So after a MNF loss to the Bears, the Vikings now have to get ‘help’ to earn the #2 seed in the playoffs. The Vikings played good in the second half an injury riddled Bears but it wasn’t enough as Jay Cutler threw an overtime TD pass. The Vikings did nothing in the first half and moved the ball at will in the second half. It makes me wonder who was calling the plays here, maybe Favre tried to prove a point by not audibling any of Chilli’s play calls in the first half. Anyways, after the game it was fun to watch Childress explain the game. Notice during minute nine when he’s responding to questions from Tom Powers. You can tell Chilli didn’t appreciate him too much.
This reminded me of an article last week where Mr. Powers wrote about interviewing Childress while he was in a towel after last week’s loss. I agree with Chilli here, first of all Powers shouldn’t be hanging around the locker room so long. And if you are, that means the Vikings trust you a bit and won’t report on any meetings (arguments) you overheard.
So now the Vikings need the Cowboys to beat the Eagles next week (and beat the Giants) to secure the #2 seed. Otherwise we could potentially see Favre vs Packers III.
Published on December 29, 2009 8:37 am.
Filed under: 2009 Season, Bears, Favre, Game Summary, NFC North Tags: Bears, childress, chilli, playoffs, tom powers
Packers @ Bears
This seems to be an easy pick here…Packers are rolling, Bears are reeling. Its the a must win for Green Bay and a who cares game for the Bears. But there’s one thing in favor for the Bears…Soldier Field and recent history. Lovie Smith has a good history against Green Bay and was embarrassed Week 1. And if its frigid conditions with the normal December blistery wind its anybody’s game.
But the Packers have too much on the line to lose this one…I think they don’t win without consequences though. I can see them getting a couple injuries that linger for a couple weeks. But please, JUST DON’T SCREW UP ON SPECIAL TEAMS!
Green Bay 22-13
Bengals @ Vikings
Last week, the Vikings found themselves behind by two scores and what happened? Collapse. Favre turns into the Gunslinger, Chilli does nothing, injuries happen, etc. So this week, even though the Bengals are mainly a running team, maybe they come out passing. If they can get a lead, watch out. (There could even be boo-birds at halftime) But I don’t know, AP is SOOO due. And Favre has had a great year, as much as I’d love for him to flop he’s not this soft.
Vikings 31 – Ravens 28
Lions @ Bengals
Prediction….Pain
Ravens 30-3
Published on December 12, 2009 11:26 pm.
Filed under: 2009 Season, Bears, Favre, NFC North, Predictions Tags: bengals, collapse, Favre, playoff, ravens, soldier field, wild card
With Minneapolis hosting a pretty solid weekend plus of sports – Twins playoff run, Vikings/Packers, Badgers/Gophers – I thought I’d post this…Probably the best celebration speech of a stadium closing I’ve seen. Kent Hrbek = Boozer.
Since I’ve already blabbed about the Vikings/Packers game, I’ll quickly review the other NFC North matchup then take a look ahead to the next quarter of the season.
Bears 48 Lions 24
The Lions started this game well and it was close at the half. But the Bears were just too strong and eventually pulled away. The injury to Stafford also doesn’t help…and btw, this was the first time I watched him play a bit. He has potential and a good arm. The Bears are playing all around good offense right now, but their D looks weaker than usual. They have beaten last year’s champs (Steelers) but I’m not sure they can maintain this level of play the rest of the season.
First Quarter Review
So after four games the NFC North looks like this…
Vikings 4-0 – They have played a very deliberate game so far this season. And after their big win on Monday, now they seem to be firing on all cylinders. One thing I worry about is there pass coverage…if the Packers were able to get average pass protection it seemed that they had lots of wide open receivers.
Bears 3-1 – Cutler has played pretty good the past three games, this might be the first place team after the second quarter of the season is over.
Packers 2-2 – Not real consistent on defense or offense. Some big time mistakes at the worst times has cost this team at least one loss. They are the youngest team in the league again, how much longer does this last?
