Another Week, Another Rabbit, One Less Hat To Pull From?

Forgive my tardiness in posting as my holiday travel plans delayed my normal game day routine yesterday. You will also have to forgive me if I missed anything since I was unable to view the game in it's entirety. Remind me to fire my travelling secretary for booking my flight during the game...

There was plenty to like, plenty to dislike, and plenty to be just plain old confused about in the Bears 38-34 victory over the New York Jets. In a game that was supposed to feature two of the league's preeminent defenses, we instead witnessed an offensive shootout.  As surprising as the back-and-forth flow of the game was, the most important thing is the Bears walked away with a win and are now in position to lock up the #2 seed next week-if not sooner assuming the Eagles don't collapse against the Vikings on Tuesday. Even more amazingly since the Saints beat the Falcons Monday Night, the Bears (gulp) have an outside chance of home field throughout the playoffs.

I'll get into that later, but with the Bears continuing to rack up wins, they also have put themselves in this advantageous position by once again staying freakishly healthy as a roster. Here's how I saw it:

Offense : You can't accidentally put up 38 points against the 5th ranked defense right? Especially when you put up 40 points the week before? A short week at that, might I add? Well that's exactly what the Bears did on Sunday, and it could have been 41 if Robbie Gould didn't miss a field goal late in the third quarter.

As for the forensics, the main star of the game was Matt Forte. Forte played exceptionally by gaining 113 rushing yards for a 5.9 yards per carry, 56 yards receiving and rushing touchdown on the day. Jay Cutler did his usual Cutler Act of doing something stupid and then making up for it in a major way by throwing a Pick 6 to Dwight Lowery in the second quarter to put the Jets up 14-10, and then rallying to throw 3 touchdown passes on the day while rushing for another TD as well. Cutler's TD passes weren't exactly on 1st and goal either. These were long TD strikes of 40 yards to Johnny Knox, 25 yards to Devin Hester, and another 25 yard TD pass to Knox in the fourth quarter. All of Cutler and Forte's success couldn't happen without the continued improve play of the Offensive Line. I asked them to keep it up last week, and they did so, by allowing Forte to run wild and giving Cutler the time to chuck it deep and take the chances Cutler needs to take in order for defenses to know the Bears are not a one trick pony offensively.

Something that I've noticed the past couple of games is that the Bears seem to be going back to more of the traditional Mike Martz looks. This is mainly evident by the pre-snap shifts that are happening with more frequency. These shifts are designed to help Cutler determine what the coverage is and/or force a favorable match-up the Bears can take advantage of i.e. Forte being covered by Jason Taylor and beating him for a deep pass late in the second quarter. These shifts were largely absent for most of the season as it was painfully obvious the Bears weren't ready to run Martz's playbook. Looks to me that the Bears are getting more comfortable with the Martz system and will hopefully catch teams by surprise with it come playoff time.

Defense : Don't be fooled by Chris Harris' fumble recovery and interception late in the fourth quarter. For as nice of a game as Chris had, this game was a big reason why I can't stand the Tampa 2. When the Bears face a team with a good offensive line and a quarterback that knows what he's doing in Mark Sanchez, they will get beat up and down the field like they did. The Tampa 2 is vulnerable to quick slants, play action fakes, and Seam Routes. Always has been, always will be. Don't believe me? Go ask Tom Brady. The numbers back it up too as Sanchez was 24-37 (13-15 in the first half!)  for 269 yards and a TD as the Bears had no pass rush and did not generate the turnovers necessary to justify the scheme.

Unfortunately as the Bears enter the playoffs, they will run into more quarterbacks that know what they're doing, and it's too late to change things up defensively now.

Special Teams : Overall a good game by this unit despite a couple of hiccups. Even though they are full of crap by saying they "made the play" (Brad Smith dropped a very catchable ball) on the bizarre fourth down fake the Jets ran in the second half, they still did some nice things. Maynard punted the ball well, and Hester when given the chance almost added to his all time Touchdown record. Gould missed a 35 yarder however that would have put the Bears up 41-34.

