Yeah, the Seahawks beat the Bears in Soldier Field this season but that was the low point of the season for the Bears. They played about as terrible of a game as is possible, their offensive line was a revolving door and Cutler took a pounding. Their defense got surprised and exploited by Mike Williams and Hasselbeck was at the peak of health. Pretty much everything that could go wrong did go wrong in that game, and the Bears lost by 3 points and had a missed FG near the end of regularion.
I feel pretty confident and there’s a better than average chance that Hasselbeck is going to take some big hits this time around in the cold. The retooled Bears O Line should be able to eliminate that corner blitz that handcuffed them all game last time around. Hats off to the Seahawks and you’re crazy if you don’t think they can win, but the result of the previous game has pretty much zero impact on my confidence. Their play yesterday is a much more pressing concern.
You had to root for Green Bay yesterday (now they get the weaker [stronger] team, Seattle). But hold on, we’re not done yet. You also have to root for Green Bay next week (so that, if the Bears win, they will host the NFC Championship.) If you’ve been focusing, this is the third time in four weeks you’ve been hoping Green Bay would win (week 16 vs. the Giants to give the Bears the #2 seed). Playoffs are brutal indeed. Of course, do you really want to play a Green Bay team good enough to beat Atlanta in the dome? But, do you really want to play, in Atlanta, an Atlanta team good enough to beat this Green Bay team?
Hell, if this season holds true for the Bears, Hasselback will be hit by a car, the GeorgiaDome will collapse killing both other NFC playoff teams, and whoever represents the AFC will come down with food poisoning from a team dinner and have to start their practice squad.
I noticed that when the Ravens were kicking a field goal (or maybe it was an extra point) the jumbo screen behind the goalposts was showing a good looking girl in a bikini. Coincidence or attempt to distract the kicker?
Just out of interest, had you ever been critical of the playoff structure before this season?
Because what happened with Seattle has always been a possibility under the current system. Hell, if my calculations are correct, it would be theoretically possible for a 4-12 team to win its division and host a 15-1 wildcard team.
And what sort of differential is sufficient to trigger your criticism? Just last year, the 10-6 Cardinals hosted the 11-5 Packers in the Wild card round. The year before that, the 8-8 Chargers hosted the 12-4 Colts.
Anyone could see, from the moment they designed the system, that there might be some years where discrepancies like this would occur. Given this fact, it’s rather surprising how many people are suddenly up in arms about it this year.
I agree. Likewise, no way #1 seed Atlanta should have to face scary-as-fuck Green Bay while the #2 seed gets to play Seattle. They should probably use regular tie-breaker procedures (W-L record, then head-to-head, then intra-conference record, etc.) to determine seeding instead of giving the top for seeds to the division champs no matter what.
Alternately, they could go to a “choose your own opponent” setup for the divisional round. It’ll never happen, of course, but it would be really interesting to see the strategy of maybe choosing based on matchups or injuries instead of overall record, as well as the prideful indignation of the team that gets picked by the #1 seed.
Actually it could be 3-13 team. Every team in the division win one division game and loses everything else, causing a four way tie. Which, oddly enough, the division would go to whoever played the hardest schedule, even though they lost every game.
