Bears
- With the Saints win last night the Bears can clinch a bye with an Eagles loss tonight or a win against the Packers. They can still get a number one seed but it will take a lot of doing. The Eagles, Saints and Falcons would all have to lose one game and the Bears would have to win this Sunday.
- The Tribune‘s Brad Biggs provides a fascinating look at the cat and mouse game the bears were playing with the Jets on special teams. I have to confess that I miss most of it.
- More Biggs:
“ex-Bears player who came up big Sunday? Nathan Vasher made some plays for the Lions in their upset win at Miami. Don’t look now, but Detroit is slowly turning the corner to becoming competitive and the Lions’ upset of the Packers earlier this month looms huge in preparations for this coming Sunday.”
The NFC North could be a monster division next year with the Bears, Packers and Lions. The Packers aren’t going to be this hurt again and the Bears aren’t going to be this healthy. I don’t know what’s wrong with the Vikings defensive line but there’s still a lot of talent there even if tackle Pat Williams does retire. A new head coach could step in there with any kind of a decent quarterback and win a lot of games. The division will be very competitive.
- And one more good point by Biggs:
“If the Packers defeat the Bears to reach the postseason, they could wind up as the No. 6 seed. That scenario could push the Bears to the No. 3 seed, meaning they would have a rematch at Soldier Field the following weekend.”
I have to be honest. The Packers are just about the last team I’d like to see the Bears play in the playoffs. They match up better with almost any other NFC team likely to make it.
- Neil Hayes at the Chicago Sun-Times highlights the good work of the Bears coaching staff:
‘‘’We’re a halftime team,’ receiver Devin Hester said. ‘We go in and fix everything that needs to be fixed and come out and make sure we’re successful with it.’”
- Rex Ryan on the Jets defense via Dennis Waszak at the New York Post:
“I don’t want to diminish what Chicago accomplished because they made some plays, but that wasn’t our best. We’ve got to get back. There’s no excuses. We’ve got to get back.”
Elsewhere
- The east coast blizzard that postponed the Eagles-Vikings matchup and kept the Jets in Chicago overnight Sunday has raised a lot of concerns about the Northeast Super Bowl awarded to New Jersey for 2014. From The New York Times‘ George Vecsey.
This really sounds to me like much ado about nothing. Snow is common and if necessary they’ll play in that. But it would take a pretty rare event to shutdown a Super Bowl or even cause major problems playing and attending the game.
- The Pioneer Press Sports Figure of the Years? The 12th man. Specifically the one in last years playoff loss against New Orleans:
“So it makes complete sense to make The 12th Man the Pioneer Press’ Sports Figure of the Year, even if this is our first recipient to go nameless. True, (Naufahu) Tahi put the Vikings over the limit, but The 12th Man represents everyone involved in the fiasco, all those who made it possible and turned it into a moment every bit as infamous as The Knee and Hail Mary and the Love Boat in franchise lore. Maybe more.”
“It set up a year of great expectation and, too often, greater disappointment.”
“Minnesota was never the same.
“The state or the team.”
- Tim Tebow may have inserted himself into the Broncos future but not necessarily because of his on field performance. As pointed out by Judy Battista at The New York Times there were only 5700 no shows for a meaningless game against the Texans Sunday.
One Final Thought
Vikings cornerback Asher Allen in repines the the Pioneer Press’ question: “Which was the best Christmas present you received as a kid?”:
“”I never got a Christmas present. Never. We don’t celebrate Christmas. We do Christmas throughout the whole year. Every day is Christmas. As long as you get up, every day is Christmas.”