NFL Week 20

[jive1]

Based on yesterday's games, there may be two folks who are looking for jobs - Fred Thomas and Reche Caldwell.

Caldwell had no business dropping those key passes in yesterday's game. Whereas, everyone knew Thomas was a liability coming into the game.

 

[joeyl]

Based on yesterday's games, there may be two folks who are looking for jobs - Fred Thomas and Reche Caldwell.

Caldwell had no business dropping those key passes in yesterday's game. Whereas, everyone knew Thomas was a liability coming into the game.

I don't understand why Sean Payton was backing Thomas up,
3 things Payton did wrong:

1. Backing Thomas to suit up for the big game
2. despite the cold windy weather we had last week, made the team practice indoors
3. Have Billy Cundiff try the long field goal, which he missed, and turned it over on downs.

But I believe the best is yet to come from Payton

 

[Billy Low]

I hope the Bears are considered the "underdogs" again because we seem to do better when we're not the pick. It seems like the games where Chicago was expected to win the defense turned into swiss cheese. And then when the margin was too much in the Bears' favor the offense fell asleep. The Bears play best when they aren't expected to win, and they really play well the 2nd half when it's close going into halftime.

If you guys recall, the Bears have been the national underdog all season long, that is, with the exception of the Miami game!

I find it ironic that folks on the national level fail to give credit where credit is due! Believe it folks! The Bears are and have been the real deal all season long! Yeah, they have made mistakes, but who hasn't?

All of the favored teams from the beginning of the season are sitting at home. No one called SD, BLT, NE overrated or underdogs the entire season, BUT NONE OF THEM ARE ON THE WAY TO MIAMI!

Oh BTW, how many pro bowl bound players are on these teams...hmm...uhh...NOT AS MANY AS THERE ARE ON THE BEARS! THATS HOW MANY!

All trash talking about the Bears being overrated must now cease!

 

[joeyl]

I think the reason that the Bears being seen as overrated is because you guys play: the Packs twice, Minnesota twice and Detroit twice

 

[jive1]

If you guys recall, the Bears have been the national underdog all season long, that is, with the exception of the Miami game!

I find it ironic that folks on the national level fail to give credit where credit is due! Believe it folks! The Bears are and have been the real deal all season long! Yeah, they have made mistakes, but who hasn't?

All of the favored teams from the beginning of the season are sitting at home. No one called SD, BLT, NE overrated or underdogs the entire season, BUT NONE OF THEM ARE ON THE WAY TO MIAMI!

Oh BTW, how many pro bowl bound players are on these teams...hmm...uhh...NOT AS MANY AS THERE ARE ON THE BEARS! THATS HOW MANY!

All trash talking about the Bears being overrated must now cease!

Agreed

I've never seen a home team with the best record be labeled an underdog, by a near unanimous vote by experts and arm-chair QBs.

I've never seen a top defense that has two pro-bowlers, a ROY candidate, solid D line and secondary get dogged as much as they have been. Words like "fragile", "underperforming", "vulnerable" were being thrown around with no respect to the fact they've been leading the league in yards and point allowed for the season.

I've never seen a winning QB get so dogged by the media and fans, who finds a way to win more than ANY Bears QB not named McMahon. Plus the guy takes responsibility for his errors, and has shown the ability to bounce back, regardless of what others think of him.

Jones and Benson have produced consistently, yet their names are never mentioned as a "two headed running attack". With game breakers like Berrian and Davis, and steady targets like Muhammad and Clark, the Bears O is still considered "mediocre" regardless of the fact that the Monsters of the Midway average the same amount of points per game as the "vaunted" offense of the Colts.

Keep on dissin the Bears folks, it just makes em hungrier and more motivated.

"America's Team" got knocked out of the playoffs, now America gets to watch CHICAGO'S TEAM in the Super Bowl.

BEAR DOWN CHICAGO BEARS!

 

[Adam Barkley]

If you guys recall, the Bears have been the national underdog all season long, that is, with the exception of the Miami game!

I find it ironic that folks on the national level fail to give credit where credit is due! Believe it folks! The Bears are and have been the real deal all season long! Yeah, they have made mistakes, but who hasn't?

All of the favored teams from the beginning of the season are sitting at home. No one called SD, BLT, NE overrated or underdogs the entire season, BUT NONE OF THEM ARE ON THE WAY TO MIAMI!

Oh BTW, how many pro bowl bound players are on these teams...hmm...uhh...NOT AS MANY AS THERE ARE ON THE BEARS! THATS HOW MANY!

All trash talking about the Bears being overrated must now cease!

Chicago were the talk of the town until you almost dropped a game to the Cards and then finally did drop one to Miami. Don't act like they've been maligned all year. The only Bears that had negative stories about them were Tank Johnson and Sexy Wrecksy.

