Bears 2006 Season Thread

[Sluss]

The offense played exactly the game they need to play. It won't be that easy to run on most teams (of course the Eagles could be in for that first playoff game) but a good gameplan by Ron Turner. Rex played smart and though he made a few mistakes with the ball he actually got some good luck and some good work by the receivers. I really looked at these last four games as four preseason games to get set for a playoff run. Last night was a good sign. They need to keep up that pace.

Bad news with Tommie Harris out for the year. You could see how much they missed him on the pass rush against a really beat-up Rams line. The defense also needs Vasher back in the worst way. For as great as Hestor is as a return man, he is a below average corner. The longer he is exposed out there the more teams will spot him out and pick on him.

You get a bit concerned if the attrition is catching up to the defense. Harris and Brown are not coming back and that is two really big parts of the dominant defense. Right now while this defense is good, they are not even close to as good as they are 100% healthy. They will need the offense to play good if they want to win. They can't have a "just don't mess it up" offense and win with defense mentality. Well maybe if they can get teams to kick the ball to Hestor. [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

The interesting part now is when do you start resting starters? Will Lovie sit Grossman for a few games or are these games against bad defenses important to his confidence? I was really concerned when I saw Tait go to the sidelines and with the offensive line as "veteran" as it is they probably can use some rest. However, you don't want to leave Rex out there with St Clair protecting his backside if you can help it.

[droopy0021]

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You get a bit concerned if the attrition is catching up to the defense. Harris and Brown are not coming back and that is two really big parts of the dominant defense. Right now while this defense is good, they are not even close to as good as they are 100% healthy. They will need the offense to play good if they want to win. They can't have a "just don't mess it up" offense and win with defense mentality.

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I couldn't agree more with this. I'm a big fan myself and the national media's portrayal of Bears as "Rex don't screw up and let your defense/special teams win" is not accurate. Maybe for remainder of regular season & possibly playoff game #1. Not for an NFC championship game or Super Bowl.

Teams have been able to run the ball a bit on the Bears last 6-7 weeks and they have been thrown on at times. No Harris hurt.

They will need to score 20+ on offense to win vs. a good team. The improvement in Benson will help (he gets 1-2 yards after getting hit, something Jones doesn't do as often). 3rd & 4 is much better than 3rd & 6 and brings the swing pass to RB, quick outs to TE into play more.

Pressure is clearly on for the offense to produce in playoffs like last night vs. Rams. If they do, I'll be expecting a Super Bowl berth. Then I'll take my chances vs. SD or Balt (yikes).

[Sluss]

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Pressure is clearly on for the offense to produce in playoffs like last night vs. Rams. If they do, I'll be expecting a Super Bowl berth. Then I'll take my chances vs. SD or Balt (yikes).

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Funny enough I was trying to figure some of these match-ups when doing my NFL rankings this morning. I was trying to figure how the Bears would fair vs. the top level of the AFC.

I'm not real thrilled about the match-up with the Chargers. The Bears would obviously have all kinds of problems against LT, but who wouldn't. The Bears secondary should fair pretty well against Rivers and the wideouts.

My biggest concern would be the Bears offense vs. SD's defense. The Chargers secondary is their biggest weakness, but their front seven is real good. They are tough against the run and they bring alot of pressure. They are good against short passes. So basically for the Bears to be successful offensively they would have to force the ball down the field. Anyone else concerned about this?

Baltimore is a real even match-up and I think the o/u would be 10. The Ravens have the same wide recievers as the Bears. A veteran who makes all the catches. A young guy who gets deep, but has been good all year. While the national media continues to talk about how much of genius Billick is because he is "commited" to the run. Jamal Lewis and Musa Smith have not been good. Lewis has been unable to capture his old form and the line has done a poor job blocking. The Ravens offense stalls for most of the game and breaks off one or two drives a game and they have to hope that is enough. Todd Heap is a good tight end, but he disapears for long stretches in their offense.

Their defense is good, but they are not as good in the secondary as the names may say. Ed Reed is still a ball hawk, which could make a huge difference as Rex will not be able to make bad mistakes. However, most of the guys are too interested in jumping routes and making plays, thus they have been getting burned by play action and double moves.

