Bear Fan says dont sleep on Bear offense. (1 Viewer)

[DownWithDisease]

Man, ya'll are sleepin on the Bears O. It looks like NO is as confident as Chicago is insecure. Seriously, it seems more than 50% of Bears fans are scared.

Primus rules.

Here's what concerns me about the Bears offense...

1. Thomas Jones, Cedric Benson, and Adrian Peterson... All 3 are very capable backs, and if one or more of them gets rolling, the Bears will be in good shape.

2. Bernard Berrian and Rashied Davis... Speedy WRs, that if they find themselves opposite Fred Thomas, could be in for big plays.

3. Brian Griese... If we happen to knock Rex out of the game, or he comes out and stinks it up and gets pulled, the Bears chances of winning increase with Griese in there.

 

[Super Dad]

If you watched the season you would have seen that Benson has the speed to get around the edge. Also, it is my understanding that NO is vunerable to the cutback, which is T.Jones specialty. I do not have much confidence in Jones as a runner though, he's too content with being tackled/running out of bounds.

I think that we have breakdowns more than susceptible to the cutback. We always seem to be ok except for just a couple big plays. I do think the team that runs the ball better will have the better Change to win but if Jones is scared to get tackled because of his contract issue he will not get out of the backfield much.

 

[crthomps]

The backs are good and they looked very solid last week against the Seahawks. However, it is truly a testament to how bad Rex Grossman is that he can have a 76 QB rating and Bears fans are talking about how solid he looked.

 

[DownWithDisease]

...it is truly a testament to how bad Rex Grossman is that he can have a 76 QB rating and Bears fans are talking about how solid he looked.

.......+1.......

 

[Pure Energy]

Yes, we need to stay away from MM, that former packer s.o.b.

I'm sure the Bears coaches will pick this up, so I'm not worried about posting it. But last season Muhsin pwned McKenzie. MM has 2 pass int's called on him and Orton completed a 22 yard pass to him to setup the game winning FG when MM had man-to-man coverage.

That matchup worries me a lot. Muhsin (6' 2") is only 2" taller than McKenzie (6' 0") but he looked like he was 6' 6" in last season's matchup. I'm confident the Bears will test this matchup and I'm confident the Saints will be ready for it.

 

[DustyinChicago]

Here's what concerns me about the Bears offense...

1. Thomas Jones, Cedric Benson, and Adrian Peterson... All 3 are very capable backs, and if one or more of them gets rolling, the Bears will be in good shape.

2. Bernard Berrian and Rashied Davis... Speedy WRs, that if they find themselves opposite Fred Thomas, could be in for big plays.

3. Brian Griese... If we happen to knock Rex out of the game, or he comes out and stinks it up and gets pulled, the Bears chances of winning increase with Griese in there.

1. I would be surprised to see any Bears RB run until the 4th, simply because Ron Turner (o-coordinator) is commited to staying unpredictable, much to the dismay of Bears fans hoping to see Benson pound the ball.

2. It seems you're worried about Fred Thomas, I hope to see the Bears exploit him.

3. That interesting, but I dont see it. If Rex is playing bad, its too late already and if NO knocks him out and we're not up more than 7 I think I'd have to take the Saints.

 

[jackers]

Thanks for being civil here. We are used to some other teams fans coming on here and being very rude or with such a homer-ism. You seem very educated about your team.

I am really hoping Stoutemeir comes back for us this week. He really played that Safety position well for us. That will definately help against the long ball.

I think Hester (and your special teams as a whole) are a little better than ours, but like mentioned, Michael Lewis (Beerman) is pretty darn good. He is getting a little older and coming off what I believe was a MCL or ACL tear last year, but he is still really good. He has been money for us since coming back from IR halfway through the season.

I am expecting another great game this weekend. Hopefully both teams come out healthy, even though one will progress through the tourny.

 

[DustyinChicago]

This is probably a bad question, but how has the officiating looked for NO this year? Some people seem to think that NO have the edge with the great NO comeback story.

Overall, I think officiating isnt anywhere close to where it should be in the NFL. They should get 99.9% of plays right and it seems to me they hover around 95%.

 

[Southwest Saint]

I don't like the Bernard Berrian/Fred Thomas matchup at all. Saints DE's will have to bring it to Grossman all day. Other than that, it just seems like it's going to be an entertaining, hard-faught game. I really don't think the weather is going to play that much of a factor in the outcome, without precipitation. I think most people think that our team is tailor made for dome conditions, but we have a better record away than at home this year. Here's to a modern classic game.

I've already heard comments made about the fact that the Saints are going to "go to man coverage" on Rex, which is something he hasn't seen much this season.

My response to this is: "Why?"

The entire secondary has struggled against the big play, and you're facing a young QB who has really struggled at times this season.

"Football sense" suggests that you play more of a zone, take away that deep ball (even using something of a cover 2 or 3 effect) and make the inconsistent Grossman have to be perfect to beat you.

I'd rather force the Bears to have to go 8-12 plays a drive--and make the perfect throws, blocks, and catches necessary to complete such drives---than give Rex and his big arm a few shots down the field.

