No reason the Bears shouldn't win the NFCN this year

We've got a game and a half on the Pack with the toughest part of our schedule coming up right now. The best things you can say are they we're healthy and the defense is actually scary good when it comes to creating turnovers and pressure.

So......now might be a really good time for the offense to get up off it's collective asses and start moving the ball and scoring points. We're still way too dependent of big plays from Forte and the defense getting us great field position. With the exception of that winning drive last week I'm still not seeing the offense just moving the ball first down by first down and controlling the game that way. We're gonna need that before we're through.

Time to pick it up on that side of the ball. We could lose a couple of games and still be OK but all it's gonna take is a few bad games offensively or a key injury of two to let GB back in the hunt and THAT we don't want to do. In addition to the great talent his has Aaron Rodgers has some mystical going on when you see some of the catches his guys make on balls that aren't even all that well placed. That and having a guy like Cobb whose everything Devin Hester should be and isn't.

I would like the bears to beat the packers in any way or form, blow out, close game, bad call, saftey, fumble return or a Tillman punch the ballout of James Jones hands and Peppers run it back for a game winning TD.

We should win the NFC North this year, but it wouldn't shock me if we didn't. I have a feeling that we will probably finish either 5-3 or 4-4 the rest of the way. Either way, we would still win no fewer than 11 games. That could be enough to win the division, so you never know.

These two games coming up will be close, I have a feeling, and they are, believe it or not, VERY winnable. We know that San Francisco is like the Bears in that it relies so heavily on its defense to get the job done for its offense. Alex Smith is a game manager and nothing more. If we can stop Frank Gore, we will beat the 49ers. I think we win that game 17-13.

Against the Texans, what can I say? They got cranked by the Packers 42-24 at home. This past Sunday, they barely skated by a woeful Buffalo Bills team by a final score of 21-9. I think we can stuff their offense and limit them to two touchdowns and a field goal. I think we can win that game by a score of 27-17.

I think the games we most certainly need to win are against the Vikings twice, the Seahawks and Cardinals, at home against the Packers, and at Detroit. There is no reason in the world why this should not happen. Our three toughest games will be against the Packers, Niners, and Texans, and I don't think there's any question about that. The Seahawks, Cardinals, and Vikings could all conceivably have losing records by the time we play them, and even Detroit might be in the same boat, though I don't know what their schedule is at the moment. So, potentially, that could leave us with just three teams on our schedule with winning records. We need to win as many of the winnable games as we can and hope to take 2 of 3 from Green Bay/Frisco/Houston.

The Packers game in SF is in mid-December (game #13 I believe). GB is on a roll but nowhere near what they were last year at this time. Bad bad D, no running game at all, lots of injuries, and even their pass-O is still not hitting on all cylinders. Their last 2 wins--at home no less--were far from impressive, just like us barely squeaking by Carolina. The Pack may lose one more game between now and then (NYG perhaps?) but can't count on that. With Minny fading as predicted, it looks more and more like the Bears v Green Bay game will decide who wins the NFCN and who is fighting for a wildcard.

Way I see it, we have to get to that Packers home game with a max of 3 losses going in. That means we have to go 3-2 at worst in the next 5 games against Houston, SF, Minny X 2, and Seattle. Doable. 3 of the 5 are at home and we are thankfully fully healthy with AJ coming back soon. Each of those games features a marqui RB on the other side (Foster, AP, Gore, Lynch) we have to contain which is generally our strong suit and passing Offenses/QBs that are nothing that special the way our DBs are playing. The next 2 are the toughest IMO. If we can split with Houston & SF, we ought to be able to take 2 of 3 minikum against Minny & Seattle.

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Originally Posted by MPBears68

The Packers game in SF is in mid-December (game #13 I believe). GB is on a roll but nowhere near what they were last year at this time. Bad bad D, no running game at all, lots of injuries, and even their pass-O is still not hitting on all cylinders. Their last 2 wins--at home no less--were far from impressive, just like us barely squeaking by Carolina. The Pack may lose one more game between now and then (NYG perhaps?) but can't count on that. With Minny fading as predicted, it looks more and more like the Bears v Green Bay game will decide who wins the NFCN and who is fighting for a wildcard.

Way I see it, we have to get to that Packers home game with a max of 3 losses going in. That means we have to go 3-2 at worst in the next 5 games against Houston, SF, Minny X 2, and Seattle. Doable. 3 of the 5 are at home and we are thankfully fully healthy with AJ coming back soon. Each of those games features a marqui RB on the other side (Foster, AP, Gore, Lynch) we have to contain which is generally our strong suit and passing Offenses/QBs that are nothing that special the way our DBs are playing. The next 2 are the toughest IMO. If we can split with Houston & SF, we ought to be able to take 2 of 3 minikum against Minny & Seattle.

