Month: January 2011

Bears-Packers Match Up: Advice Galore on Things to Look For

There are, of course, all kinds of articles this morning previewing the Bears-Packers game.  Here is a straight up summary of some of the better points.  I left out some of the really obvious ones if you are a Bears fan like winning the turnover battle, getting pressure on Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rogers without blitzing, and running the ball more than you did the last time the teams played.

The Chicago Sun-Times asked coaches from the Lions and the Vikings to comment upon the Bears-Packers game.  The comments were surprisingly pro Bear.  Here are some samples that I think are especially good points:

“The Bears can slow Clay Matthews by having a running back or tight end chip him to help the offensive tackle. RookieJ’Marcus Webb has steadily improved, but his performance may affect whether the Bears reach the Super Bowl. Then there’s another pressing concern — the Packers’ two behemoths, Cullen Jenkins and B.J. Raji.

“‘They don’t get enough credit. Those two are forces in there.'”

Could not agree more.  The Packers get great pressure up the middle and it flies under the radar.  While the tendency will be to watch Webb, keep an eye on Olin Kreutz, Roberto Garza, and Chris Williams.  If they’re getting pushed into the backfield it will be a long day.

“The Bears’ outside receivers also need to step up. Devin Hester had two catches for 32 yards in the two games against the Packers, and Johnny Knox — after four catches for 94 yards in the first matchup — was shut out in the finale.

“‘Because they have such a wide variety of schemes and get single high safety, they’re more susceptible to big plays. You can have a catch-and-run.'”

The Packers might be the best team in the league at press coverage.  The Bear wide receivers have to get off the line of scrimmage and into their routes.  Bears offensive coordinator Mike Martz obviously agrees via Neil Hayes at the Chicago Sun-Times:

‘‘’They obviously are the best in the league at bump-and-run and pressing and getting ahold of that receiver,’ Martz said. ‘They do a great job at that. They are well-schooled in all the details of doing that.’

‘‘’You have to have a plan. As a wide receiver, you’ve got to go into that game with a plan for how you’re going to deal with that. Some of it we can use formations and help, but by and large, it’s a technique issue that you have to resolve.’’’

Matt Bowen has some advice for Green Bay defensive coordinator Dom Cpaers in regard to the Packers coverage via Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune.  Like he needs it:

“[If I’m Capers] I’m going to go after [Bears tight end Greg] Olsen and take him completely out of the game because the rest of the Packers DBs, especially their nickel personnel, can win against Johnny Knox and Devin Hester.”

Bowen also makes this point which is always a good one for every game, not just this one:

“If the Bears can’t stop the run with their front seven, which I believe they will do, that will be huge for the Packers. If you can keep those two safeties deep, which you do in Cover-2, and let your linebackers chase down the running game, that is an advantage.”

One of the Sun-Times NFC North experts agrees that the Bears should be able to accomplish this:

“‘Everyone talks about the resurgence of the Packers’ run game, but look at their schedule. They haven’t run on anyone that’s good at stopping it.'”

I don’t want to quote the whole article but Bowen makes another excellent point about the mobility of Bears quarterback Jay Cutler vs. the Packer defense:

“Any time you play Cover-1 and play your corners in a press alignment and your pressure does not contain the quarterback, you’re asking for trouble. Cutler is not Michael Vick, but he’s athletic enough where he can pick up 10, 12, 15 yards. Start putting those things together, and all of a sudden you’re at midfield. It’s a killer for the defense.”

Hayes thinks the Bears will try to isolate Packer nickel back Sam Shields in the same way that the Packers  will try to isolate the Bears nickel backs, usually D. J. Moore.  Moore acknowledges the difficulties with the Packers through Vaughn McClure at the Chicago Tribune, by giving us yet another thing to look for – the Bears need to limitthe run after the catch:

“‘[Green Bay quarterback Aaron] Rodgers is smart,’ Moore said. ‘He gets the ball out to his receivers; short passes. If I want to have a good day, get to (the receiver) fast and don’t let make a move where Rodgers throws it 5 yards and (the receiver) takes it 20.'”

Its also worth mentioning that the Packers receivers have their problems, as well.  They’ve been dropping balls all over the field lately.  It didn’t show up in Atlanta but it was very evident in the last regular season game against the Bears.  If they do that again, the Bears have an excellent chance of limiting Rogers.

Mike Mulligan at the Sun-Times points out correctly that we can expect to see a lot of “sky punts” near the sideline which have limited Hester’s returns in the past.  That will largely limit the Bears advantage on special teams.

