It doesn't get any better than this. Bears-Packers meet with playoff stakes on the line for both teams. Packers fighting for the #1 seed and home field advantage for the playoffs. Bears fighting to make the playoffs. A 100 year old rivalry being fought again in the winter cold frozen turf of Soldier Field.
This is everything great about NFL football. Gotta love it. Papa Bear and Vince Lombardi will be looking down on Sunday in yet another classic.
Whether will be a wash... I can't believe all the talk about the whether from the Titans last night... Geez it was perfect football weather: 30 deg with LIGHT snow. Nobody on either team was slipping around...
Post by brasilbear on Dec 28, 2020 10:23:46 GMT -6
I would much prefer the Packers having nothing to play for. My wife says I shouldn't even bother watching and remember that one time when no one guarded that Packer WR for ran like 60 yards for a TD and the Bears lost? Maybe she'll walk home from the store today.
This is going to be a huge test for the Bears. I believe the Packers have a legit shot at winning a Super Bowl this year. It's not just the Aaron Rodgers show now. They have a decent defense. Last night they put the clamps on Derrick Henry keeping him under 100 yards and really not being a factor. So our run game with Monty won't have an easy time I think. They kept Ryan Tannehill to a passer rating of 40.5 too. I don't care what anyone says, I believe that defense is legit good based upon the games I've watched this season. People here have mentioned that the Bears' Lazor/Mitch offense hasn't faced a good defense, but this will be a good opportunity to watch what the Bears can do against a legit good defense. Big test here - especially with playoff ramifications for BOTH teams (Packers will be fighting for the #1 seed and home field advantage for the playoffs... and the Bears fighting for their NFL life to make the playoffs).
I've watched 60 years or so of Bears/Packers football and there have been so many upsets both ways. Anything is possible in a Bears/Packers matchup. So this is going to be fascinating to see.
My prediction for this game is a wild guess at best. It's more of a "hope" than a prediction. My hope is that the defense has a great game against this great Green Bay offense and they can somewhat limit GB to under 30 points. If you look over their season's scoring you see they are scoring over that, and have had a number of games where they have scored over 40 points. And "Bears weather" won't slow down Green Bay, obviously.
Opponents of GB are averaging 23.5 points per game this year against them. The Bears need to be a TD over that to have any hope of a win. This isn't going to be some low scoring game. That's just not happening.
If the Bears D can play at a true playoff-level in this game I could see GB being held to 27 or 28 points. But it's going to have to be the game of the year for this D. Pagano needs to have a career game plan and the players need to have a career game executing it.
On offense I hope Mitch comes into this game NOT hyped up. He is a bad QB when his emotions get the best of him and he over-thinks stuff. Mitch needs to just let it all go and ball out playing by his instincts... like we've sometimes seen late in games where there was no time to "think" but just "play" by his instincts. He is a night-and-day better QB when he does that. If he throws a dumb int or two, hey, don't take the foot off the gas and just come back balling in the next series.
I think that's the only way we beat GB with Mitch Trubisky.
The OL will have to have career games opening up some holes for Monty in this game. We run the ball effectively or die. I hope the Bears don't give up on the run even if we fall behind. We run the ball or we lose. I believe that.
My heart says over before halftime (GB)... But then my head says wait: This Bears offense is much better than the last time we played...This Bears defense is much better than the one we played against last night... And don't get over hyped about last nights win: the Titans ran into a buzz saw that may not be replicated the rest of the year by GB... My head says this Green Bay defense still doesn't pass my smell test despite where they are ranked... My head says this is a divisional road game against a desperate team and division games are always competitive. My head says this is the greatest and oldest rivalry in football being played at an iconic sports venue... Who's ready for some football??!!!!!!
This is going to be a huge test for the Bears. I believe the Packers have a legit shot at winning a Super Bowl this year. It's not just the Aaron Rodgers show now. They have a decent defense. Last night they put the clamps on Derrick Henry keeping him under 100 yards and really not being a factor. So our run game with Monty won't have an easy time I think. They kept Ryan Tannehill to a passer rating of 40.5 too. I don't care what anyone says, I believe that defense is legit good based upon the games I've watched this season. People here have mentioned that the Bears' Lazor/Mitch offense hasn't faced a good defense, but this will be a good opportunity to watch what the Bears can do against a legit good defense. Big test here - especially with playoff ramifications for BOTH teams (Packers will be fighting for the #1 seed and home field advantage for the playoffs... and the Bears fighting for their NFL life to make the playoffs).
I've watched 60 years or so of Bears/Packers football and there have been so many upsets both ways. Anything is possible in a Bears/Packers matchup. So this is going to be fascinating to see.
My prediction for this game is a wild guess at best. It's more of a "hope" than a prediction. My hope is that the defense has a great game against this great Green Bay offense and they can somewhat limit GB to under 30 points. If you look over their season's scoring you see they are scoring over that, and have had a number of games where they have scored over 40 points. And "Bears weather" won't slow down Green Bay, obviously.
Opponents of GB are averaging 23.5 points per game this year against them. The Bears need to be a TD over that to have any hope of a win. This isn't going to be some low scoring game. That's just not happening.
If the Bears D can play at a true playoff-level in this game I could see GB being held to 27 or 28 points. But it's going to have to be the game of the year for this D. Pagano needs to have a career game plan and the players need to have a career game executing it.
On offense I hope Mitch comes into this game NOT hyped up. He is a bad QB when his emotions get the best of him and he over-thinks stuff. Mitch needs to just let it all go and ball out playing by his instincts... like we've sometimes seen late in games where there was no time to "think" but just "play" by his instincts. He is a night-and-day better QB when he does that. If he throws a dumb int or two, hey, don't take the foot off the gas and just come back balling in the next series.
I think that's the only way we beat GB with Mitch Trubisky.
The OL will have to have career games opening up some holes for Monty in this game. We run the ball effectively or die. I hope the Bears don't give up on the run even if we fall behind. We run the ball or we lose. I believe that.
So. Best case scenario is:
Bears - 30
Packers - 28
It's going to be paramount to pressure Rodgers... Besides the obvious (make him uncomfortable and hurry him through his reads) reasons there's also this quote from LaFleur yesterday re the Titans defense that surprised me: "Packers coach Matt Lafleur was quoted as saying he has plays in his book he could not run against other teams because of the lack of pass rush by the Titans allows more time for routes to develop"... ie: Pass rush shortens the field considerably and lack of a pass rush makes you have to cover acres of real estate on the back end
Post by brasilbear on Dec 29, 2020 12:22:22 GMT -6
The problem is we all know what is coming with the DEF. We've seen this show before. Adams will line up in the slot or be matched against LBs who will trail him across the middle. Adams will be running into space cleared out by other WRs/TEs/RBs running deeper routes. The Packers will do this ALL.DAY.LONG. (Bringing back memories of when Love's Tampa-2 couldn't stop slants). If Pagano and the DEF don't adjust, if I were Rogers/Adams, I'd run the same play every single down. You'd finish like 42-45, 480 yards and 9 TDs.