GB @ CHI, Wild Card Weekend, JAN 10th, Sat 7pm, Amazon Prime, CHI -1.5, O/U 46.5

[adam]

#2 seed playing on short rest against a team that rested their starters this week. Not ideal but here we are.

Bears favored by 1.5, same as BUF who is in the road against JAX. PHI and NE favored by 3.5, Rams by 10.

[Bears4Ever_34]

Bears are playing on Saturday at 7 on Prime.... Short week. Brutal. Was hoping for a Sunday game.

[DABEARSDABOMB]

One at a time - let’s go bears!!! 

[BearFan PHX]

Oh boy, I really want this win. I hate the Packers. After that, if we have to lose in the next round, I'll accept it and call the season a success.

But there has got to be some tricky shit we can pull on defense. There has to be something.

Also, all these comebacks are great, but theyre starting to put a story into everyones mind that its ok to sleep through the 2nd and 3rd quarter. BJ has to disavow them of that.

I bet there will be a lot of shakeup on this roster this offseason, especially on the defensive side. They have to move on from a lot of awful players.

But just this one week. Please. Let's kill them. I wanna destroy the Packers.

 

[Stinger226]

39 minutes ago, DABEARSDABOMB said:

One at a time - let’s go bears!!! 

For sure. I did not like the lack of energy until the end of the game. But it's a new week , hopefully this is a Eagles type game, start pounding the ball instead of relying on all the hiccups in our passing game. 

The defense isn't getting fixed this year. The best we can expect is a few TOs and red zone defense. Have to mention the vaulted lion's offense only scored 19 points. Defense didn't lose this game today.

[Lucky Luciano]

7 hours ago, Stinger226 said:

Defense didn't lose this game today.

yea, they did lose it.

nearly double time of possession means your offense is sitting on the sidelines while the other team just moves down the field at will. one punt? during the entire game will rarely ever give you an opportunity to win.

there is not one player on this defense that is not tradeable or couldn't be cut.

 

[Stinger226]

3 hours ago, Lucky Luciano said:

yea, they did lose it.

nearly double time of possession means your offense is sitting on the sidelines while the other team just moves down the field at will. one punt? during the entire game will rarely ever give you an opportunity to win.

there is not one player on this defense that is not tradeable or couldn't be cut.

 

If you only give up one TD in a game and total 19 points, not sure they take the blame for this game.

[Lucky Luciano]

1 hour ago, Stinger226 said:

If you only give up one TD in a game and total 19 points, not sure they take the blame for this game.

all the time our offense was on the bench could have been scoring opportunities for us and not them. while 19 points sounds reasonable, and is, it's the riding time and the stupid play calls by their coach. add one freaky intto that also.

add this to the equation... opponents moving the ball at will definitely will alter our offensive play calls during the game. there is no way that does not enter the game plan.

[adam]

4 hours ago, Lucky Luciano said:

yea, they did lose it.

nearly double time of possession means your offense is sitting on the sidelines while the other team just moves down the field at will. one punt? during the entire game will rarely ever give you an opportunity to win.

there is not one player on this defense that is not tradeable or couldn't be cut.

 

The Bears first 5 drives were Punt, Punt, Downs, Punt, INT. In the same 5 for DET, they got a TD and 2x FGs.

The offense had the ball with 2:11 left with the ball at the 26, used 16 seconds and gave the ball right back to DET at their 37. That was the ball game right there. They could've at least burnt the clock down to not give DET any time to do anything, but 16 seconds, not a single running play? The Bears had all their timeouts and the 2 minute warning. There was no reason to pass there, get it under the 1:30, then play the clock game. 

[adam]

I find it funny that people are talking about momentum with the Bears losing 2 games in a row, yet the Packers have lost 4 straight, and their last win was against the Bears on 12/7. 

[Bears4Ever_34]

56 minutes ago, adam said:

I find it funny that people are talking about momentum with the Bears losing 2 games in a row, yet the Packers have lost 4 straight, and their last win was against the Bears on 12/7. 