I’m going to mention one more major point on my own.  Nearly everyone is lauding the improvement of the Bear offensive line in pass protection.  But I have to point out that the Seahawks got very good pressure on Cutler when they blitzed.  This game will be unwatchable for Bear fans if that happens this Sunday.

When asked to make a prediction the five sources from the opposing NFC North teams that the Sun-Times interviewed went 3-1-1 Bears, Packers, and a cowardly “I don’t know”.  And surprising number of experts elsewhere are actually picking the Bears.  But when Vegas talks, I think people listen and with the spread being the Packer -3.5 at Soldier Field, we know who the real under dog is in this match up.

In any case, blitzkrieg of the Bear offensive line aside, it promises to be a deep, entertaining game on many, many levels.  No matter who wins, its the entertainment that brings which will will count the most this weekend.

Low Class Decision from Otherwise High Class Organization

Though I’m usually more than happy to acknowledge when the Packers players or coaches show an extra degree of class, I’m still mildly perturbed at one particular less classy decision in the offseason.  Via Mark Potash at the Chicago Sun-Times:

“Of all the rejections the Bears faced in hiring coordinators in the offseason, [Packers coach Mike] McCarthy denying the Bears permission to interview Tom Clements for the offensive coordinator position was the most egregious — because he was denying one of his position coaches an opportunity for a promotion.

“It was an awkward subject for McCarthy earlier this season, and he was no more thrilled when it came up again Thursday.

“‘I don’t know why I have to answer something like that right now,’ said McCarthy, apparently forgetting that he never wants to talk about it. ‘I am pro-career advancement with my staff. When a request is made of anybody on our staff, there’s conversations that take place. So Tom and I .?.?. talked about it, and a decision was made and we moved forward. I think Tom’s very happy in Green Bay.'”

Nonsense.  If Clements was happy in Green Bay as quarterbacks coach and didn’t want the Bears job, McCarthy wouldn’t have had to deny him permission to interview.

David Haugh at the Chicago Tribune reflects upon the decision and the comment from McCarthy:

“The move reflected the changing times of the rivalry. After the 1958 season, Bears legend George Halas recommended Giants assistant Vince Lombardi to the Packers because he thought it would be good for the league.

“Compare that magnanimity with coach Mike McCarthy’s testy reaction Thursday when asked about the organization’s decision to prevent Clements from interviewing with the Bears.”

All I can say is that, even if it isn’t immediate, people everywhere usually have to face the consequences for their actions.  These things often come back to bite people in the rear and I’m sure assistants around the league took note when McCarthy kept his Clements from advancing.

Jon Stewart Has a Message Just for You Patriots Fans and Other Points of View

Bears

  • A shout out to Bear Goggles for the Packer jokes found in this post.
  • Kudos to Packer running back James Starks for being classy, at least publicly, about being passed over by the Bears in the draft in embarrassing fashion (via Mark Potash at the Chicago Sun-Times):

“Starks said he had no hard feelings over being snubbed by the Bears, who told him they were going to draft him in the sixth round, then had to tell him they had changed their mind. The Packers selected him 12 picks later.

‘‘’I was thankful, actually, that they thought of me,’ Starks said. ‘Most teams wouldn’t have thought of me in situations like that. I prayed on it. I knew things would fall my way. Now I’m a Green Bay Packer, and I’m lovin’ it.'”

  • —

A first grade teacher explains to her class that she is a Cheesehead.

She asks her students to raise their hands if they are
Cheeseheads too.

No one really knowing what a Cheesehead was, but wanting
to be like their teacher, their hands explode into the air like flashy
fireworks.

There is, however, one exception. A girl named Kristen
who has not gone along with the crowd. The teacher asks her why she has
decided to be different.

“Because I’m not a Cheesehead.”

“Then”, asks the teacher, “what are you?”

“Why, I’m a proud bear Fan,” boasts the little girl.

The teacher is a little perturbed now, her face slightly red. She asks
Kristen why she is a rebel.

“Well, my mom and dad are Bear Fans, so I’m a Bear Fan too.”

The teacher is now angry. “That’s no reason,” she says loudly. “What if
your mom was a moron, and your dad was a moron. What would you be then?”

A pause, and a smile. “Then,” says Kristen, “I’d be a Cheesehead”

“We won’t play a player unless we feel like he can be effective and won’t hurt the team – that he can help the team. I don’t think any of our players would put themselves out there knowing that they can’t do their job and that would definitely be the case with Chris. He’s making progress. There’s no reason really to think that he can’t and won’t be able to perform the same way he normally does.”

