Bears at Giants Official Game Thread (Sun, Dec 2, 12:00 PM CST/FOX/Bears -4.5, O/U 45)

[adam]

Bears 8-3 at Giants 3-8

Based on DVOA, the Bears are 12th on offense and 1st on defense. The Giants have the 18th ranked offense and 28th ranked defense.  The Giants got off to an awful 1-7 start but have played much better after their bye going 2-1. They just lost to the Eagles 25-22, after winning two straight against TB and SF. 10 of their games have been decided by a TD or less.

The key is going to be stopping Barkley, who makes up most of their offense. He commonly is the leading rusher and receiver on the team. Manning is prone to sacks and INT's though, and I have a feeling that a fresh Bears defense is going to dominate. 

The big question for us is going to be which QB starts, Mitch or Chase? I think if Mitch plays we win 31-10 and if Chase plays we win 24-10.

[Alaskan Grizzly]

6 hours ago, adam said:

The big question for us is going to be which QB starts, Mitch or Chase? I think if Mitch plays we win 31-10 and if Chase plays we win 24-10.

Because it’s looking more and more likely the Bears will not only win the division but could be playing for first round byes in the coming weeks, my money is on Mitch sitting.  Last week on the sidelines he didn’t appear to be hobbled too bad and seemed to have pretty good mobility, especially when he raised his hands for the TDs when they scored. And it didnt look like he was wearing any type of brace so maybe it was just a slight sprain (still don’t buy the bruise).  Either way it makes more sense to just let him rest.  

In other news, how about them Fudgepackers losing tonight?  Nice to see them hovering above the cellar.  

[AZ54]

Stop Saquon and make Eli beat you.  

[ChileBear]

5 hours ago, AZ54 said:

Stop Saquon and make Eli beat you.  

So we can see more of this:

 

[Stinger226]

They have to many weapons to take lightly, we need to blitz a lot in this game, and get turnovers then we can coast

[Stinger226]

The Packers have been put to bed, if we win this game, the Viking have to play NE and Sea which is likely at least one loss, then the last game of the season will not matter. The key game will be the Packer game, if we go 3-2 going forward, and Minny losts one more game we will win by the 1/2 game tie that the Vikings have. 

[BearFan2000]

Just keep winning and the rest takes care of itself.  We can't take the Giant's lightly, but if we contain Barkley and make Eli beat us that bodes well for us as Eli is turnover prone.  We could sit Mitch this week so he's fully healthy for the final stretch starting with the Sunday nighter vs the Rams.  But if he's healthy to play I'd like to see him play and be in game rhythm heading into the matchup with the Rams.  It sure was nice to see the Packers put out to pasture with 6 weeks to go in the season.  Their fan base is gathering wood to burn McCarthy at the stake.  May they suck for the next 2 decades  they deserve a cargo ship full of humble pie.  I had hopes that we'd be in the hunt for a playoff spot.  Then fast forward and we're in great shape to win our division and get at least a #4 seed, but have a realistic shot at a first round bye.  By about the midway point through last year I stopped subjecting myself to Bears football.   Darn you Pace and Naggy!  My weekends are now consumed with watching the Bears, and scoreboard watching!   

[BearFan PHX]

Packers traded for Favre and then drafted Rogers, with time to sit and learn from Favre. They don't have a magic crystal ball. I don't think they are going to continue to be good after Rogers is done. Screw em.

[Lucky Luciano]

20 hours ago, BearFan2000 said:

May they suck for the next 2 decades  they deserve a cargo ship full of humble pie.

TOTALLY DISAGREE.... may they suck for the next 2 CENTURIES.

[BearFan2000]

56 minutes ago, Lucky Luciano said:

TOTALLY DISAGREE.... may they suck for the next 2 CENTURIES.

Your right the deserve to suck for eternity.  Their deal with the devil may be running out on them.

[jason]

Honestly, they deserve the Alex Smith injury way more than the Redskins did. How they managed to get 2 decades of 2 QBs is beyond enraging and believable. It wouldn't pass for a legit movie script if pitched in Hollywood.

[Connorbear]

2 hours ago, jason said:

Honestly, they deserve the Alex Smith injury way more than the Redskins did. How they managed to get 2 decades of 2 QBs is beyond enraging and believable. It wouldn't pass for a legit movie script if pitched in Hollywood.