It's unfortunate now that both teams come in to the game on a downswing instead of the Bears being the team that looks like it's peaking at the right time. They negated any positive momentum/vibes/psychological advantage they may have had after last night. 

The difference is the Packers have had time to rest up and let the stink wear off from that last game against the Ravens while the Bears come into the matchup on short rest immediately after one of their worst performances of the season. The Packers were also playing with their backup QB's for the most part, which probably makes it easier to not get too demoralized. 

I think the Bears have to be panicking right now about their defense. Dennis Allen has no answers for anything. The Packers defense is vulnerable, but they're well coached and only surrendered 9 points before the onside kick late in the 4th quarter of the previous game. If the Bears are going to win, they're going to have to start faster and dominate the time of possession in ways their opponents have done to them as of late. 

[adam]

4 minutes ago, Bears4Ever_34 said:

It's unfortunate now that both teams come in to the game on a downswing instead of the Bears being the team that looks like it's peaking at the right time. They negated any positive momentum/vibes/psychological advantage they may have had after last night. 

The difference is the Packers have had time to rest up and let the stink wear off from that last game against the Ravens while the Bears come into the matchup on short rest immediately after one of their worst performances of the season. The Packers were also playing with their backup QB's for the most part, which probably makes it easier to not get too demoralized. 

I think the Bears have to be panicking right now about their defense. Dennis Allen has no answers for anything. The Packers defense is vulnerable, but they're well coached and only surrendered 9 points before the onside kick late in the 4th quarter of the previous game. If the Bears are going to win, they're going to have to start faster and dominate the time of possession in ways their opponents have done to them as of late. 

The Bears lost on the last play of the game in their last two games. They have basically been in playoff mode for the last month, while GB hasn't won in that same period. 

Playoff teams that lose the regular-season finale are 22-5 (.815) in home playoff openers since 2011. 

Recent teams to lose 4+ games to end the regular season:

PIT 2024 - lost in Wild Card, on the road, 28-14 to BAL
DET 1999 - lost in Wild Card, on the road, 27-13, to WSH

both were rematches as well.

GB would be the first team in NFL history to lose 4 straight games in the regular season, then win a playoff game on the road. The Jets won a game in 1986 after losing 5 straight, but they played at home to win in the WC round.

[BearFan2000]

My hope is that the Bears take a serious look in the mirror at themselves.  Both offense and defense deserve an equal share of the blame.  Offense can't go 3 scoreless quarters and then expect to filp the switch in the 4th and come from behind that's not a sustainable formula.  The defense can't allow oposing offenses to do what ever they want all game.   The Bears came out flat.  I mentioned to my wife that Detroit looks like the team fighting for a 2 seed, and we looked like the team that had been eliminated and had nothing to play for.   I know Detroit had extra motivation to basically treat this like their Super Bowl to stick it to Ben Johnson.  The players should have anticipated their intensity and matched it.  Did the players think we'd just show up and win?

GB will also come in and lay it on the line.  Will we come in and match or exceed their intensity?  We have to start fast, and controll the clock.  We do not want to be chasing points in this one.  We can't fix the personel on our D this season but we can improve on the "want to" and "effort".  I saw a lot of laziness on D vs Detroit and SF.  Can't do the big things right if you can't even do the little things right.

[Bears4Ever_34]

1 hour ago, adam said:

The Bears lost on the last play of the game in their last two games. They have basically been in playoff mode for the last month, while GB hasn't won in that same period. 

Playoff teams that lose the regular-season finale are 22-5 (.815) in home playoff openers since 2011. 

Recent teams to lose 4+ games to end the regular season:

PIT 2024 - lost in Wild Card, on the road, 28-14 to BAL
DET 1999 - lost in Wild Card, on the road, 27-13, to WSH

both were rematches as well.

GB would be the first team in NFL history to lose 4 straight games in the regular season, then win a playoff game on the road. The Jets won a game in 1986 after losing 5 straight, but they played at home to win in the WC round.

