Trap game for Bears. Underrated Giants team, short week for Bears, Eli is a dink and dunk QB (which we historically have issues with).
On the other hand their defense isn't the same without Antonio Pierce, and Rashard Johnson is now out for the game. Their offensive line has had issues this year.
Bears win a close one 17-13.
Winston Churchill:
"Since light travels faster than sound, some people appear bright until you hear them speak."
"If you're not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you're not a conservative at forty you have no brain."
lol much much better : )Originally Posted by georgiajeff
if mannighman can't go, really going to impact them and just have smith then.. will hurt the dink/dunk, and allow us to double-team smith. And with jacob's struggling they can't fall back on their run game as usually did
Bears-Giants Preview
By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN, STATS Senior Writer
As the last unbeaten team in the NFC, the Chicago Bears are among the season's biggest surprises. The New York Giants are probably surprising for the wrong reasons.
The Bears look to improve upon their best start since their last Super Bowl season four years ago Sunday night when they visit a mistake-prone Giants team that has dropped consecutive games.
Chicago (3-0) went 7-9 a year ago as newcomer Jay Cutler threw a league-high 26 interceptions. It's been a different story in 2010 with Cutler throwing for 870 yards - fifth-most in the NFL - with six touchdowns and two interceptions under first-year offensive coordinator Mike Martz.
"It's just different," Cutler said. "Mike is a quarterback-friendly offensive coordinator. He's going to give quarterbacks answers for each play. There is no gray area, and whenever you see a certain coverage, you know where the ball is supposed to go."
While the Bears are undefeated this far into a season for the first time since opening 7-0 in 2006, the Giants (1-2) are looking to avoid their worst start since 1997. They opened 4-0 the past two years.
Eli Manning is tied for the NFL lead with Minnesota's Brett Favre with six interceptions, and the Giants have 10 turnovers - tied for second-most in the league.
"You can't make the errors," coach Tom Coughlin said. "You cannot be careless with the football. You're not going to win at this level."
The errors included 11 penalties - five were 15-yard personal fouls - in last Sunday's 29-10 loss to Tennessee. Two of those were committed by right tackle Kareem McKenzie, who was benched and apologized to his team Monday.
Those kinds of mistakes won't help New York against a Bears team that has beaten playoff teams from last year each of the last two weeks, including Monday's 20-17 win over Green Bay. Devin Hester had a 62-yard punt return for a touchdown and a 28-yard return that set up Chicago's first score.
"He was definitely back last week, even the times we didn't score, I felt like he was a threat every time he touched the ball," coach Lovie Smith said. "It'll be interesting to see what exactly our opponents do."
Hester has victimized New York in the past, returning a missed field goal 108 yards for a touchdown in a 38-20 win in the Bears' last visit to New Jersey in 2006. The Giants - with rookie Matt Dodge struggling to a 33.0-net average on eight punts - do not plan on letting Hester become a factor.
"Kick it out of bounds," said Coughlin about his instructions to Dodge. "Don't let him have the ball."
Chicago may have an edge in going up against New York and first-year defensive coordinator Perry Fewell, who was a candidate for the same position with the Bears before joining Coughlin's staff. Chicago promoted Rod Marinelli.
Fewell's defense is allowing 136.7 rushing yards per game to rank 26th, although that may not be a factor against a Bears offense that emptied its backfield on numerous sets Monday and has the league's fourth-worst rushing attack (72.0 ypg).
Still, Cutler doesn't expect any surprises.
"I'm kind of familiar with the Giants because they run a similar system that we do here in Chicago defensively," Cutler said. "They have a really good front four and brought in some defensive backs to help them out. It's going to be a good test for us, they're a good, physical team."
Marinelli's defense is allowing 39.7 yards per game on the ground to lead the NFL. It will be facing a Giants running attack which has gained more than 100 yards every game behind Ahmad Bradshaw, while disgruntled Brandon Jacobs has received four carries each of the last two weeks.
The Bears have an unhappy player of their own in Tommie Harris, the former Pro Bowl defensive tackle who was benched last week and could be on the sidelines again
.
Still, Chicago's defense has been buoyed by the addition of Julius Peppers, who had a strong game against the Packers and played well last year for Carolina in a win over New York. Peppers will look to take advantage of a Giants offensive line that could be missing center Shaun O'Hara (left ankle, Achilles' tendon) for a second straight game.
"You have to recognize where he is - he's going to line up on the right side, on the left side, he's going to line up to the open side, he's going to line up to the tight end side - and you've got to make some adjustments with your schemes," said Coughlin about Peppers.
The Giants have lost their last five regular-season home meetings against the Bears since a 28-24 victory in 1969. The winner of the last two meetings - in 2006 and 2007 - has gone on to the Super Bowl.
Bears win and feel less homerish about this pick than last 2 games. However, this is does have let down potential but all the player talk points otherwise. We stay humble and hungry with a chip should keep us focused. Giants simply playing poorly and if we come out fast offensively it will take that crowd out quickly and it won't even be close. We score 30+, one defensively.
giant view:
Bears offense now a 'Cut' above
LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Jay Cutler was still feeling it a few days later, still a little bruised and banged up after the beating he took during the Chicago Bears’ win over Green Bay on Monday night.