Where Do We Go From Here : As I mentioned, with this win the Bears are now in a good position to lock up the #2 playoff spot-with the outside chance of home field throughout. Before you get your hopes up though, here's how that would have to happen : the Falcons have to lose to Carolina, the Eagles have to lose to either the Vikings or the Cowboys, the Saints have to lose to Tampa, and the Bears have to beat the Packers.

The more logical scenario is the #2 seed, and the Bears control their own destiny in that regard as they simply need to beat the Packers-barring an Eagle loss on Tuesday Night. On paper it seems that the Bears should win this game, but in my opinion I don't like giving Aaron Rodgers & company an opportunity to play for their playoff lives at HOME, do you?

Either way though this is one opportunity where Lovie's "#1 goal" would work out real well overall for the Bears.

Division Champs!

Did I call you guys "assholes" last week? Sorry about that. Can we play outdoors on a college field all the time? Never mind, I just remembered the 2002 season in Champaign. For the first time since 2006 the Chicago Bears can call themselves NFC North Champions! Congrats to them, they deserve it, and I deserve to eat my words.


As important as tonight's victory was, the way it was obtained was a lot of fun. Amid all the kerfuffle regarding the field conditions and Brett Favre making a mockery of the Injury Report, the Bears not only beat the Vikings, but beat them up too (2 Viking Concussions that I'm aware of) in record setting fashion. They may have FINALLY done what I've been hoping to see for years if not decades, and that's put an end to Brett Favre's Career. They also witnessed Devin Hester break the all-time kick return record with his 14th career TD coming in the third quarter. Ridiculous indeed. Here's what I enjoyed:

Offense: In a word, "Great". In another word  "Dominant". The Bears ran and threw the ball seemingly at will, despite the slippery and snowy conditions at TCF Bank Stadium. Matt Forte led the way on the ground with 92 rushing yards, while Cutler threw the ball with accuracy and velocity en route to three touchdown passes, the first of which was a 67 yard rope to Johnny Knox on a 1st and 30 that put the Bears up for good. Cutler spread the wealth, hitting 7 different receivers, and might have had 4 Touchdown Passes were it not for a badly timed penalty. The offensive line put together an impressive performance against the Williams Wall of the Vikings, allowing only 1 sack while opening up gaping holes for the ground game. Keep it up O-Line!


In each of the last 6 wins, the Bears offense looks more and more cohesive. That can only help in the playoffs. Don't tell Cutler that though : "By no means are we completely satisfied," Cutler said. "We know we can be so much better offensively." Good Answer....good answer...


Defense : A tremendous performance by this unit tonight. For the fifth time in six games, the Bears allowed the opponent to get ahead early in the game, and then opened the floodgates. The defensive line was so active and disruptive tonight, particularly Julius Peppers who once again drew constant double teams yet walked away with an interception. Henry Melton tipped the pass to Peppers, Israel Idonije, and Matt Toeaina each walked away with a sack, but the best sack of the night belonged to rookie (and now my favorite Bear) Corey Wootton, as he slammed Brett Favre head-first into the rock hard field turf, and apparently may have given the All-Time Interceptions leader a concussion! Hate to wish injury on anyone, but if anyone deserves it, that would be Favre. 

Linebackers and secondary also played at a dominant level. Brian Urlacher led the way with 8 tackles, Lance Briggs had a sack, and Charles Tillman and Chris Harris each had an interception. All told, the 14 points the Bears allowed is actually misleading. The Vikings had no chance offensively once Favre was out in addition to no Adrian Peterson. The way this unit played tonight though, I don't believe it would have mattered.

Special Teams : An All-Star night for Dave Toub and his crew. Obviously Devin Hester gets the much deserved attention for breaking the all-time record, but for his other two returns that once again gave the Bears outstanding field position. An equally impressive display was made by Patrick Mannelly, Brad Maynard, and Robbie Gould for making field goals and extra points look like they were being kicked in a dome. Maynard also had the lead foot as well averaging 41 yards per punt. Outstanding!