SD had more popularity contest winners (whoops I mean ProBowlers) than anyone including the Bears. So yeah.

 

[Adam Barkley]

I've never seen a home team with the best record be labeled an underdog, by a near unanimous vote by experts and arm-chair QBs.

I've never seen a top defense that has two pro-bowlers, a ROY candidate, solid D line and secondary get dogged as much as they have been.

Playing a cupcake schedule will do that.

with no respect to the fact they've been leading the league in yards and point allowed for the season.

Don't they have to lead to be leading the league? False on both counts. I could see "among the best" or "top five", but to my knowledge they haven't led the league an anything other than kick returns.[/QUOTE]

 

[Gard]

Ouch.



...guess I'm waiting to get a PM for my new siggy.





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Glass is half full speech:

They were 3-13 last year, they went to the NFC Championship this year.

All of the SKILL guys are set with long (enough) contracts, and they have plenty of room under the salary cap to go after some quality guys that are needed. (You hear that Fred Thomas? That's the pink slip going into your locker! )

The Saints and their fans have NOTHING to hang their heads over, they need to be proud of what they've done this season, and look forward to IMPROVING on it next season, which I firmly believe they will do.

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They really broke my heart yesterday though, they really really did.

Props to the Bears, they showed up, they played the better game, they deserve to go to Miami and represent the NFC.

...where I believe they will be roundly chewed up and spit out by the Colts, as would the Saints have been.

 

[MJ5150]

The Saints and their fans have NOTHING to hang their heads over, they need to be proud of what they've done this season, and look forward to IMPROVING on it next season, which I firmly believe they will do.

You sir are correct. This wasn't a one shot deal for the Saints like it probably will be for the Colts. The Saints will be around for a few more years provided they aren't raided in free agency like my Steelers always are.

I think SB XLII will be a black and gold affair. If it happens.......you and I ARE going to that game Gard. You know this, right?

-Mike

 

[Billy Low]

Chicago were the talk of the town until you almost dropped a game to the Cards and then finally did drop one to Miami. Don't act like they've been maligned all year. The only Bears that had negative stories about them were Tank Johnson and Sexy Wrecksy.

SD had more popularity contest winners (whoops I mean ProBowlers) than anyone including the Bears. So yeah.

I beg to differ! For the past 2 seasons Urlacher has been touted as the most over rated player in the NFL, if not pro sports by most media outlets. Not many have even payed attention to Briggs. The only one on special teams to get respect was Devin Hester. No mentions that most of the top performers on the Bears have 3 years or less playing experience. Rex gets ripped every week (even though I think he's 21-6 for his career)! No team doubles up on Berrian, because he's not a threat. Lovie gets second guessed for nearly all of his decision making (not too mention that no one complains about him being the lowest paid coach in the league). With the exeption of the secondary, the deepest bench in the league gets no credit. Hmm, I'm sorry, the last time SI mentioned the one two punch of Jones and Benson was when (maybe they would have done better playing for KC)? To top things off the O-Line never got a nick name !

If the Bears were playing on either coast they would get more love. Every week National coverage has stated how so and so team would finally exploit the Bears. All we've heard about was how weak their schedule was. Yet, both NY teams were supposed contenders when we faced them and showed what pretenders they really were. We gave NE a run for their money. Defeated last years NFC champs TWICE (who, BTW were being touted as returning to the SB at the beginning of the season)! But I do recall the Colts losing to two teams that didn't make the playoffs just like the Bears (Oh yeah, they also lost to Dallas, a team that almost DIDN'T make the playoffs)! They barely beat NYG, BUF, and TEN! Strong season they had huh.

Yeah, you can say I'm b!%@^n, but it's true. No luv for my boys on the national level.:scowl: :scowl: :scowl:

I could go at this for days. Fortunately enough for me I have the next 2 weeks to talk about it!

"I've got the right to be hostile man, my people are being persecuted!"-Lyric from a Public Enemy song.

 

[joeyl]

Billy Low, take it easy. Would you rather have a team that nobody in the media talks about in a positive way: The Saints? Until they started winning then they jinxed us by picking the saints to win, something they never do? Inside the NFL always pick us to lose, except in the last game???

And to Urlacher's credit, he was the only guy close to Reggie Bush when he took off running, so the guy is not overrated to us at all.

 

[Adam Barkley]

I beg to differ! For the past 2 seasons Urlacher has been touted as the most over rated player in the NFL, if not pro sports by most media outlets. Not many have even payed attention to Briggs. The only one on special teams to get respect was Devin Hester. No mentions that most of the top performers on the Bears have 3 years or less playing experience. Rex gets ripped every week (even though I think he's 21-6 for his career)! No team doubles up on Berrian, because he's not a threat. Lovie gets second guessed for nearly all of his decision making (not too mention that no one complains about him being the lowest paid coach in the league). With the exeption of the secondary, the deepest bench in the league gets no credit. Hmm, I'm sorry, the last time SI mentioned the one two punch of Jones and Benson was when (maybe they would have done better playing for KC)? To top things off the O-Line never got a nick name !

