Week 13 Wildcard Discussion

It appears with Jay Cutler out for the foreseeable future what was a solid wild card spot is in more jeopardy.

I see the teams that we are competing with for the 2 wildcard spots to be the Lions, Falcons and the Giants.

This is assuming that the divisional winners are Green Bay, San Francisco, Dallas and New Orleans.

I am predicting a Giants loss in New Orleans tonight.

In Week 13 the schedule looks like this

Atl [7-4] @ Hou

With no QB in Houston what looked like a Falcons loss now looks like an easy win.

ATL: Win

KC @ Chi [7-4]

I think that the same effort against Oak against KC would be a win and any Hanie improvement makes this easier.

CHI: Win

GB @ NYG [6-5]

The Giants play another tough game against a very good opponent.

NYG: Loss

Det [7-4] @ NO

The Lions play a MNF game in NO without Suh.

Det: Loss

Atl 8-4
Chi 8-4
NYG 6-6
Det 7-5

In all honesty, I think the NYG are gonna beat the Pack. They're gonna get to Rodgers and he doesn't play well when he's getting hit

Chicago [10-6]

KC: Win
@Den: Loss
Sea: Win
@GB: Loss
@Min: Win

Atlanta [11-5]

@Hou: Win
@Car: Win
Jac: Win
@NO: Loss
TB: Win

NYG [8-8]

@NO: Loss
GB: Loss
@Dal: Loss
Was: Win
@NYJ: Loss
Dal: Win

Lions [9-7]

@NO: Loss
Min: Win
@Oak: Loss
SD: Win
GB: Loss

"Atl 8-4
Chi 8-4
NYG 6-6
Det 7-5 ".


We own the tie breaker w/Atl, so it should be Chic 8-4, Atl, 8-4,Det 7-5 NYG's 6-6.
I'm not worried about a wildcard spot, yet. This Oak game was a coinflip game for me before Cutler was out. Lets see how Haine does against KC. If that is a win, we should be okay.

I think the Giants take the east. However I don't think we have to worry about a wild card spot coming from that division.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WindyCity

Chicago [10-6]

KC: Win
@Den: Loss
Sea: Win
@GB: Loss
@Min: Win

Atlanta [11-5]

@Hou: Win
@Car: Win
Jac: Win
@NO: Loss
TB: Win

NYG [8-8]

@NO: Loss
GB: Loss
@Dal: Loss
Was: Win
@NYJ: Loss
Dal: Win

Lions [9-7]

@NO: Loss
Min: Win
@Oak: Loss
SD: Win
GB: Loss

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I think you're giving Denver way too much credit. The shine on Timmy Tebow will wear off soon. He hasn't been up against a defense like the Bears yet. We play that one here and one thing we don't want to do is play from behind. We need to play good ball control football and keep our defense off the field. Defenses alot younger then ours have been known to run out of gas in the 4th quarter at this altitude which is why Tebow has been getting chances to win at home.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by soulman

I think you're giving Denver way too much credit. The shine on Timmy Tebow will wear off soon. He hasn't been up against a defense like the Bears yet. We play that one here and one thing we don't want to do is play from behind. We need to play good ball control football and keep our defense off the field. Defenses alot younger then ours have been known to run out of gas in the 4th quarter at this altitude which is why Tebow has been getting chances to win at home.

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Agreed.This defense has proven it's worth against QBs that can run. Rodgers, Vick... I can't see a QB who is limited to basically a secondary running back role being able to set this defense on their heels. I still see the Denver offense as college run, and with the Linebacker's ability to play a man-up resonsibility as well as they do. I think Briggs can neutralize Tebow and Urlacher can take care of of McGahee. As long as TT is contained and bottled in the pocket I think he can be neutralized

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CalgaryBearsFan

Agreed.This defense has proven it's worth against QBs that can run. Rodgers, Vick... I can't see a QB who is limited to basically a secondary running back role being able to set this defense on their heels. I still see the Denver offense as college run, and with the Linebacker's ability to play a man-up resonsibility as well as they do. I think Briggs can neutralize Tebow and Urlacher can take care of of McGahee. Living as a Canadian, I can legally gamble at my local convinience store, and will be betting the Bears hard on this game.

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There are a couple of keys to this game which I think will make that Tebow option come down to earth. First and foremost being left handed he runs more to his left than his right and he hasn't faced anyone as big, fast and athletic at DE as Julius Peppers. Pep is gonna play that option almost like a LB and either string him out or turn him back into Briggs and Urlacher and those guy can hit and tackle as well as anyone in the game. Tebow is one tough cookie and he'll never give up, that's his intangible, but I think he'll meet his match.

McGahee is big and fast but he needs room to get going. Just don't give it to him. He can be a terror if you let him get into the secondary so the line needs to bottle him up that's all. Tebow can't beat anyone with just his arm. His ability to connect with timing passes is crappy so you just have to take downfield away from him and that's where Conte can help.

The rush needs to contain him as much as sack him. He's big and tough to bring down but when you surround him he's so overly conscious of protecting the football that you can make him cover and drop. Just don't try and leg tackle him. He can pull away from that too easy. With all the looks the Bears can give him his ability to read won't help him much but we need to spend some practice time defensing an option offense. The way he's beaten teams is that they haven't defended him as well as they need to.

This one game where we need to score early and often even if it's just adding FG's. I doubt Tebow's offense can score more than 17 points on us if we play him right and stop big plays. Another caution is that he's alot faster than he looks. Not Mike Vick fast but he's not a lumberer either.