since they concern teams that have been completely turned over so many times. That is, half of the players today were just kids or not even born when the Bears lost at home in the 1986 playoffs, so how can that possibly make any difference?
My picks:
Straight up: Seahawks, Pats, Colts, Panthers.
Spread: All four road teams. I must be insane.
One reason to pick the Panthers is the weather. If this weekend were going to be your typical Chicago-in-January sort of day (as in about 10°, snowy and windy), one team would be able to handle the weather, and it wouldn’t be Carolina. But the forecast for Sunday is high 42°, low 33°. Carolina can handle that sort of weather.
The Redskins have lost only one game all year by more than 7, and with good reason. No blowout. I’m rooting for the 'Skins, of course, but my hunch is this is as far as this team gets, this year.
I’m half tempted to take the Steelers to win, but I’m going to manfully resist temptation. I only saw the second half of their Bengals game, and they looked damned good, but the Bengals were having to make do with Kitna, and the Colts aren’t the Bengals.
The Pats? I’ll believe it’s over for the Pats when it’s over.
I could swear I’d heard the forecast had been revised to 26 F for the high, with snow showers and hellacious winds. Which plays right into the Bears hands.
As an aside, I’ve not seen anything from Skins fans about our game last week… did you feel like you won or the Bucs lost? From our side of the aisle it felt a lot more like the Bucs lost a very winnable game than being beaten, although obviously the Skins did win.
Here’s a 'Skins fan:
Defense played well enough to win.
Bucs lost.
Offense sat around and ate cake.
I don’t know if this is really true or not (link checks out, but I don’t know if it is actual editorial policy), but I laughed reading it anyway. Apparently, in the Seattle Times: