Kind of a cheap shot, doncha think. He didn’t use spreads!
Incidentally, you’re welcome on that whole Bucs/Panthers thing. Any reports of illicit cheerleader activities?
I bet they keep Orton playing until they are tied with Minn. Like a starting pitcher, you keep him in until the other team ties it up, then you bring in a reliever. Grossman looked good in his last games before being injured, from what I remember. He beat the Packers in GB when they were still somewhat respectable. The Bears as of now don’t really impress me at all.
If they keep playing like they have been, they’ll be watching Minnesota in the playoffs. Grossman comes in at the 2nd half on xmas day and brings the Bears back to win. If they stick with Orton, they’ll lose.
Damn Packers, just like 16 or so years ago when they won a game and lost Aikman (and got Madarich), they’re going to lose out on Leinert or Bush. Just lose dammit!
OK, after seeing the Bears get taken down a peg yesterday I think I’ve decided what they need to do in the draft next year. We knew they had flaws, but I don’t think we which were the most pressing. Shockingly I’m not convinced that the QB position is one we need to address immediately. While Orton hasn’t gotten it done, I think he proved that he has the talent to do it. On that one long drive (and on occasion in other games) he showed that he has every throw in the book except perhaps that 15-20 out (and there’s maybe 5 guys in the league with that throw). As much of the blame for the ineptness in the passing game goes on the gameplan and play colling as it does on Orton, IMHO.
I’m 100% convinced that Grossman should have been in the game when we gave up the 3rd TD. The game was out of hand and we needed to get him some reps just in case. He’s not the savior, but he needs to get the work now.
Anyways, here’s the needs, in order, that the Bears must address in the offseason.
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KR/PR/WR - They absolutely need to find a quality return guy who can step in to be the second WR that threatens to stretch the field. The don’t need the next Randy Moss, just a guy who can reliably improve field position in the return game and be a homerun threat every snap to relive pressure on the running game and Moose. They realistically can find this guy in the end of the 1st round of the draft.
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FB/RB - They need a sledge hammer. A guy who can line up in the I and knock guys off the ball to get Jones to the second level. A guy with the ability to step in a be a tailback in the Bettis mold. Again, he doesn’t need to be a game changer, but a solid roleplayer. The second coming Ironhead would be a treat. He may be available in the mid rounds of the draft as well.
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P - I’m not sure what Maynard’s deal is, but he’s really been underperforming over the last 4 weeks or so. Ideally he’ll bounce back and play well in the final weeks of this season, but he seems to be really struggling in the cold weather. Also, when pinned deep in his own zone his range gets worse. Directional punting also leaves alot to be desired. For the Bears to succeed in a ball control, field position style game those skills are at least as important as any offensive skill position.
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LB - We need depth at LB. I love the starting trio, but Hillenmeyer doesn’t quite have the physicality that it takes to dominate against the run every down. Adding a quality backup who can spell guys and fill in in run situations would be ideal. Plus one would hope he’d bolster the kick coverage teams.
All in all, we’re awfully damn close. The injury to Mark Bradley has had a bigger impact than I had expected. Maynard could very possibly find his rhythm again and return to the form he showed early in the season. It’s probably an impssibility but I’d love to see them move Cedric Benson at $.75 on the dollar in exchange for a key contributor. In free agency, I wish they’d have been the one’s to take a chance on Koren Robinson, but I’m not aware of a ideal fit upcoming for any of these key psotions. Time will tell. Brandon Lloyd is going to be a FA I think, he might fit as a WR option but he doesn’t have return skills or blazing speed.
As for the QB situation, I’m comfortable standing pat with the tandem of Orton and Grossman going into next season in a heads up competition.
OK, I just tallied up the last few weeks in which I’d gotten lazy and I’ve made some progress.
Had a 7-7-2 week for Thanksgiving, and a great 12-4 week last week bringing me up to an 85-85-5 total ATS. So, it’s good to see that after the atrocious start to the season I broke the even mark again.
With no O/U lines on Turkey day I only had one week of O/Us to tally prior to this week. Last week I went 10-6, which is pretty solid, and brough the total to 62-59-3.
Last weeks OMNI picks were perfect at 5-0, bringing the total to 31-28-1.
As you can see this season has been about a coinflip across the board. The confidence picks are barely better than the whole and the O/U isn’t much more reliable. About the only thing I’ve noticed is that it’s bad for me to bet the ATS and O/U bets on the same week sicne I rarely do well at both in a given week.
This week has been pretty average, I’m sitting at 6-8-1 ATS and 7-6-2 O/U and 1-4 on the Pick 5 with Monday night remaining. I guess I should count my blessings that I’m withing shouting distance of even and that I haven’t been wagering much in the way of real money these days.
Sorry about the cheapshot, Omni. It wasn’t that bad, and I think if you took Monocracy’s picks as ATS he still did pretty well.
Did you make the big bucks on this? I seem to recall it’s pretty rare for someone to pick the straight Five.
Unfortunately no. Back when I started it the pool would have paid somewhere on the order of $1000/week off a $20 investment, though if the pot rolled over for a few weeks it could have been as high as $6000 or more. Typically, there were only about 4 or 5 winners per season with around 40 participants, so that kind of prize wasn’t uncommon. This season has been especially tricky to pick, so the pots might even be bigger.
However the last couple seasons I stopped participating because I didn’t like the way the organizers were running things. I endeavored to start up my own pool, but I never managed to get together enough participants to make it worth while. I still do the picks now just for entertainment, practice and bragging rights.
Of course, I’ve had two 5-0 weeks IIRC this season already…Grrr.
Does anyone know where I can see the missed field goal by Kris Brown yesterday? I just want to see how badly he missed it. From what I’ve read, it seems as if he wasn’t even close to making it from 31 yards.
Hate to point out that I think you may be seeing the grass as greener, but you’ve got a mighty fine LB corps over there in the windy city. Hillenmeyer is a smart player, and while a physical OLB is nice, a smart one works fine.
I’m still amazed that GB beat Detroit. That place is even more screwed up than I thought.
I’m not knocking them, I think they have one of the best 3-somes in the league. Honestly, I can’t think of a better one. However they are a little shallow, an injury to any one of those guys puts us in a tight spot. Plus I think against a team like Pittsburgh that can stay on the field for a drive, the LBs get a little winded. Rivera has hesitated to put any of the backups into the game, and having a viable 4th guy is a critical. Both for rotation and security.
Well, they featured it on PTI today. They usually replay the show a few times on ESPN2 and/or ESPNEWS, check your local listings and you may catch it tonite.
It was comically bad. One of the worst looking kicks I’ve seen that weren’t a result of a 65 mph gale.
OK, just to update my stats … two weeks ago, i had a horrible 4-10 record, but made up for it this week going 9-4-1 (always against the spread).
This brings my total to 53-60-4. I’m still a bit under 50%, only 3 weeks left to break even.
And, i must say, the Patriots looked really good against Buffalo. If they play this way from now on, they’ll make it far into the playoffs. If they beat Tampa Bay this weekend, they’re looking to go 11-5, which is a pretty damn good record, considering all the injuries they’ve had this year.
I haven’t seen a new thread for this week yet, so i’ll put my picks for today’s games here.
NEW ENGLAND and NY GIANTS both win against the spread. I’ll have to wait and see what the spread of the Denver game is before i pick that one.