  • The obligatory intermission:

“That’s who we are. We believe in our basic philosophy of eventually it’s going to come down me beating the guy across, a one-on-one battle no matter how you get in it. There is only so much you can do. The teams who have a philosophy just blitzing every snap, eventually, though, as you blitz you are going to have to beat someone to get there most of the time. You are not going to have a free guy. If you have a free guy, it’s someone on the outside. So it still comes down to a one-on-one football game. For us it’s the same situation. We just do it a little bit differently, but in the end, as our players said, we’re not going to change a whole lot. For the most part, you are going to know what we are going to do and we are going to try to out-execute you.”

We’ll see.

  • —

Q: Did you here about the Packer fan that died at a pie eating contest?

A: The cow kicked him in the head!

“The one thing we did see when we looked at Tim was he was a tough, competitive guy, but he’s taken that to another step. Both our corners are so physical. I’m so proud of what these guys do and how tough they are and how well they tackle and how well they compete. They have good ball skills, man coverage, but in our system you have to tackle. You have to be physical, there’s no ifs, ands or buts about it and both of them have done a great job with tackling. To answer your question, he’s a heck of a ballplayer.”

I would agree.  But I’ve been waiting all year for someone to take advantage of Jennings short stature.  Hopefully I’ll still be waiting next week.

  • —

Q: What’s the difference between a porcupine and Lambeau Field?

A: The pricks are on the outside of a porcupine.

  • Marinelli, again via the Tribune, on Brian Urlacher, who the Bears were missing all last year:

“The biggest thing he does is he brings a calming effect to the entire defense because he they know if something comes up that is a surprise or whatever, he’s going to handle it. It’s a tremendous calming effect for the defense. His verbiage, his communication, is always right. He’s able to put the players in the good situation all the time. So it’s a comforting feeling for a coach, but also for the defensive team.”

  • —

Q: What do you call a Packer fan with a sheep under his arm?

A: A pimp.

“It’s part of what we are, built in. You have to adjust all four guys that are rushing, unless we’re blitzing, they’ve got to work together. I always tell them four equals one. We have to know where each other is. Each guy has got to do his job and be accountable. You can’t let it take the aggressiveness out of our pass rush.”

  • —

Q: Why is it a good idea to bring a Packer fan along to a Vikings game?

A: You can park in the handicap zone.

  • Fred Mitchell at the Tribune points out that beginning Friday, the bronze lions guarding the Art Institute will sport a Bears helmet (south Lion) and earmuffs and scarf (north Lion) throughout the weekend.
  • —

Q: What do you call a sober Packer fan?

A: A liar.

Q: How do you save a drowning Packer fan?

A: Take your foot off his head.

  • Mark Schlereth at ESPN makes his pick. Jerk:


Elsewhere

  • Eric Mangini discusses how the Jets might go about beating the Steelers Sunday with profootballtalk.com‘s Mike Florio:

Breaking sports news video. MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL highlights and more.

  • Pittsburgh safety Troy Polamalu missed practice again yesterday.  I’m guessing he’ll play but if he’s less than 100% it could be a huge blow to the Steelers.  Via Florio.
  • We’ve heard repeatedly about how good Bears long snapper Patrick Mannelly is but Pro Bowl coach Mike Smith chose to go in another direction (via Michael David Smith at profootballtalk.com).
  • Todd McShay at ESPN has released his first mock draft:



One Final Thought

Jon Stewart has a message just for Patriot fans (via The Sports Pickle):

Aaron Rogers Refuses Autograph to Dying Child and Other Points of View

Bears

  • Steve Rosenbloom at the Chicago Tribune:

“’As you go back to the preseason,’ Lovie Smith said, “no one really saw us being in this position.’ Raising my hand.”

Mine too.

“When. The. Bears. Have. The. Ball. Shut. The. Hell. Up. Already.”

This leaves hometown American Idol winner Lee DeWyze to sing at halftime instead of the anthem (via Jeff Dickerson at ESPNChicago.com).

“So we didn’t win a couple of years there. That’s not Lovie’s fault.  It wasn’t because we weren’t coached well or weren’t prepared. And this is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately league, so, yes, I think Lovie should get an extension now.”

So whose fault is it?

Step carefully, Brian.  Perhaps you should stick to talking about the Packers.

“At the same time, we know the Bears can do better. Would the Bears be playing for a playoff berth today if they had had the injuries the Packers’ have dealt with this season?”

“A small, but not insignificant part of the improvement of the Bears running game is Greg Olsen’s improved blocking. The Bears always insisted Olsen was a true tight end when it was pretty clear that his ineffective blocking made him a wide receiver playing tight end. Tight ends coach Mike DeBord gets credit for improving Olsen’s blocking to passable for an NFL tight end.”