Yeah, I brought up that fact about the 1986 Jets a few days ago in reference to the Packers losing streak. Historically, the Packers are in a worse position than the Bears entering this game, but for reasons I mentioned above, the situations feel differently. Jordan Love hasn't played a full game in a month.

On the other side, the Bears defense has had almost everybody back from injury for several games now and have fallen apart. Their issues feel more existential to me, but maybe that's just my cynicism. 

The optimistic side is that maybe Jordan Love is rusty coming back, and maybe the Bears broke them a little on defense after their collapse. I'm not completely bought in to that argument, but I understand it when you watched how they played against Baltimore.

[adam]

39 minutes ago, BearFan2000 said:

My hope is that the Bears take a serious look in the mirror at themselves.  Both offense and defense deserve an equal share of the blame.  Offense can't go 3 scoreless quarters and then expect to filp the switch in the 4th and come from behind that's not a sustainable formula.  The defense can't allow oposing offenses to do what ever they want all game.   The Bears came out flat.  I mentioned to my wife that Detroit looks like the team fighting for a 2 seed, and we looked like the team that had been eliminated and had nothing to play for.   I know Detroit had extra motivation to basically treat this like their Super Bowl to stick it to Ben Johnson.  The players should have anticipated their intensity and matched it.  Did the players think we'd just show up and win?

GB will also come in and lay it on the line.  Will we come in and match or exceed their intensity?  We have to start fast, and controll the clock.  We do not want to be chasing points in this one.  We can't fix the personel on our D this season but we can improve on the "want to" and "effort".  I saw a lot of laziness on D vs Detroit and SF.  Can't do the big things right if you can't even do the little things right.

The Bears still haven't played a complete game all season. A few close ones, but all 3 units, playing close to their maximum potential. If both teams play like that, the Bears win. 

Without Parsons, GB has yet to win a game. When Parsons plays, they allow 19 pts a game, without him, over 28.  With Parsons, they held opponents to 21 or under 9 times. 

I know there is so much talk about GB's offense and Love, but it seems that GB's winning is more tied to their defense than their offense. 

[BearFan PHX]

The offense was silent for the first three quarters, and the defense was AWFUL.

Did the defense lose this game? Yes.

Did the offense suck? Yes.

No excuses should be made for either squad.

[adam]

42 minutes ago, BearFan PHX said:

The offense was silent for the first three quarters, and the defense was AWFUL.

Did the defense lose this game? Yes.

Did the offense suck? Yes.

No excuses should be made for either squad.

The Bears are 7-1 when they hold opponents to 21 or less. The only loss coming this week. 

They are 1-4 when they score 21 or less, like they did this week.

The entire team is at fault, but for how bad the defense played, they kept the score in the range where coming in, they were 7-0. 

[Mongo3451]

This team has an identity that needs to change.  We haven't scored a first drive TD since the Bengals game.  The team has bought into Caleb, to the point, they they think can turn it on and win at any time.  Hey, that's great, but not sustainable.  We don't want or need to live by the sword.  A sense of controlled urgency needs to happen on every play.  Otherwise, you die by the sword...

[DABEARSDABOMB]

28 minutes ago, Mongo3451 said:

This team has an identity that needs to change.  We haven't scored a first drive TD since the Bengals game.  The team has bought into Caleb, to the point, they they think can turn it on and win at any time.  Hey, that's great, but not sustainable.  We don't want or need to live by the sword.  A sense of controlled urgency needs to happen on every play.  Otherwise, you die by the sword...

Lets just go out and have the Bears play their most complete end to end game yet and decimate the Packers on Saturday night!!! Lets go Bears!!! 

[adam]

45 minutes ago, Mongo3451 said:

This team has an identity that needs to change.  We haven't scored a first drive TD since the Bengals game.  The team has bought into Caleb, to the point, they they think can turn it on and win at any time.  Hey, that's great, but not sustainable.  We don't want or need to live by the sword.  A sense of controlled urgency needs to happen on every play.  Otherwise, you die by the sword...