If you take away the deep ball from Grossman, make them eat up clock to score, and pound McCallister-Karney-Bush on 30-40 carries, I don't see how the Saints lose (assuming no big turnovers and such). The more responsibility you place on the QB's shoulders, by forcing him to manage multiple long drives, the better---I think it's safe to say the All-Pro QB who has thrown only 1 INT the last 6 games is going to get the better of that matchup every time.

The Saints are physical enough to beat the Bears playing "Bear football"---eat up that clock, etc.

 

[DustyinChicago]

How was your teams coaching last week? I think Reid probably messed up not going for it on 4 and 15.

Lovie Smith coached poorly. He called a time out at the end of the first half with 2 seconds left needlessly giving the Hawks a chance to score. The team had a costly delay of game penalty in the second half that cost the Bears a field goal.

 

[DustyinChicago]

I've already heard comments made about the fact that the Saints are going to "go to man coverage" on Rex, which is something he hasn't seen much this season.

My response to this is: "Why?"

The entire secondary has struggled against the big play, and you're facing a young QB who has really struggled at times this season.

"Football sense" suggests that you play more of a zone, take away that deep ball (even using something of a cover 2 or 3 effect) and make the inconsistent Grossman have to be perfect to beat you.

I'd rather force the Bears to have to go 8-12 plays a drive--and make the perfect throws, blocks, and catches necessary to complete such drives---than give Rex and his big arm a few shots down the field.

If you take away the deep ball from Grossman, make them eat up clock to score, and pound McCallister-Karney-Bush on 30-40 carries, I don't see how the Saints lose (assuming no big turnovers and such). The more responsibility you place on the QB's shoulders, by forcing him to manage multiple long drives, the better---I think it's safe to say the All-Pro QB who has thrown only 1 INT the last 6 games is going to get the better of that matchup every time.

The Saints are physical enough to beat the Bears playing "Bear football"---eat up that clock, etc.

interesting analysis. I agree, Saints are physical enough to play Bear football but I think the Saints need to blitz. Even with a cover 2 or 3, Berrian can get behind the secondary.

 

[LSSpam]

This is probably a bad question, but how has the officiating looked for NO this year? Some people seem to think that NO have the edge with the great NO comeback story.

Overall, I think officiating isnt anywhere close to where it should be in the NFL. They should get 99.9% of plays right and it seems to me they hover around 95%.

Completely honest answer

Feels like we've gotten the benefit of the doubt on a number of occasions that we wouldnt have in the past. The calls were always correct, but it just seems like in the past they would have gone against us (the McKenzie fumble in the San Fran game for example). Some people attribute this to NFL officials giving good teams the benefit of the doubt. Some people call it fate. Personnally I think it's just you notice bad calls when you lose and good calls when you win.

There have been no incorrect pivotal calls in either direction in any Saints games. Saints games have been sparingly penalized. Not only do we get rarely penalized, teams we play against tend to be rarely penalized.

 

[Super Dad]

This is probably a bad question, but how has the officiating looked for NO this year? Some people seem to think that NO have the edge with the great NO comeback story.

Overall, I think officiating isnt anywhere close to where it should be in the NFL. They should get 99.9% of plays right and it seems to me they hover around 95%.

Between that and the Turf crap I could care less about all the speculation because it just is not true we have just cleaned up all the bad penalties that plagued this team over the past couple years.

 

[DustyinChicago]

I'm currently listening to these on Sports Radio
Matchup Indicators:

Pass Defense: Saints
Rushing Yards: Bears
Rush Yards per Rush: Bears ( by .1)
Opponents Rushing Yards: Bears
Turnover Differential: Bears (bears +8, saints -4)
Better Record: Bears
Fewest allowed yards: Bears
Fewest Points Allowed: Bears

There are 4 more catagories that I have missed, The Bears won them all. I dont know what they were.


Its from Chicago sports radio tho, so take it for what its worth. I guess this is a formula that is often used to analyze Superbowl matchups.

 

[iron error]

not the expert, but some observations

it sure seems that Rex does not look off his receiver, its like the ball is snapped and he stares.

the bears do not have a shifty speed back who can give us problems like Tiki, Westbrook, or Parker.

the Saints can stop the run pretty well, but just give up a big play or two to a type of back listed above

it seemed like Seattle could make the mid range throw on the bears all day, but just would not do it enough and had terrible play calling

Urlacher is plenty fast in coverage, but overpursues too much, and there is no better team IMO than the Saints at reversing field plays using bush and henderson

Rex throws a decent deep ball when he has time. If the saints have a lead he will not have time. When he throws an early pick and is under pressure he throws more picks.

Rex made throws against Seattle, but he was seldom under pressure and his recievers were being covered by all backups. Yes, the Saints have a weakness there, but not as weak as Seattle.

Not being a blind homer, just call this game to be of the 42-17 variety due to an early Saints lead, stopping the Bears running game, and Rex being forced to throw to catch up. 10 points for Bears due to a couple nice returns.