Olsen’s blocking has improved and it was down right good against Seattle.  But I don’t think one good game makes it “passable”.  I don’t think he’s ever going to be a good blocking tight end.

  • Dan Pompei at the Chicago Tribune puts his finger on the problem that the Bears have with defensive tackle Tommie Harris, who they may have to pay as much as $5 million next season if they don’t cut him.  Harris did well against the Seahawks last week:

“And it would be foolish to make a multi-million dollar decision based on one game. But if he plays against the Packers the way he did against the Seahawks, hold everything.

“What needs to be defined is what Harris is, and why he is what he is. Is Harris the player you don’t notice because he is getting blocked or is he the player you can’t see because his feet are quicker than the eye?”

“’There’s no question Mike could be a coordinator, if he wanted to,’ Billick said. ‘But he should be thought of as a head coaching candidate going forward.’”

I would agree.  Tice strikes me as a leader but I’m not sure how he’d do calling plays.

“ESPN.com columnist Rick Reilly took [Jay] Cutler to task last week for not working hard enough to be, in his view, likable.

“‘Cutler could own Chicago if he wanted … (and) have his name on half the billboards,’ Reilly wrote, connecting dots to produce a portrait of a sullen brat who dates a former MTV reality star rather than the strong, silent type others might see in Cutler, especially if he manages to actually win a Super Bowl.

“‘Mr. Reilly wasn’t very happy with me,’ [Cutler] said, grinning slightly after last weekend’s divisional playoff victory. ‘There are a lot of distractions, especially the situation we’re in now. We’ve just got to focus in and do our jobs.’

“There’s plenty of time to pose for billboards and tape commercials later.”

Yes, but Cutler won’t be doing any of that.  Because its not important to him and simply he doesn’t want to do it.  And, as is evident particularly when he deals with the media, Cutler doesn’t do things he doesn’t want to do.

“’The first couple times we went up there, it was easy to be impressed, especially if you were a young coach. There was all this history and tradition, Vince Lombardi and all that,’ Ryan said. ‘But after they rubbed it in a few times, it gets under your skin.

“’So, yeah,’ he added, ‘there were some games when we were more interested in making points than scoring them.’”

“The question for the NFC championship game this week is whether Smith’s game plan Sunday will be more like the teams’ first meeting in Week 3, when he sat back in Cover-2 zones and gave up big yardage but kept the Packers from putting up many points in a 20-17 win at Soldier Field. Or will he play it more like the regular-season finale three weeks ago, when in the Packers’ 10-3 win Smith played mostly with a single safety deep and, very un-Cover-2-like, used extensive man-to-man coverage that included pressing receivers at the line of scrimmage?”

I’d say both.

  • Rob Demovsky at the Green Bay Press Gazette got this interesting comment about the last regular season game when the Bears played the Packers:

“At least one player on the Packers’ side questioned whether the Bears really did go all out in the season finale. To injured running back Ryan Grant, from his perspective on the sideline, something seemed amiss that afternoon.

“’Honestly, it didn’t look like necessarily that they might have been giving it their all,’ Grant said. ‘But who knows? This is a different atmosphere. They’re going to want this game.’”

I don’t know about the coaching staff but if the Bears players were giving all out effort during that game they sure had me fooled.

  • Most of us took note when it was announced that Terry McCauly, the referee when the Packers got called for 18 penalties in Week 3, would be officating this game.  But Demovsky makes a key point:

“But it won’t be the exact same officials. During the regular season, the referee works with the same crew. But at this point in the playoffs, the NFL compiles what it believes to be the best officials at each position.”

  • Tim Hasselbeck at ESPN thinks the Bears are overrated:

  • ESPN’s Ted Bruschi thinks the Bears defense will stop Aaron Rogers:

  • ESPN’s experts this Heinz Field is worse than Soldier Field.  Warning, Skip Bayless is in this video.  Be prepared to scoff:

  • They also debate which defense is better.  I note that there are no debates about which is the better offense.
  • Mel Kiper has completed his first mock draft for ESPN.  Here’s the relevant video for Bears fans. The sharp fan will note that Kiper has the Bears picking THIRTY-FIRST:

  • Demovsky avoids autograph seekers.  At least he didn’t blow by a cancer patient:

  • Green Bay center Josh Sitton talks about the problems that come with preparing to play an opponent for the third time this season:

  • Here’s a little lesson in etiquette for those Packer fans who plan to attend the game at Soldier Field:

Elsewhere

  • Hasselbeck thinks that the Jets became more conservative on defense as the season wore on and that has made them more unpredictable:

  • Vince Young makes a vain attempt to convince the sporting world that he’s a grown up:

  • Here are the Kiper picks that everyone who isn’t a freak like me cares about:

“According to a report released this week by the Association for Applied Sport Psychology, more than 86 percent of NFL wideouts became receivers as a way to compensate for the lack of things thrown at them during their childhood.”