I think the Bears match-up great with the Colts. The Bears will be able to run the ball and complete some short slants and skinny posts. The defense is made to stop a passing attack like the Colts. Without Stokely the Colts don't have the ablity to get the Bears into a nickle to run the ball efffectively.

They already played the Patriots to a draw.

[Sluss]

Well this isn't good:Tank Johnson Arrested

The real part that ticks me off is your on parole from a weapons charge. When does the little light buld go off in your head that you should have assult rifles at the house. I understand a handgun for protection. Your a rich athlete you are going to have some problems where protection won't be a bad thing. Even a rifle because you like to hunt. All of this would be questionable judgement But, when you have a full arsenal of automatic weapons???? Come on just a [censored] touch of judgement!!!!

The only semi-bright side is by the time any of this gets to court it will be February and the NFL won't make a move until it's in some way resloved.

Losing both tackles in a two week frame would really screw with the defense. Boone and Scott are both solid, but they don't have the quickness and penetration ablities.

[kevkev60614]

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Keeping Grossman in against inferior teams at home to build confidence is a terrible idea. We don't need to feel rosy, we need to improve our chances at going yard.

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Was I the only one here (other than MT2R) who actually wanted the Bears to lose so we could hang Grossman last week? He's building confidence against poor defenses, but that won't change the fact that he's fundamentally not a sound mechanical quarterback when the playoffs roll around. STL's defense is something like 22nd right now. Against top 10 defense teams (we've played 4 so far), he averages a 31.7 quarterback rating. We'll see a lot of top 10 defenses in January...

[PokerFink]

St. Louis defense is dead last in the NFL in DVOA.

[Sluss]

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Keeping Grossman in against inferior teams at home to build confidence is a terrible idea. We don't need to feel rosy, we need to improve our chances at going yard.

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Was I the only one here (other than MT2R) who actually wanted the Bears to lose so we could hang Grossman last week? He's building confidence against poor defenses, but that won't change the fact that he's fundamentally not a sound mechanical quarterback when the playoffs roll around. STL's defense is something like 22nd right now. Against top 10 defense teams (we've played 4 so far), he averages a 31.7 quarterback rating. We'll see a lot of top 10 defenses in January...

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Well I guess there is a chance we could see the Eagles (9 DVOA). But I'm pretty sure that they are the only top 10 defensive unit the Bears would see in January. Because I don't think Carolina(8)or Minnesota (4) will make the playoffs.

They could have to face New Orleans (21) or Dallas (12) or Seattle (20), or maybe the Giants (11). Could be Atlanta (16) as well

Now they could face a team with a top ten defense in February. Baltimore (2),Jacksonville (3), New England (10).

In the NFC playoffs this year there are some good offensive teams. The Saints clearly are a very good offensive team (4 in the NFL, 1 in the NFC) The Cowboys are right behind the Saints at #5 in the NFL. Also the Giants though streaky can be good offensively (#7 in the NFL) and the Eagles are in between those at #6.

The Bears defense keeps losing player after player. With Harris and Brown out for the year it will make it very difficult to keep teams as good offensively as these under 10 points in the playoffs even if it is in the cold and wind.

The Bears will need to score 25-35 ppg if they want to win the two games they need to go to the SuperBowl.

I fought with MyTurn for a while that Bears fans really didn't just want a conservative QB that would go out and "not lose" the game. We would take that to win, but really want to have a quality offense. We don't need to be the Colts, but would be fine if we had a middle of the pack offense. Right now the Bears have the best defense in the NFC, the best special teams and the 6th best offense. Do they need to keep Rex from going turnover crazy in the playoffs? Yes. Do they need Rex to win in the playoffs? Yes.

[PokerFink]

You know I love DVOA, but for the life of me I can't figure out how the Eagles rank 9th in defensive DVOA.

[Sluss]

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You know I love DVOA, but for the life of me I can't figure out how the Eagles rank 9th in defensive DVOA.

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I think alot of it has to do with their pass defense being pretty good and other teams just having worse run defenses.

That and earlier in the year they were able to slow down the run a bit until the fourth quarter. It seems only in the past few weeks have teams realized you can run the ball down their throat the whole game.

[Tinga]

Unreal ..
1 night later.

I don't know how this will affect anything, but it's sure a strange occurrence of events.

Bodyguard shot dead, Johnson on the scene