As sore as he felt, he was still liking some of the things he’s seeing.
The Bears are 3-0 and the lone unbeaten team in the NFC after surprising wins over the Cowboys and Packers, and the offense is providing its share of highlights.
How much better can it perform, with the Giants up next Sunday at New Meadowlands Stadium?
“Good question. I don’t know,” Cutler said. “We’re growing, we’re still young, we’re still pretty young in this offense. I think Mike (Martz) is still trying to figure out exactly where we’re at, what he can call in certain situations, what we can handle on a week to week basis as far as game-planning wise, what we can handle during the game, what he can go do, what doesn’t really work for us. So like everyone is still kind of growing and gelling together.”
Martz, in his first year as the Bears’ offensive coordinator, isn’t sure how good it can be, either.
“I really don’t really know, and that’s the fun part of this,” he said. “There’s enough talent here, and it’s exciting because each week we continue to get better.”
The Bears are a statistical mishmash at the moment, among the best in some areas and worst in others even though Cutler is again looking like a top-tier quarterback after a rough first season in Chicago.
They boast fast if still unproven receivers, reliable tight ends and a dangerous pass-catching running back in Matt Forte, and it’s added up to a passing game that ranks fifth. Yet an inconsistent line ranks among the league’s worst at 27th and the run game is even closer to the bottom at 29th.
The Bears seem to have no problem getting the big plays, with 12 completions for 20 or more yards tying them for fifth in that category. Yet, when they need a yard on fourth down at the goal line, well, see what happened against Green Bay or in the opener against Detroit — they couldn’t get it.
Third downs are a problem, too. The Bears are 10 of 34 and tied for 28th at 29 percent.
“I think we’ve seen glimpses of it,” tight end Greg Olsen said. “I think we have some guys who can make big plays, get some big chunks of yardage at a time. By no means are we a finished product. We still have some work to do and still be a little more consistent in areas. But I think at times we’ve seen that when we play well and execute the way we work toward, we have a chance to be pretty good.”
Whether they get there remains to be seen.
So far, what they have are promising signs, signals that this could truly be an explosive offense assuming they progress as the season wears on.
Cutler, the NFL's fifth-leading passer, has clearly bought into Martz’s system so far after a rocky first season first season in Chicago. He’s averaging more yards per completion (9.6) than anyone, and his 109.7 rating trails only Peyton Manning and Michael Vick.
Most important, he’s hanging onto the ball and has only two interceptions after throwing a league-leading 26 a year ago.
But the one he threw in the first quarter against Green Bay also served as a reminder that the Bears remain a work in progress. So did the hits he absorbed early on and later in the game.
A helmet-to-helmet hit by the Packers’ Frank Zombo in the fourth quarter left Cutler a little woozy and Zombo $7,500 poorer. It also wiped out an interception by Green Bay linebacker Nick Barnett.
“Some of those you hope the next play is a run, but it doesn’t always happen like that,” Cutler said. “Those hits are tough when you take them in the head like that under the chin. And then you know you have got to get right back up, the clock is ticking, it could be a third down or it could be a second down and you just never know. That was kind of a crucial part of the game where we had to go down there and score so it’s just another challenge to the game.”
On the interception early in the game, neither Cutler nor Olsen made the correct adjustments. The pass was nowhere near its intended target and got picked off by safety Derrick Martin.
“We had Greg going up the seam and they carried him a little bit,” Cutler said. “The safety was out wide and we had a good look for it, but it was just the linebacker kind of got on top of Greg. That’s something we learned from. In that situation, we kind of want Greg to come underneath. But I didn’t know that. Greg didn’t know that. After watching the film, we made the adjustments. That’s kind of something that happens on the run out there that next time we’ll probably hit that
NFL.COM
Bears look to stay unbeaten vs. Giants
Devin Hester had a punt return TD last week.
(Tim Sharp / Associated Press)
The storyline
The Giants better start getting some wins, or rumors of Bill Cowher and others to the Big Apple are going to heat up.
Why you should watch
Chicago's Devin Hester returned a punt for a touchdown on Monday night against Green Bay, and he could exploit a struggling New York special teams unit. The New Meadowlands has been stoic and the Giants have to begin winning at home, soon.
Did you know?
Bears defensive end Julius Peppers has 10 blocked field goals in his career. ... Chicago's Matt Forte leads all NFL running backs with 1,150 receiving yards since 2008. ... Giants receiver Hakeem Nicks is tied for the NFL lead with four touchdown catches. ... New York has won 12 straight games when Justin Tuck has a sack (including the playoffs).
I'm just going to leave this here:
DAMM!!.. had hoped for at least one more week, we would be doubted... well hopefully the rest of the national media picks Giants..lol
NFL.COM:
Bears at Giants
Sharpe: Bears
Theismann: Bears
Baldinger: Bears
http://blogs.nfl.com/2010/09/29/play...thout-big-ben/
LOL Nice.. hadn't seen that oneI'm just going to leave this here:
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