“Pittsburgh police issued an arrest warrant today for Jets wide receiver Santonio Holmes, who allegedly racked up nearly 200 felony charges that were accidentally misfiled during his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers.”

They’re also supplying Ben Roethlisberger with police women to have sex with.  True story.

“Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers created a controversy today while shopping at a grocery store near his home. Witnesses say Rodgers purchased his groceries and left the store without once acknowledging a child in the store who will one day die.”

Eventually….

One Final Thought

This fan apparently wants everyone to know what he’s doing in the dark upper deck seats near the rafters.  Like the people who know him wouldn’t have guessed it already.  From the The Sports Pickle:

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Patriots are a Cautionary Tale as Preparation Still the Key for the Bears This Week

Former NFL safety Matt Bowen describes the preparation for such a familiar foe in the Packers:

“Maybe offensive coordinator Mike Martz can install a new route scheme to take advantage of the Packers’ pressure defense, or get Devin Hester free in the open field on a new wide receiver screen that hasn’t shown up on tape. But those plays are small in comparison to what we will see Sunday. The Cover 2 defense from the Bears, Matt Forte in the run game and the empty, wide open looks from [Green Bay quarterback Aaron] Rodgers and the Packers offense.”

It would seem that this kind of preparation can be a challenge because players feel that they’ve seen it all before.  In this respect cornerback Tramon Williams had some interesting comments on how Green Bay handles the problem:

“It’s going to come down to the small details. When you play a team like that, you may not feel that you have to put in as much studying because you feel you know that team. But you don’t take that approach. You have to go back in, pay attention to more details, and kind of go into Chicago Bears locker room and see [whether you] can understand their players like they understand it. That’s something that my coach just finished telling me that he’s going to do, detailing this work like that. That’s something that our defense has been doing, detailing their work all year. I think that’s what made us play the way we’ve been.”

Hopefully the Bears won’t be complacent in their study either.  I doubt they will given how hard fought the last regular season game against the Packers was.  Nevertheless, despite the comments of both Williams and Bowen, I wonder if someone won’t try to pull a major change this week end.  ESPN‘s NFC North blogger Kevin Seifert wonders the same thing:

“Will that really be the case? This game features two of the most creative coordinators in the NFL. I heard Hawk’s quote and wondered if he wasn’t feeding into the cliché in the name of gamesmanship. With a Super Bowl berth on the line, do we really think that Bears offensive coordinator Mike Martz and Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers will simply let ’em play?

“The smart money says no way, a sentiment Bears center Olin Kreutz expressed in the moments after last Sunday’s 35-24 divisional playoff victory over the Seattle Seahawks.

“‘With the coaches that are going against each other, Coach Martz and Coach [Dom] Capers, there will be some new stuff out there,’ Kreutz said. ‘So we’ll be ready.'”

Let’s hope so.  I’m sure Tom Brady was thinking just as Bowen describes last week before the game against the Jets.  He then walked into a buzz saw as Jets coach Rex Ryan designed what was by all accounts a brilliant game plan to take away the middle of the field.  It was a scheme that Brady never solved and the result was an improbably Jets win.  Michael Silver at Yahoo Sports describes the players reaction:

“When Ryan’s defensive players saw the X’s and O’s their coach had cooked up, there was no mistaking them for hugs and kisses.

“’It was an unbelievable game plan,’ veteran defensive lineman Trevor Pryce (notes) said. ‘It was out of sight. We did some stuff I’ve never seen a football team do. We flooded coverages, had man schemes that looked like zone, and zone that looked like man. Our first reaction was, ‘How are we gonna do this? How is this gonna work?’ I mean, 14 years in the NFL, and I’d never seen anything like it. Rex came up with some Madden [expletive], like it was a video game. He said, ‘Hey, let’s try this.’ And it worked! They couldn’t figure it out.'”

Such things are undoubtedly exceedingly rare.  But nevertheless lets hope the Bears players and coaches are on their toes for anything this weekend because anything could still be what they’ll see.