Where Do We Go From Here : Playoffs? PLAYOFFS! For as much as the celebration is underway in many respects, there is still work to be done this regular season. The Bears have the chance to lock up a first round bye next week, but will need some help to do so. As it stands now, the Bears need to beat the Jets at home, the Eagles and Giants both need to lose for the Bears to clinch a first round bye.

So the Bears still have plenty to play for these next two games, and should prepare accordingly, specifically against the blitz-heavy New York Jets. Cutler may have been sacked only once, but he did take a shot to the chin courtesy of an Antoine Winfield blitz and helmet. That cannot happen.

Are they really lucky? Absolutely. Is Luck enough to win Super Bowls? Not even close. As we know, it's not enough that you receive the benefit of luck during an NFL season, but you also need to take advantage of it. The Chicago Bears of 2010 will forever be known as Advantage Takers now.

Rapid Car-Bombs

I apologize for the gap between posts. Time Management is really tested during the Silly Season, and a lot has happened since the last posting. With that in mind, I'll do my best to shoot from the hip and spray to all fields:

• It appears that Notre Dame went 3 for 3 in their attempt to shed no more light on the Elizabeth Seeberg case than has already been released, as the St. Joseph County Prosecutors Office announced that it will not prosecute Notre Dame. The County Prosecutor also will not reveal the name of the person who sent Seeberg the threatening text of "Don't do anything you would regret. Messing with notre dame football is a bad idea." Obviously Seeberg's family is not happy about this, nor am I. Before you Notre Dame defenders start saying "See I told you so, Notre Dame does NOTHING wrong!", you should understand that the only reason the Prosecutor will not pursue this is because Seeberg's death makes her statements inadmissible. That is not even close to what would be considered "innocent". Mark my words though, this won't be the last of this, and Notre Dame is FAR from being out of the woods.
• There's been some loud baseball activity on both sides of Chicago the past couple weeks. For the White Sox it was the retention of Paul Konerko and the recently signed Jesse Crain to supplement a weakened bullpen. For the Cubs, it was acquiring the statistically enigmatic Carlos Pena from the Tampa Bay Rays, and welcoming with open arms the return of Kerry Wood to their bullpen. Regarding the Cubs moves, I actually think both are good decisions. For as up and down as Pena has been over his career, he's worth the risk for one year. Getting more fastballs thrown at him in the NL should help him. As for Wood, there's really not much to dislike about it as Kerry gave the Cubs a HUGE hometown discount, while simultaneously giving them a proven bullpen arm and opens the door to Andrew Cashner joining their rotation. If Jim Hendry can pull of the impossible and make this Zambrano to the Yankees rumor happen, that would REALLY be amazing. I'll believe that when it happens though. With the White Sox transactions, I think it was brilliant how they made Konerko cave to the pressure from Dunn and AJ back loading their deals to make room for him. Paulie has been the face and captain of this team for the better part of 10 years and keeping him along for one more "go for it" season was the right thing to do, even though it involved some public peer pressure. Crain could be good, but he could be Linebrink too (please god I hope he's better than that).
• Brett Favre...Eff your record. Yeah it's impressive, yeah you played through a lot of pain to get it, but your still a douche, and you really should thank Goodell for waiting until your streak was over before making a decision on whether or not to suspend you. Bye-Bye Ass-Face...
• And now to the Bears. I'd personally like to thank the Vikings for having a hole ripped through their dome to shift the focus on where this upcoming Monday night's game will be played, rather than how awful the Bears were last Sunday. As for how this situation is being handled, The Beard thinks this is the biggest fustercluck he can remember seeing in the NFL since the New Orleans Saints had to play games in Baton Rouge and San Antonio in the wake of Hurricane Katrina 5 years ago. I can't remember whether or not Beer was sold for those games in Baton Rouge, but I DEFINITELY know they won't be served at TCF Bank Stadium! Not to mention there are 15,000 people that had tickets to this game that will not have seats, and even though they are working like hell to melt the 2 inches of ice and snow covering the field at this moment, the weather forecast calls for more SNOW this weekend! In summary this is really a dumb way to handle this by the league. Who gives a crap that it's the 50th anniversary night for the Vikings Franchise? That poor piece of scheduling is really worth having to go through all of this garbage at the risk of player and fan safety? In my opinion...I've got another place you can put that snow shovel...