Almost 3 decades (27 years).  How the fxck does that happen?

Peace

[Mongo3451]

6 hours ago, Connorbear said:

Almost 3 decades (27 years).  How the fxck does that happen?

Peace

At least we can find solace in knowing they only won 2 Superbowls while SF got 5 out of Montana and Young in 20 years.  Have any other teams had back to back HOF QB's?

[Bill]

It sucks that they have kick our ass for decades.  But the fact that they had two HOF GB's and not only that but one of the greatest of all time in a row and only won two SuperBowls.  I'm sorry, but that is the greatest waste of talent in sports.  I felt crushed in the late 80,s and early 90,s for never getting back but Farve and Rodgers and only two.  

[DABEARSDABOMB]

I'm nervous about this game. Giants have looked pretty solid past couple of weeks. I'm just still very nervous about the Bears, especially with the Rams after this one. Part of me has this fear we lose these next two, momentum takes a shift back, lose to Vikes and Packers and are in a world of hurt.  And honestly...I don't think it is all that unrealistic.  

I say all this because when I modeled out the season with a buddy of mine (on the morning of the day we played the Packers on opening night), I had us pretty confidently at 7 to 8 wins at this point with us then rolling off a number of losses.  I really hope I'm wrong.  

[AZ54]

7 hours ago, Bill said:

It sucks that they have kick our ass for decades.  But the fact that they had two HOF GB's and not only that but one of the greatest of all time in a row and only won two SuperBowls.  I'm sorry, but that is the greatest waste of talent in sports.  I felt crushed in the late 80,s and early 90,s for never getting back but Farve and Rodgers and only two.  

This is the meme right now among the media and no longer just Bears fans saying it.  People are realizing the Packers have wasted elite talent.  Watching coach-killer Rodgers run McCarthy out of town has been fun so far.  Most Bears fans aren't realizing this is going on but in most press conferences Rodgers is taking jabs at the "system".   It will only get better when the Packers get one more loss.  For an organization that was hell-bent on not changing their offensive system for decades it will be interesting to see what they do.  

[AZ54]

Injury Report for the game:

https://www.chicagobears.com/team/injury-report/

Trubisky is biggest question mark but we are getting Shaheen back this week which will be a huge help for both the running game and whoever our QB is.  Aaron Lynch will also return and that bodes well for our run defense against Saquon.  I'm worried about Hicks showing up on the injury report with an achilles issue.  He did not participate in practice.  

On the Giants side I don't see any big names except for Evan Engram, but I don't know their roster.  Engram didn't participate in practice today so that's at least a big plus for us.  There is zero doubt what they are worried about when you see the questions Nate Solder and Chad Wheeler had to answer:

https://corner.bigblueinteractive.com/index.php?mode=2&thread=576365

https://corner.bigblueinteractive.com/index.php?mode=2&thread=576360

I don't see any way Solder or Wheeler can handle Mack one-on-one so how will the Giants scheme this one with regards to Saquon?   He's elite when he's out in space so do they go with the quick outlets and give him the ball instead of holding him in for pass protection?   That's likely, with TEs kept in for pass protection.  If Engram is on the field he isn't blocking anyone but I'd just as soon not have him running around so the ILB can focus on Saquon.   If you can bottle him up a bit Saquon will dance around leading to several lost yards.  Knowing what Shurmur ran against us last year (Vikings and Keenum) with all the screens I'd say we can expect a heavy dose of them this game.   Roquan has been playing better each week.  If he wants a national coming out party he's got his opportunity this week.  

Why in the world did they spend $10mil guaranteed for Omameh?  Now they trot out street FAs as Oline starters.  

https://gmenhq.com/2018/10/21/new-york-giants-patrick-omameh-gets-benched-and-line-dance-continues/

Giants D is ranked around 20th and is equally average on both run defense and pass coverage.  Landon Collins is the stud on their D.  Last is Shurmur's comments:

https://corner.bigblueinteractive.com/index.php?mode=2&thread=576359

[Alaskan Grizzly]

Trubisky out for this game.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000993693/article/mitchell-trubisky-will-not-play-for-bears-vs-giants

Not really surprising given how well Chase played last week and how they probably should let Mitchell rest up a bit more for the stretch run.  