If the Bears were playing on either coast they would get more love. Every week National coverage has stated how so and so team would finally exploit the Bears. All we've heard about was how weak their schedule was. Yet, both NY teams were supposed contenders when we faced them and showed what pretenders they really were. We gave NE a run for their money. Defeated last years NFC champs TWICE (who, BTW were being touted as returning to the SB at the beginning of the season)! But I do recall the Colts losing to two teams that didn't make the playoffs just like the Bears (Oh yeah, they also lost to Dallas, a team that almost DIDN'T make the playoffs)! They barely beat NYG, BUF, and TEN! Strong season they had huh.

Yeah, you can say I'm b!%@^n, but it's true. No luv for my boys on the national level.:scowl: :scowl: :scowl:

I could go at this for days. Fortunately enough for me I have the next 2 weeks to talk about it!

"I've got the right to be hostile man, my people are being persecuted!"-Lyric from a Public Enemy song.

You are full of it if you think the Bears were maligned this season.

Weeks 5-9 they were number 1 in the ESPN NFL power rankings (another stupid popularity contest). From Weeks 5-18, the Bears didn't fall out of the Top 5 in that same ranking. Not the signs of a team that people forgot about.

The only thing people judged Lovie on is his decision with Grossman.

As far as I'm aware no O lines got a nick-name this season.

I don't understand the Colts jabs. You act as if I didn't know my team lost four times this season. Law of averages worked against the Colts as far as our divisional games were concerned. But I'm not pretending the Colts are the best team ever or that they aren't recognized for their talent unlike a whole hell of a lot of Bears fans do. As far as strength of schedule (pointless stat alert) the Colts have been right about the middle of the pack for the last few years. The Bears have a perrenial easy schedules, by virture of having 6 division games in a pansy division.

 

[Billy Low]

Billy Low, take it easy. Would you rather have a team that nobody in the media talks about in a positive way: The Saints? Until they started winning then they jinxed us by picking the saints to win, something they never do? Inside the NFL always pick us to lose, except in the last game???

And to Urlacher's credit, he was the only guy close to Reggie Bush when he took off running, so the guy is not overrated to us at all.

Nah, no real hostility here. Just pointing a few things out.

 

[nvilla]

As a long time Saints fan I must say congratulations to the Bears.

 

[SomecallmeTim]

This whole "no respect" thing from the Bears faithful is pretty funny. When Rex was lighting up the NFL early on, you couldn't tune into ESPN without hearing about how god-like the guy was. Early in the season, comparisons were seriously being made between the 1985 Bears defense and the current unit by the national sports media. As Adam has correctly stated, the Bears never fell out of the upper echelon of the ESPN Power Rankings.

Boo-hoo, the experts picked against the Bears against NO. It wasn't exactly a huge stretch, since the week before they nearly lost to a Seattle team that had been in a total offensive funk all season long and was so decimated by injury on the defensive side that they were starting a loan officer in the secondary. And let's not forget the fact that the Bears were FAVORED by 2.5 according to Vegas. Granted, they proved that they were worthy of a larger spread, but they were still the favorites.

I don't quite remember crying myself to sleep when the Steelers were underdogs against the Colts and Broncos last season. The funny thing is, it's not about the attention you get, it's about whether you win the games or not. Not to mention, with the way the media puts voodoo curses on teams by overhyping them, why do you guys even want to be talked about?

 

[Jerry Ziarko]

You play the teams on your schedule and have no control about who is in your div. Do you remember the Bills in the 90's? The had just about the four worst div. teams in the league for their whole run. Home field was just about a given. Did this diminish in any way their accomplishment of reaching four straight? It really didn't, nor should it have. You beat the teams you play and if you make the playoffs and beat everyone you play, you win. It's that simple! As far as the Bears and Saints, not only were the Bears not in the natl. media conversation, but weren't even allowed in it. The WHOLE story was Brees and Bush. Hell Aikman and Buck were probably upset they couldn't break out their Saint's gear they had on under their Suits. For 50 min all they did was talk how the afore mentiond guys were going to beat the Bears. Suddenly with about 5 min left they had to accept the fact that the Bears were ahead, and actually going to win. What do you think the story will be about for the next two weeks? It sure won't be about the matchups. It will be all about "can Peyton win the big one". The Bears will barely be mentioned and only out of necessity at that. Call it what you want. If you think it's about lack of respect, that arguement certainly can be made. The pressure will weigh heavy on the annointed one because as all the media is saying, it's his to loose.