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Time to Retire the Nickname “Matty Ice” and Other Points of View

Bears

“The only way the Bears (12-5) against the Packers (12-6) for the NFC championship and a berth in the Super Bowl could be any bigger would be if George Halas and Vince Lombardi were on the sidelines, Red Grange was in the backfield and the halftime entertainment was Jack Dempsey vs. Gene Tunney.”

By the way, how angry would you be if this game was blacked out locally whether it was a sell out or not?  That was the situation in the NFL in 1963 when the Giants-Bears game for the NFL championship was played.

Packers receiver Greg Jennings called the turf at Soldier Field “probably the worst in the league.”

“’It’s rough,’ he said.

“’At the same time,’ he said later, ‘you have to go out before the game and kind of get a feel of what you’re working with, what you’re dealing with, get your footing, because that’s going to play a huge, huge role.’”

  • ESPN‘s NFC North blogger Kevin Seifert is reading my mind (its a truly frightening place):

“There has been a lot of talk about replacing the grass at Soldier Field, which is annually in terrible condition. Even some Bears players are complaining about it, but I have to wonder if their sentiments aren’t partly strategic. The Bears know the field better than anyone and have a far better chance of anticipating its condition than opponents, even a regular vistor like the Packers. Conversely, the anticipation of problems is a powerful psychological disadvantage for the visiting team. If I were a Bears player, I would complain about the turf every time someone put a microphone in front of me, whether or not I believed it or not. Planting that concern in the minds of an opponent is a powerful home-field advantage.”

‘‘Once the game got out of hand score-wise, I felt like they were just doing stuff to do stuff,’’ Hasselbeck said. ‘‘Just trying to get all their coverages, all their blitzes on film for their next opponent. I didn’t think it made any sense to do [that]. It seemed like they were running every pressure they had when traditionally those guys have been, ‘We just do what we do. We play cover-2. We sit back and we win the game.’ But because they [didn’t do that], they gave us opportunities to get back in.’’

  • Potash points out that the Bears offensive line has improved with notably fewer penalties over the last few games but also noted this:

“On the other hand, left tackle Frank Omiyale, who struggled against the Packers in Week 17, struggled again Sunday, beaten by defensive end Chris Clemons on at least a couple of occasions. Maybe he was great on the other 75 offensive plays the Bears ran, but it sure seems like an acute area of needed improvement against the Packers. It’s doubtful Packers linebacker Erik Walden has gotten worse in the last three weeks.”

“It’s going to come down to the small details. When you play a team like that, you may not feel that you have to put in as much studying because you feel you know that team. But you don’t take that approach. You have to go back in, pay attention to more details, and kind of go into Chicago Bears locker room and see [whether you] can understand their players like they understand it. That’s something that my coach just finished telling me that he’s going to do, detailing this work like that. That’s something that our defense has been doing, detailing their work all year. I think that’s what made us play the way we’ve been.”

  • Chris Berman at ESPN thinks the Bears might have an advantage after playing the Packers hard in the regular season finale:

  • Tony Dungy thinks the Bears found their identity over the last month offensively but that the key will still be pressuring Aaron Rogers without blitzing. via ESPN:

  • Derrick Brooks agrees.  And he thinks Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rogers will fold under pressure.  And he thinks that the Bears are going to win the Super Bowl.  I think I’m in love.  In a non-sexual, manly kind of way…:

  • The Chicago Tribune photojournalists uploaded this nice video celebrating the 2011 season to YouTube:

Elsewhere

“’We’re still the face of the N.F.L.,’ Branch said. ‘We were still the best team in the N.F.L. in the regular season.’”

“There appears to be a reason the Jets intend to tone down the trash talking. The winner of this game goes to the Super Bowl, and that will be enough motivation.”

“The Jets fell one game short of the Super Bowl a year ago, losing to the Colts in the A.F.C. championship game. Nose tackle Sione Pouha recalled walking off the field at Lucas Oil Stadium after the loss with Shaun Ellis, blue and white confetti hitting him in the face.

“’I cannot tell you how horrific that was,’ [nose tackle Sione] Pouha said.”

  • Peter King explains to Mike Florio at profootballtalk.com why they should retire the name “Matty Ice”:

Breaking sports news video. MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL highlights and more.

One Final Thought

Former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason on why teams embrace the “disrespect” card.  Via Sam Farmer, writing for the Chicago Tribune:

“We’re all still little football players at heart — and little football players like to be motivated, like to have an edge going into a game, some sort of anger, some reason to be more focused.”

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Bart Scott Sounds Off and Other Points of View

Bears

“’No, I’m not satisfied,’ Tillman said after one of his best games of the season. ‘We’re in the NFC Championship Game. Great. But those two plays, you’ve got to make those plays because they could’ve been the keys to the game.’”