I had seen somewhere that said it was an AC injury which would make sense based on what we saw.  Trouble is these can linger for weeks depending on severity.  I suspect his is mild in nature due to the effective range of motion I saw him display last week.  The other fact in his favor is youth.  

Hopefully this doesn’t hamper his accuracy on long range.  He’s still developing that skill set.  

[adam]

6 hours ago, Alaskan Grizzly said:

Trubisky out for this game.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000993693/article/mitchell-trubisky-will-not-play-for-bears-vs-giants

Not really surprising given how well Chase played last week and how they probably should let Mitchell rest up a bit more for the stretch run.  

I had seen somewhere that said it was an AC injury which would make sense based on what we saw.  Trouble is these can linger for weeks depending on severity.  I suspect his is mild in nature due to the effective range of motion I saw him display last week.  The other fact in his favor is youth.  

Hopefully this doesn’t hamper his accuracy on long range.  He’s still developing that skill set.  

Yeah it happened in the 2nd quarter, you can see it here:

 

[Alaskan Grizzly]

1 hour ago, adam said:

Yeah it happened in the 2nd quarter, you can see it here:

 

Yeah I still think it happened later in the game when while he was sliding he had that hit from Smith.  But tomato, toMAHto.  

Either way, think its clear he needs to work on his baseball slides.  

[adam]

3 hours ago, Alaskan Grizzly said:

Yeah I still think it happened later in the game when while he was sliding he had that hit from Smith.  But tomato, toMAHto.  

Either way, think its clear he needs to work on his baseball slides.  

But based off of this comment, the play in the 2nd quarter seems more likely:

 

[Mongo3451]

1 minute ago, adam said:

But based off of this comment, the play in the 2nd quarter seems more likely:

 

Trubisky confirmed that he sustained the injury late in the Bears' 25-20 win over the Vikings when he was hit by safety Harrison Smith on a 5-yard scramble. Rather than sliding, Trubisky tumbled forward and was nailed by Smith, who drew a 15-yard penalty on the play.

"It was just an awkward landing, and then I got hit, and my arm got caught underneath me the wrong way," Trubisky said. "It was really just a freak play and I didn't know what happened at the time. Luckily, I was able to finish out the game and more importantly we won."

[adam]

1 hour ago, Mongo3451 said:

Trubisky confirmed that he sustained the injury late in the Bears' 25-20 win over the Vikings when he was hit by safety Harrison Smith on a 5-yard scramble. Rather than sliding, Trubisky tumbled forward and was nailed by Smith, who drew a 15-yard penalty on the play.

"It was just an awkward landing, and then I got hit, and my arm got caught underneath me the wrong way," Trubisky said. "It was really just a freak play and I didn't know what happened at the time. Luckily, I was able to finish out the game and more importantly we won."

Good find, I didn't see the actual quote.

[adam]

So with the Dallas win, things get very interesting for us for a potential first-round bye. First off, our only chance is to take care of our own business and win out (or at least go 4-1). 4-1 seems realistic, and if we can beat the Rams, we are in great shape. Either way, if we win out, we would finish with a 11-1 conference record and would have the conference tiebreaker over NO and LAR (both with 2x conf loss). Now to move up to the 2nd or 1st seed, we would need some help, but after the Dallas game, I am not as high on NO as I was before the game. 

NO finishes at TB, at CAR, vs PIT, and vs CAR. If they lose even one of those games, we have a shot at passing them in the seeding. If they lose two, which would not be crazy (at CAR and PIT), they would end up 12-4, which would allow us to go 4-1 and still get a first-round bye. That seems like a very realistic scenario. 

For LAR, they are at DET, at CHI, vs PHI, at ARZ, and at SF. The only two games they have any shot at losing is vs us at Soldier Field and vs PHI. So it actually seems like they have a better shot at the #1 seed than NO does. 

What do you think?

I am thinking something like this is a realistic possibility:

1. LAR 14-2 (4-1)
2. CHI 12-4 (4-1)
-------------------------
3. NO 12-4 (2-2)
4. DAL 10-6 (3-1)
5. SEA 10-6 (4-1)
6. MIN 9-6-1 (3-2)

[Stinger226]

I can see NO losing one of the Car games to finish 13-3. We would be the only potential lose for LA. For us to have any chance at byes we need to win out, not likely.