Home team gets an automatic 3 points for home field advantage so right now Vegas doesn't think the Bears will cover the spread even if they do win. Could come down to a single FG.
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Quick Question Bears Fan:
What do your guys do with Peppers, I see he is listed as RDE, does he line up there every down or is he shifted all over the place? Much rather see him going against Duane Brown than Derek Newton.
most of the time he is the RE. He will play in the middle and as LE too
http://blog.chron.com/ultimatetexans...er-306x306.jpg
Hopefully the curse works....
I'm curious about your Oline. I have only seen one or two Bears games this year but seems like the Oline is not very good in pass protection. Is this due to some early injuries on the line and playing backups or are your starters just not good in pass protection? Are y'all expecting there to be a lot of emphasis placed on the Oline in the upcoming offseason via draft or free agency to upgrade?
It is definitely not injuries. They are just that bad. Hopefully they address it in the off-season.
One of the innovative things our DC has done a lot of this year is move Peppers around a lot to make him harder to double. He will line up anywhere on the DL but most often at RDE and inside (rarely LDE). The beauty for Chi this year is that our DL rotation is much deeper than it's been in the past. It is not all Peppers by a long shot. He's been able to rest and stay fresher longer on game day. You guys will see SheaMc and Izzy sharing LDE duty (Shea more on passing downs and Izzy more vs the run with Izzy also playing some inside), Peppers & Wooten mainly at RDE, and a combo rotation of mainly Melton, Paea, Collins, and Okoye/Toeina inside.
I don't know how good your pass pro is, but if Foster can be reasonable contained, expect Schaub to be under a lot of pressure from Chi's front four...will he throw picks? Case you haven't heard lol, we are pretty damn good at forcing TOs and scoring off them.
Should be a great game between two kickass teams...battle Royale at Soldier's
The Bears OL is definitely the weakest link on the team and their "achilles heel" so to speak. It isn't due to injuries, just a long line of neglect and poor drafting by the prior GM. The OTs in particular have been struggling most of the year. Its a pretty decent run blocking OL but a very poor pass pro one. Watt is a BEAST and I would expect him to have a big, even decisive, day if the Bears are forced into a pass heavy situation. Our OC has shown a stupid predilection for abandoning the run too early and getting a little pass happy, esp with too many wide formations/empty backfield sets IMO. If he does this again, 75% chance Houston wins.
If not, and I freaking hope not, it will come down to these big questions:
Can you guys stop Forte and Bush consistently and force a lot of 3rd and longs?
Can you guys keep Marshall from putting up big numbers if the Bears run game is avoiding the above?
Can Foster do the same for your offense?
Will Schaub be forced into throwing picks and pick-6s?
Should be a great game...may the best team win.
Texan fan here. Good to see the cautious football talk and not just smak.
I think our offense is a little better due to the OLine play, your D is bend not break and big play, but great. Will be very interesting forcing us to drive and not let Tillman and co do their thing before we can score. Watt swatts those balls and we have several pick 6 from them, plus the sacks, and his run stuffing grades out incredible. We seemed to figure out how to play without Cushing, we had head up ass against Green Bay first time out after ACL.
Your special teams scare us. We spent the entire bye week working on this and looked a lot better against the Bills return game which is solid.
If we dont have 2+ turnovers, I think we win. That being said, will be a nervous fan come Sunday. Hope for a good injury free fight, my best man is in Chicago and brother loves you guys, so for NFC teams, you are all good. Think SF is more complete, but you can beat anyone any given Sunday.