 

[Billy Low]

You are full of it if you think the Bears were maligned this season..

Every National pregame show (radio and television) this season had analyst stating how easily a team could defeat the Bears.

[/QUOTE]Weeks 5-9 they were number 1 in the ESPN NFL power rankings (another stupid popularity contest). From Weeks 5-18, the Bears didn't fall out of the Top 5 in that same ranking. Not the signs of a team that people forgot about.[/QUOTE]

Yet the only games they were heavily favored were Arizona and Miami. So much for faith in power rankings.

[/QUOTE]The only thing people judged Lovie on is his decision with Grossman.[/QUOTE]

Hogwash! Postgame shows always questioned his clock management, use of timeouts, choice of under utilizing Benson (until the end if the season), etc. This would be cool if it were a loss, but to do that after a win? Come on now!


[/QUOTE]I don't understand the Colts jabs. You act as if I didn't know my team lost four times this season. Law of averages worked against the Colts as far as our divisional games were concerned. But I'm not pretending the Colts are the best team ever or that they aren't recognized for their talent unlike a whole hell of a lot of Bears fans do. As far as strength of schedule (pointless stat alert) the Colts have been right about the middle of the pack for the last few years. The Bears have a perrenial easy schedules, by virture of having 6 division games in a pansy division.[/QUOTE]

I say BULL! Indy faced the same challenges as the Beloved did this season as far as strength of schedule, with the exception of the Ravens and the Pats. As to the perrenial weak division remark, it's funny how the only time the Bears win the Div. is when the North (or the central) is considered weak! Whenever the Bears take care of business in the division it suddenly becomes weak! Hoowww Bizzaaarrre. My last check showed the division to be pretty strong until about two years ago!

 

[clavefa]

Weeks 5-9 they were number 1 in the ESPN NFL power rankings (another stupid popularity contest). From Weeks 5-18, the Bears didn't fall out of the Top 5 in that same ranking. Not the signs of a team that people forgot about.

This is true, i think most of the dissing early was toward the whole NFC, since the Bears we're the top team and then after the 1st. loss at home to 1-6 Miami and rexs' struggles the experts went out of their way to to kick them to the curb.

The NFC was a wide open conference this year as you all witnessed, but the Bears single focus has been to get to and win the Super Bowl, and as much as i like Peyton and the rest of the colts offense i don't think the Bears will be denied.:scowl:

Now for some other bidness....

Gard: The Saints and their fans have NOTHING to hang their heads over, they need to be proud of what they've done this season, and look forward to IMPROVING on it next season, which I firmly believe they will do

Agreed. Let me say that the media did a very good job of setting the saints up for this. like i said before this was uncharted waters for the upstart saints and the proof was in the records DOME teams 0-9, now 0-10 in outdoor championship games.

The Bears had a game plan stop the run and put pressure on the QB. (y'all did'nt know about our secret weapon Mark Anderson ? another rookie.) and create takeaways.
Oh and you don't taunt the opposing team, just as you gain some momentum that was dumb.
The saints we're in over their heads, a lot like the Bears were last year against carolina.
We exposed your D on the run, they need some upgrades on LB and you know where else.

All in all the future is looking good for the saints, now they have 2 playoff games under their belt it'll help for next year i'm sure

I'll be pm'ing your sig line

 

[Adam Barkley]

Note to any and all Bears fans; I'm from Mississippi. Far from Illinios and Chicago and I literally got sick of hearing how awesome the Bears D was. It thrilled me to no end when they started sucking towards the end of the season.

About Week 3, when every talking head and his mother were drawing parallels between Gross and Favre/Kelly/Manning/Marino I was laughing inwardly and outwardly. It thrilled me to no end when he started sucking after the Arizona game.

The fact that Hester, a punt returner and occasional CB, was even in the same sentence with "Rookie of the Year" goes to show how much the Bears were talked about.

The only way you could possibly think the Bears weren't discussed enough this year is if you didn't have TV, radio, internet, access to periodicals, or the ability to have a newpaper delivered to your cave in northern Illinois in a little town starting with C, ending in O, and have hicag in the middle.

This is a football thread, not a "nobody thinks my team is any good" pout. If you'd like I could start a thread with that title and the Cards fans and you guys can have it out.

 

[Adam Barkley]

Hogwash! Postgame shows always questioned his clock management, use of timeouts, choice of under utilizing Benson (until the end if the season), etc. This would be cool if it were a loss, but to do that after a win? Come on now!

You honestly care what a washed-up athlete, often times a never-was comments about your team? It's their job to do that. Sensationalism sells, not "I think Lovie did a real good job." Clock management is only debatable in a loss. Of your three, only one was even close enough to comeback win anyway.