In the meantime please click on the picture to enjoy some outtakes of Ozzie Guillen shooting a Christmas Commercial! Haaaaaaappy Holidaaaaays...Haaaaaaaaappy Holidaaaaaaaaaays...

Assholes...

Just when I was beginning to doubt my own misgivings about what an inept coach Lovie Smith is, the Bears go ahead and get completely disgraced like this. I could offer the typical breakdown of what I saw from the game as I usually do, but why bother? Why bother preparing when the Bears themselves prepared for this game about as much as Jay Marrioti prepared to not beat his girlfriend someday.

In short here's where it came down to. Julius Peppers needed to generate pressure, and he didn't. The Bears needed to stuff the run...and they didn't. The Bears had to allow short completions by the Pats and cause them to cough the ball up....but they didn't. The Bears offense needed to establish the run...and they didn't.

To sum up, there was a whole lot of would've, could've, should've and didn't from the Bears today. This is the kind of game that the coaching staff burns the game film, rather than try to learn from it. Instead of locking up the NFC North Division crown, the Bears have now pretty much guaranteed that it will come down to the final week of the season before we find out if they will be playing meaningful football in January.

Thank goodness Detroit gave Aaron Rodgers a concussion...

Long Awaited And Never Duplicated....UD Flyer Hoop Squad 2010-2011 PREVIEW

I was going to offer up a season preview for my beloved Dayton Flyers, but I somehow felt that I wouldn't be able to offer the best insight possible. As if he was reading my mind, long time Whitey Guccione contributor Rossi offered to write the preview for me, and my immediate thought was "Who Better to preview them than Rossi?", which of course the answer is none. So without further ado, here is Rossi's take on the season for UD Hoops 2010-11:

The Flyer Faithful: The UD Flyers will make the big boy tournament this season. The two main reasons why are Chris Wright and Chris Johnson. What I've seen in the first two games is UD has improved point guard play. Josh Parker and Juwan Staten play the position under control and both can shoot effectively. One thing I noticed is Josh Parker likes taking heat checks, similar to Rob Lowery. Parker will have on and off shooting nights that will both kill us, yet win some games for UD as well. I consider Parker to be a better shooter and smarter player than Staten.


Staten has however been given the keys to car at this point, and Brian Gregory is in the front seat. Staten will play really well at times, but UD will have to live with the freshman mistakes he is certain to make. One thing that does impress me about Staten is that he displays the capability of scoring on every possession, yet it seems like he loves passing to his teammates more, and making sure everyone is involved. Staten reminds me a lot of Mateen Cleaves in this offense. Even though Staten has a better shot, his quickness and ability to get to the basket is very similar to Cleaves. Without a doubt Staten will lead the Flyers in assists and I am confident that Staten will be named A10 rookie of the year.


My next prediction will be Chris Johnson will make the A10's second team. His recent play makes that prediction a little shaky at this point however. Against Akron he shot a grand total of 1 time! He had 3 points on 1 for 1 shooting. It is my contention however that Johnson will turn around his season and be the second leading scorer on the team this year.


Thirdly, many experts predict the lost of last years’ starting center Kurt Hueslman will hurt the most. I'm calling bullshit on that right now however because Devin Searcy will have a breakout season. He will average around 8 to 9 points and about 7 to 8 rebounds per game. Well the big dog is pleasantly proving me wrong as he has posted 2 double doubles in his first two career starts!! From where I sit, I say let the big dog eat and sext all he wants. FYI the rumor around UD is Searcy loves sexting his junk to girls around campus. I inquired about the issue to London Warren. Warren said it was true and later said "Man, Searcy is weird as fuck", so it looks like UD has another member of the “Athlete Dong Shot Phenomenon” aka “Brett Favre Syndrome”.


Fourthly, Brandon Spearman will push Paul Williams for minutes. Spearman is local kid out of Chicago. He reminds me a lot of Marcus Johnson when he first arrived at Dayton. Spearman has a better handle and shot though. Keep an eye out for Spearman next season.