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If the Packers play in San Francisco this season, it will be in mid January, in the playoffs. They hosted SF in week one and got their asses kicked.

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Originally Posted by Rogelio

If the Packers play in San Francisco this season, it will be in mid January, in the playoffs. They hosted SF in week one and got their asses kicked.

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My "SF" reference was to SOLDIER FIELD not San Fran, sorry for the confusion. And it's the 14th game of the year for both clubs, my mistake.

Gotcha. If we can't go 3-2 (which I wouldn't be that pleased with) over the next five, I think we are in a world of hurt anyway.

Being a fan is crazy stuff. I look at the Packers' schedule and say "No way they can lose to the Vikings", yet when the Bears play that same team think "Oh, you've got to watch out for AP. If he has a good game the Bears might lose." In all likelihood, the Packers will probably lose a game I expect them to win handily, and probably win a game I expect them to lose. Hell, I wouldn't be shocked if the Bears won the next two but then lost to the Vikings and Seahawks.

It all depends on how you think the Bears will finish the season. With eight games left

Texans
49ers
Vikings
SeaHawks
Vikings
Packers
Cardinals
Lions

At worse I see us going 5-3. Only three I can see us losing are Texans, 49ers and Packers.

But what about the Packers?

Lions
Giants
Vikings
Lions
Bears
Titans
Vikings

At worse I see them finishing 5-2 Only two I can see them losing are against the Giants and us.

Now, with injuries to some key Packer players that could very well change. Nelson and Mathews could miss some time.

Like it or not, once again, the final Bears and Packers game in the regular season will dictate if the Bears win the division. Whoever wins that game, wins the division with the other team taking the 5th seed (1st Wild Card)

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Originally Posted by Rogelio

Gotcha. If we can't go 3-2 (which I wouldn't be that pleased with) over the next five, I think we are in a world of hurt anyway.

Being a fan is crazy stuff. I look at the Packers' schedule and say "No way they can lose to the Vikings", yet when the Bears play that same team think "Oh, you've got to watch out for AP. If he has a good game the Bears might lose." In all likelihood, the Packers will probably lose a game I expect them to win handily, and probably win a game I expect them to lose. Hell, I wouldn't be shocked if the Bears won the next two but then lost to the Vikings and Seahawks.

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Personally I think 3-2 is the worst we come out of the next five Rog. I think they're starting to smell the blood in the water now and they know they can't let up on either side of the ball.

With Cutler making statements that say he's virtually demanding better play from his offense I expect him to really start pushing on his guys to start getting their heads in the game and give him some great effort.

Sounds like Jeffery is about one game away from returning and that should give him another big target to throw to. He needs that combined with some better protection and better play calling in the red zone. We still settle for too many FGs on drives where we should be getting six.

I expect to see him making more plays out of the pocket as games pass. I think he's about ready to go into another "tell Mike to go fuck himself" mode and start getting it done his way. They gotta start to let him loose. That's where he gets really dangerous.

I don't see the defense letting down either. This year we have the depth to keep players fresh and the pass rush strong and the secondary is playing together better than they ever have.

We missed out on a shot at the SB last year when Cutler went down and the vets smell another shot this year and they won't let down until they get it. The defense will keep us in every game we play from here on out so all we have to do is start converting some drives into scores.

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Originally Posted by Rogelio

Gotcha. If we can't go 3-2 (which I wouldn't be that pleased with) over the next five, I think we are in a world of hurt anyway.

Being a fan is crazy stuff. I look at the Packers' schedule and say "No way they can lose to the Vikings", yet when the Bears play that same team think "Oh, you've got to watch out for AP. If he has a good game the Bears might lose." In all likelihood, the Packers will probably lose a game I expect them to win handily, and probably win a game I expect them to lose. Hell, I wouldn't be shocked if the Bears won the next two but then lost to the Vikings and Seahawks.

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I hear ya about the Packers. They have 3 losses now. It is likely they will lose at least 1 of the next 5 before playing us again. I'd love it to be more but I was assuming a conservative scenario...as in Green Bay comes in to SF with a max of 4 losses and maybe only 3. In either event we will need to beat them (unless we sweep the next 5 which is unlikely) to hold the NFCN lead as they already have a tiebreak on us.

I was also being conservative on our schedule. We could very well go 4-1 over the next 5 which would be great but I'm trying to keep my expectations in check. I really hope we can take the division and get a 1st round playoff bye.