Tillman’s right.  I loved the aggressive man-to-man defense that the Bears played.  But it also leaves zero room for error.  Usually that kind of pressure in on the safeties.  With that defense, its on the corners.

“But you simply cannot overstate how much losing Carlson in the first quarter threw the Seahawks off their game on offense. One veteran Bears defender said in the postgame locker room that without Carlson, Seattle lost its ability to run numerous formations and attempt numerous plays that otherwise might have been successful vs. the Bears’ defense.”

  • Quarterback Jay Cutler says that Greg Olsen wasn’t his primary receiver on his first touchdown in the first quarter:

  • No surprise that coach Pete Carroll and quarterback Matt Hasselbeck were disappointed after the loss:

  • The Chicago Tribune goes back in time for what I thought was an interesting look at the 1941 playoff game against the Packers – the last time the two teams met in the postseason.
  • I hope Devin Hester was kidding when he said this of Sunday’s game against the Packers (via Brad Biggs at the Tribune):

“Its going to be a shootout”

I think a good defensive game might be more likely to work in the Bears favor.

  • Steve Rosenbloom at the Tribune reports that the Bears opened as 3 point home dogs to the Packers and that most of the money immediately started pouring in on Green Bay.  I wouldn’t touch that game either way with a ten foot pole at that number.  Too much depends upon which Green Bay team shows up.
  • Dan Pompei at the Tribune gives one key stat for the Packer game:

“The Packers have sacked Jay Cutler nine times this year; the Bears have sacked Rodgers twice.”

“I don’t care about what happened late in the game, I still believe Charles Tillman made Mike Williams want to quit. Can he do the same to Green Bay’s Greg Jennings?”

  • Cornerback Charles Tillman sounds like he’s already tired of the hype (via ESPNChicago.com).  Its only just begun, baby!

  • Bears defensive tackle Tommie Harris would seem to agree (via Michael C. Wright at ESPNChicago.com):

“‘I don’t know all about the history,’ he said. ‘I just know my gap. I have to control that gap. I will next week.'”

“Indeed, there will be ungodly hype, especially on this blog. From this point forward, I’m tagging this game “Epicenter of Humanity.” So I don’t want to minimize how big and fun this is going to be for fans and media members alike. “

  • Brian Urlacher knows that there won’t be many big surprises Sunday (via ESPNChicago):

  • Kenny Mayne at ESPN describes the Seahawks-Bears matchup as only he can.  The video was, of course, shot before the game but its definitely worthwhile:

“While the Bears’ offense is still particularly average by today’s NFL standards, their preparedness ranks right there with the best of ’em. They haven’t had a moment of controversy, a moment of off-the-field idiocy that undermines the team. That speaks to the coach, in this case [Lovie] Smith, the same way it spoke to the respect Tony Dungy‘s players had for him all those years.”

Elsewhere

  • WBAY-TV has taken down a video of Aaron Rogers blowing past a cancer patient who wanted an autograph.  Mike Florio at profootballtalk.com comments:

“The folks at WBAY, who probably should have realized that the station’s relationship with the only team in town may have been undermined with the publication of the video of Rodgers treating a cancer patient like a panhandler with leprosy, apparently have taken down the clip.  The key moment has been uploaded to YouTube.  Check it out before it disappears, too.”

Here it is.  For now.

  • Fortunately Clay Mathews chose to show more class:

“Asked if he’s stunned the season is over, Brady said: ‘You always are. It’s like you’re on the treadmill running at 10 miles an hour, and then someone just hits the stop button.'”

“It is tough.  Your emotions are going to be at one extreme. You’re either going to be really happy or really sad, and I hate that we all have to feel this way.”

“Well you work on one thing all week and then you get something different. We adjusted, but at the end of the day it’s about us making plays and moving the ball down the field. We didn’t do that on a consistent basis.”

One Final Thought

I love Bart Scott.  He sounds off, starting with a statement that the Bears need to remember this week.  Via ESPN:

Bears Run and Stop the Run Against the Right Team at the Right Time

Brain Urlacher bottom lines the defensive performance yesterday with this comment via Vaughn McClure at the Chicago Tribune:

“We stopped the run early — the whole game actually.  We got off the field on third down. We got pressure on the quarterback. We didn’t get any takeaways but did exactly what we wanted to do the whole game until the last couple drives.”

Steve Rosenbloom at the Tribune would seem to agree:

“Marshawn Lynch average a half-yard a carry. Justin Forsett ran for nine — count ‘em, nine -– yards. Cutler out-rushed Seattle, period. Talk about making a team one-dimensional immediately, and a bad dimension, at that.”