Finally (you knew this was coming) Chris Wright will make the NBA period. He might even be a late first round pick. His performances against Miami and Akron made it clear he has improved his jump shot and the way he handles the ball. Chris also appears to more muscular than I can remember, and that can only help his game. The additions of Parker and Staten will benefit Wright’s game the most however, as playing with a true point guard will attract defenders and leaving Wright open for easy buckets. Currently, Wright is averaging 13 and 10 boards. If Wright keeps that type of production up, watch for his NBA stock to rise.


As for the team results, UD will go 13-2 in their Non Conference schedule. They will go 3-1 against the BCS teams. The main focus is the Conference Schedule though, and you can mark it down right here and now: UD will beat Xavier in Cincy this year for the first time since 1982 and finish with an 11-5 conference record. UD has a chance to go 13-3 with a favorable home schedule playing Xavier, Temple, and Richmond at home. All are predicted ahead of UD in the standings. UD will place in 2nd. All four of those aforementioned teams will make the NCAA's.


Once UD gets selected for the NCAA Tournament, who knows what they can do? We've all seen in the past years once you’re in, you can do some damage. Just ask Butler last season. Around mid-season we will get an idea if UD will be defending its NIT crown or playing with the big boys. Either way though, it’s time to get Flyer’d UP! WE ARE UD!

9-3 I guess...

Oh boy....I was waiting for the Bears to regress from this roll they have been on since the Bye week, and it happened today during the much ballyhooed "trap game" that was their contest against the Detroit Lions.


This one was ugly...not Bears v Bengals '09 ugly, or Bears v Ravens '09 ugly, but far from Pretty nonetheless. The Bears defense didn't show up until midway through the second half while missing more tackles than a peewee defense, and making Drew Stanton look like Michael Vick minus the dog slaughtering. After getting the benefit of a goofy, and from my vantage point incorrect, roughing the quarterback call from Ed "Muscles" Hochuli, the Bears took care of business, and can now lean on the generic football cliche of "Great teams win when they don't play well, the very good teams lose when they don't play well". Whatever...here's what I watched:

Offense : It's nice to not have to start bitching about the Bears offense for a change. It's really hard to come down on this group lately, despite the offensive line still being porous to average throughout the day. Incidentally, this was the third consecutive game I saw Olin Kruetz pushed back on his ass during pass blocking. Olin should really think about hanging it up next season Be that as it may, the Bears offense looked pretty fluid. Matt Forte and Chester Taylor ran the ball well for 97 total yards and two touchdowns between them.


The new and improved Jay Cutler shined once again with a high completion percentage, nearly 250 passing yards, 1 touchdown and ZERO Picks. Cutler also continued to make plays with his legs when he had to, despite being sacked 4 times one of which resulting in a fumble. Cutler was helped immensely by the vastly improved play of Earl Bennett. Earl made some tremendous catches in big situations, contributing to the 5 of 9 third down conversions the Bears had on the day.

Defense : This was the group that deserves to be under the microscope for todays performance. After playing largely inspired football last week, as well as the last few games, this unit laid an egg in the first half - especially at the end of the first half. 2 plays, 91 yards for a touchdown with less than a minute to go is just flat out DUMB. So dumb in fact that the normally pulse-less Lovie Smith actually got "angry" at halftime at his lackadaisical defensive effort.


After Lovie's alleged meltdown, and some blitz calls later, the defense picked it up particularly early in the third quarter when Cutler fumbled near the Bears 10 yard line, and forced a 3 and out limiting Detroit to a Field Goal. Brian Urlacher was an animal once again. Julius Peppers (once again still not taking plays off) came through with a sack.


Bottom line, the defense got the job done when the chips were down.

Special Teams : Definitely a highlight of todays effort. Maynard dropped two punts inside the 10 yard line. Robbie Gould kicked a career high 54 yard field goal in the second half, while Devin Hester was one Craig Steltz block of the punter away from running back another touchdown. Why teams continue to kick to Hester is still one of the biggest examples of just how meatball NFL head coaches can be.

