Chicago Bears lead NFC North

The Bears have a fairly tough schedule with the Packers, Steelers, Falcons, Packers and Vikings. I foresee at least a 3-2 record in those games, finishing at 11-5, which may be enough for a home playoff game.

I don't see the Bears crumbling. The defense is just too strong to crumble, but I can see them losing 7-0, 10-0, 10-3, those types of games where their offense just doesn't get anything going. You know, what typically happens to Chicago.

Some team is going to put the game in the hands of the rookie QB and dare him to beat them. We don't really have any idea whether he can do that or not.

I think the Bears have as good a shot as anybody at making the Super Bowl. They do parallel the 2000 Baltimore Ravens, who had a truly pitiful offense but an awesome defense.

Right now, I think the best teams in the NFC are Atlanta and Chicago, followed closely by Seattle.

 

Mike, I don't think there has ever been brothers, at any position, that have faced each other in the Super Bowl.

Last week, I wrote 2 or 3 posts where I predicted that Favre would throw 2 or 3 passes to the Bears, but thought that I would have sounded far too cocky, so I didn't. Watching Favre throw passes to the other team is one of the best parts of rooting against the Pack.

It's not a question of if Favre throws a game killing pick, but when.

With that, I'm concerned about the Bears offense. They were downright pathetic, winning in spite of the offense. Going 0 for 10 on 3rd down is an embarrassing, pitiful performance, even against a pretty good Packers defense.

I'm not complaining about this season too much, though. The Bears were predicted to be 5-11, 6-10 and in the basement of the NFC North. Going 9-3 with a chance to make the playoffs has made for an entertaining season.

If the Bears want to do something besides make the playoffs, they need to pick it up on offense somehow. I don't know how they can do that with 4 games to go. If they haven't figured out how to score points on offense by now, it's not going to happen. Regardless, I'm going to have at least 4 more enjoyable Sunday afternoons watching a team with a very good defense and hapless offense. Having been saddled with watching some very bad Bears teams under Wannstedt and Jauron, I'm simply thrilled with a 9-3 record thus far.

 

Yesterday's loss wasn't unexpected. The Steelers were a desperate team and desperate teams win more often than not. What was unexpected was that the Steelers ran the ball so well. After giving up over 300 yards to the Packers and Steelers in consecutive weeks, it appears that teams have figured out how to beat them. It didn't help that the Bears were sloppy in tackling. It makes one wonder if the D got suckered into thinking that all they have to do is show up and they can shutdown an offense.

Or, maybe the players that were lost to injury are better than the guys that replaced them. Perhaps Ron Rivera hasn't fully adjusted for the loss of those players yet. Maybe the Packers and Steelers offensive lines are quite a bit better than the lines the Bears had been facing. I don't know, but I'm concerned.

The offense played a little bit better, but on the days when the defense isn't shutting down the opponent, that's when you need an offense that can step it up and score. It wouldn't hurt to put guys on special teams that can actually catch the ball from time to time.

 

Your facts are wrong. The 1972-73 Miami Dolphins went 14-0 in the regular season and beat the Washington Redskins 14-7 to win Super Bowl VII. There have been no other Dolphin teams that were undefeated in the regular season.

Also, I think your boyfriend is wrong. When Marino played, the Dolphins were usually very good on offense, but didn't have a stout enough defense. These Colts do have a pretty good defense. Consider that this is a Colts defense that stopped the Steelers running game, which is the same running game that the vaunted Bears D couldn't stop last Sunday.

The Colts are virtually unstoppable on offense. I still don't believe that the Colts will go 16-0, but they look to me like a team that will win Super Bowl L.