The scripted plays are just not working for whatever reason. I looked back at the last 6 games first 3 plays. How predictable are they being? There are only 8 possible combinations with a run and pass with 3 plays. In the last 6 games, every game had a different combination.

To me that can't be a coincidence. To never have the same play sequence out of 8 possible sequences, in 6 games seems deliberate. I was thinking they were being too predictable but that isn't the case, so I really have no clue what is going wrong.

PHI Run, Pass, Run
GB Run, Pass, Pass
CLE Pass, Run, Pass
GB Run, Run, Pass
SF Pass, Pass, Pass
DET Pass, Run, Run

[adam]

30 minutes ago, DABEARSDABOMB said:

Lets just go out and have the Bears play their most complete end to end game yet and decimate the Packers on Saturday night!!! Lets go Bears!!! 

I would love a blowout win, domination for 60 minutes. Put the entire league on notice in the playoffs. Getting Odunze and Gordon back (hopefully) would be a huge boost.

[50england50]

Johnson needs to ensure his scripted plays are infallible including the audibles. The offense cannot start slowly. I hope they have just been over cautious with Rome and he can be a large factor in this game. I hope Johnson doesn’t go away from the run game. I think that was his mistake on the last possession we had v Detroit at the weekend. 
 

It is crucial that the defense plays a penalty free game, and doesn’t give cheap 1st downs. However, if we can be productive on offense, all the defense needs to do is to be good in the red zone, and we can win this game. 
 

 

[50england50]

6 minutes ago, adam said:

The scripted plays are just not working for whatever reason. I looked back at the last 6 games first 3 plays. How predictable are they being? There are only 8 possible combinations with a run and pass with 3 plays. In the last 6 games, every game had a different combination.

To me that can't be a coincidence. To never have the same play sequence out of 8 possible sequences, in 6 games seems deliberate. I was thinking they were being too predictable but that isn't the case, so I really have no clue what is going wrong.

PHI Run, Pass, Run
GB Run, Pass, Pass
CLE Pass, Run, Pass
GB Run, Run, Pass
SF Pass, Pass, Pass
DET Pass, Run, Run

I agree the scripted plays should give us an advantage if Johnson is doing his job, and something seems amiss. Hopefully he will be able to look at what worked in the other games and factor this into his scripted plays. 

[BearFan PHX]

2 hours ago, adam said:

The Bears are 7-1 when they hold opponents to 21 or less. The only loss coming this week. 

They are 1-4 when they score 21 or less, like they did this week.

The entire team is at fault, but for how bad the defense played, they kept the score in the range where coming in, they were 7-0. 

not really? they were unable to stop the Lions from eating up tons of clock, and scoring. The offense might have looked better if theyd had the ball to get into a rhythm. And then there is the eye test. We were terrible. If the Lions had been down 21 points coming out of halftime, they clearly could have scored that many if they needed it.

Im not giving the offense a pass here, but the defense stunk. Like extra stinky. One of the worst defensive performances ive ever seen. Right up there with last week against SF and the week before against the Pack.

When your opponent is up two scores, you cant point to their offense slowing down as a product of our defensive play. They didnt punt much.

[Stinger226]

When we lose, the whole team takes responsibility but when you hold a team to one TD and 19 points, you should win a game. Did the defense play well, of course not but I think the defense did their part to keep us in the game. 

The defense has gotten people back but not one of them have played well. JJ isn't himself. Edmunds was playing at all pro level before the injury, now he is a liability. Tj Edwards has been ok but not at the same level from before. I think we were doing better when backups were playing. Gardner-Johnson is not good at the NB spot. He had some big plays since coming here but speed at the slot kills him. Stevenson didn't play a snap last game.

The defense is a mess but have played descent in the red zone and with TOs. That's the best we're going to get , it can't be fixed until next year.

Gordon is coming back but I don't expect a lot out of him.

We are going to win or lose with our offense. 

Our expectations have been raised because of our cardiac finishes but can that work in the playoffs? 

I think we can win any game but will not dominate any games. 

We need to appreciate our 11-6 record, division win and 2 nd conference rankings but we aren't ready for a SB run just yet.