Where We Go From Here : It's easy to say the Bears overlooked the Lions because of what's happening next week. To some degree that's true, but I don't believe that the Bears were mailing it in effort wise. I think Detroit actually had a game plan for them, and executed it pretty well in the first half. The Bears not tackling made Detroit's approach that much better, but eventually both the Bears and the Lions remembered who each other were, and the Bears ended up with the victory.

That's now two of the predicted 3 wins the Bears would get courtesy of The Beard. I personally believe New England will be too much for them next week, but I've been wrong before.

Either way, most of the country will be watching. It should also be mentioned that regardless of how we've fels as fans, it goes without question that the 2010 Bears team is WAY more enjoyable than the one a year ago aren't they?!

All In

Color Me Impressed as well as Confused...

 In case you missed it, the White Sox - after lying in the weeds this off-season - leaped out of the brush to make bold and swift moves today, principle among said moves is the surprising signing of free agent Adam Dunn to a 4 year $56 million dollar contract.


Before signing Dunn however, the Sox decided to pick up Alexei Ramirez's club option of $2.75 million for 2011, and virtually gave a "don't let it hit you in the ass" gesture to 2005 World Series hero Bobby Jenks by non-tendering him for 2011. Both of those moves are very logical in The Beard's mind.


Then seemingly out of nowhere, not only does Kenny Williams sign Adam Dunn after word quickly got out that Dunn and the Oakland A's were not going to be able to make a deal, but Williams decided to shock everyone who has followed this team by saying:

"I've made no secrets that we have strong interest in bringing him back,'' Williams said of Konerko. "Not only is there room for it, but it would be the ideal fit from our perspective. The one thing Paul and I talked about at the end of the season is being mindful of each other's process. It's a fine line I have to walk right now where I am respectful of his process, but where we are also putting the best baseball team on the field.''



But wait, Kenny didn't stop there, with reports emerging late that the White Sox have resigned A.J. Pierzynski to a 2 year $8million dollar contract. This is significant because Kenny has said that talks with A.J. were put "on hold" because there needed to be progress made with Konerko first before A.J. situation could be addressed. Sounds like whatever sort of progress with Konerko Williams was talking about, has been made to me...

As for my take on all of this, as I mentioned earlier I am equal parts impressed and confused. Confused, because all season long as well as this offseason, the underlying understanding from the White Sox front office has been "We don't have the money to resign Konerko".

Now it seems that they looked under ALL the couch cushions and have found whatever money they needed plus some extra cash to land a big free agent like Adam Dunn, and by all accounts seem ready to spend more! Going into today the Sox had $83 million committed to the 2011 Payroll. They've cut loose $7.5 million by saying bye to Jenks, but are seemingly headed right back to the $103 million they spent on last years payroll. So why did they say they didn't have the money?

While that question may or may not be answered with the upcoming press-conference that's scheduled for Friday afternoon, one thing is for certain. The White Sox have made it clear that they are "going for it" in 2011, and I admire the fashion in which they are doing so. 

They went out and signed most likely the best available Lefty slugger they could get, while retaining fan favorites Paul Konerko and A.J. Pierzynski. This will be the final time they will be able to go for it with this group of veterans since Ozzie Guillen has one more season left on his contract, as does Mark Buehrle.

Will Adam Dunn provide the left handed firepower the White Sox have been looking for? I'm not really sure. Obviously Dunn can hit and get on base. Since 2004 the only player who has hit more home runs than Dunn is Albert Pujols. Sabermatricians love Dunn's numbers, but I've never looked at building a championship team being as simple as solving an Algebra Equation like the Dateless Wonders Living In Their Parents Basements that call themselves Sabermatricians.

I guess we'll find out eventually, but all we know right now is that if these moves work, the Sox will win the division. If these off-season moves don't work, and the White Sox aren't in contention by the trading deadline, you will most likely see Dunn, Konerko, and Buehrle traded, with the youth movement taking over at that point.

In terms of risk-reward, it's as solid bet as any to be made. Either way as the White Sox often say they are NEVER boring...