I don’t care how many skill position guys you have or how wonderful your quarterback is.  Football games are still won and lost at the line of scrimmage.  That was never so evident as it was yesterday.

The Bears dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.  Not only that but they did it through sheer force of will.

It was evident that the Seahawks had shot their wad the week before against the Saints because they came out flat as a pancake and never recovered.  The Bears did what you do against a team like that.  You dominate them physically and mentally.  Kudos.

Credit the Offensive Line but Beware the Blitz

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune comments: on the performance of the offensive line yesterday:

“What has marked this turnaround season has been consistent defensive performances and an improving offense. The offensive line, which was overrun by the Seahawks in Week 6, was much better.”

Bears tight end Greg Olsen agrees via Fred Mitchell at the Tribune:

“I don’t think you can give enough credit to our offensive line.  I know we had a few breakdowns that weren’t necessarily their fault. But they played great.  Jay [Cutler] had some good time back there to let the receivers and stuff develop.”

But leave it to Dan Pompei, also at the Tribune really puts it in perspective in his column:

“If there is one story from this Bears season, it is their offensive line.

“How it was inadequate at the start.

“How it has evolved and improved through individual effort, relentless coaching and continuity.

“And how it ultimately will decide if this team achieves all it desires.”

Amen.

The offensive line did a great job yesterday.  They generally built a wall to protect Jay Cutler and they dominated the line of scrimmage as the Bears practically ran over the Seahawks all game.  But there’s a caveat that has to be mentioned:

“How far the line has come was evident in the Seahawks’ game plan. In October, the Seahawks blitzed 21 times and capitalized on the Bears’ inexperience and unfamiliarity. On Sunday, the Seahawks rarely rushed more than four.”

Though Pompei chooses to frame it in a positive light, the fact remains that the Seahawks didn’t blitz much yesterday.  And I thought that was a huge mistake because that is what has been this team’s achilles heel.  Seattle coach Pete Carroll explained it this way via Danny O’Neil at the Seattle Times:

“The situations, all the down-and-distances were much shorter.  We had a lot of third-and-8s and more last time. This time it was third-and-three, -four, -five the whole time.”

Regardless, when the Seahawks did blitz, at least to my eye, they got good pressure on Cutler.

Its also possible that the Seahawks were afraid to blitz with the Bears running the ball so effectively.  But I can guarantee that won’t stop the Packers.  And the Bears had better be ready to handle it – more than they were yesterday.  As Pompei acknowledges as with his finishing line:

“The Bears offensive line, then, likely will be the story of the NFC championship game. As it has been the story of the Bears season.”

Cutler Does the Right Things by Not Doing the Wrong Things

There were two things fans were worried about yesterday when it came to leading the Bears offense into the playoffs against the Seahawks.  One was that Bears offensive coordinator Mike Martz would continue to call for the ball to be thrown recklessly around the yard like he did against the Packers in the last regular season game.  The other was that quarterback Jay Cutler would try to do too much to make plays on the big stage.

I was pretty confident that Martz would control himself – which he did.  I was a lot less confident about the second concern.

David Haugh at the Chicago Tribune comments upon the Performance of the Bears quarterback yesterday:

“There’s no telling what Cutler really wanted to say after Sunday’s game to those of us who have been critical of his demeanor. But what was clearest and most relevant was that Cutler began the process of joining the ranks of the NFL quarterbacking elite with a nearly flawless playoff performance.”

Flawless it wasn’t.  But Cutler clearly did exactly what he had to do to allow the team to win.

The worst pass of the afternoon was when Seattle safety Jordan Babineaux dropped an easy interception at the goal line.  But really that was more a result of a brain cramp than a desire to make a play that wasn’t there, I think.

Other than that, Cutler was calm and cool.  And he didn’t do anything stupid with the ball.  He even threw it away a couple times.  And, instead of throwing into coverage, he decided to run with the ball.  Vaughn McClure, also at the Tribune comments:

“Bears quarterback Jay Cutler implied last week he might sling it all over the field Sunday, depending on what the Seahawks’ defense gave him. Well, judging by the running lanes Cutler discovered on his own, the Bears were wise to keep it on the ground.”

Not only was it effective but it gives the Packers one more headache to have to deal with as they prepare for the game this Sunday.

As one of those people spending too much time psychoanalyzing Cutler as a leader last week, I’d like to also give him all the credit in the world for what he did as an individual on the field.  He did a great job yesterday as much because of what he didn’t do as what he did.