Lions 1-3 – Showing some promise with the new coach and without dumb ass GM.
Looking Ahead
Here are the next games for the top three teams in the North.
Vikings – (@STL, BLT, @PITT, @GB) This is probably the toughest part of the Vikings schedule, if they can come out of this 3-1 or even 2-2 they should make the playoffs. But thats a hard three game stretch against some notoriously tough football teams. The Ravens and Steelers both can stop the run and bring pressure, this will be the real test for Favre this year. Throw in some inclement weather and the Vikings could really slip in this games.
Bears – (@ATL, @CIN, CLE, AZ) Here’s another stretch of games that will show what the Bears are made of…Will Cutler be exposed here? Probably in at least two of these games. If they are able to win two of these games they will be looking good.
Packers – (DET, @CLE, MN, @TB) For the Packers to make a run, they have to win all four of these games. Except for the Vikings game, they should win them all by a wide margin. But that game at Tampa scares me for some reason.
Projected Standings after Q2
Bears 5-3
Vikings 5-3
Packers 5-3
Lions 2-6
Published on October 7, 2009 10:25 am.
Filed under: 2009 Season, Bears, Game Summary, NFC North, Predictions, Videos, lions Tags: Bears, cutler, first quarter, kent hrbek, minneapolis, NFC North, packers, second quarter, vikings, youth
Lions @ Bears
The Lions come into Soldier Field off their first victory since 2007. They are also a ten point underdog…Do they have a chance? Absolutely. Cutler is due for a screw up game and the Lions are an OK team, now with a one game winning streak…loaded with confidence.
On the other hand, this team is still the Lions. And the Bears are a much better and experienced team overall. And they’re at home. And in both of their wins, the Bears have had luck on their side, mostly due to missed field goals. Will this luck continue like the miracle 2001 season? So I think this game will be close during the first half, then look for Forte and Devin Harris to break loose in the 2nd half.
Bears 27 Lions 16
Will Barnett take off his nerd glasses this week and serve up Ochocinco?
Cincinnati @ Green Bay
This could be a real blowout right from the start, except, unlike most experts, I believe the Bengals are a decent team. They finally have Carson Palmer back and they’ve had an assload of high draft picks so you’d think they’d have some talent spread around.
There’s also the whole side story to this game, Ochocinco coming to Lambeau for the first time going up against is former teammate, Nick Barnett. Not sure much will come of this, I think the biggest story will be A. Rodgers having a HUGE game, maybe 3 TDs, 300 yards.
So my pick for this week is something like 28-17 Packers. I see them having a slight edge throughout the game and then getting a late score by Driver in the 4th. Packers D again creates turnovers and pressure. I’ll be watching Raji most of this game…and Matthews.
Pittsburgh @ Chicago
This will be one of those hard hitting games between two tough teams. Both have to move on without their leaders on D, but I think they’ll be fine. Especially the well-coached and talent ridden Steelers. One factor that will limit scoring and hopefully doesn’t lead to serious injuries is the brand new turf…
Pittsburgh wins this like 16-13.
Minnesota @ Detroit
Favre returns to Ford field, a place he’s had some amazing games as well as some real head scratchers. (Remember that 1993 game, throwing a INT while laying on his back?)
Vikings again start slow and wear down the Lions late. Look for a little (Cul)pepper in this game.
Vikings 24-20.
Published on September 19, 2009 8:34 pm.
Filed under: 2009 Season, Bears, Predictions Tags: 2009, barnett, Bears, lions, ochocinco, packers, picks, raji, vikings
What? You did that to me?
Green Bay 21, Chicago 15
Video of Jennings TD
Last Sunday, the Packers proved something to me. Rodgers can win games and McCarthy will finally take some chances this year.That 3rd and 1 call at the end was well timed. The game was a little sloppy, but similar to the Thursday nighter (TEN@PITT) a few days prior, it was intense and featured lots of crushing hits.
Chicago probably wins this game if you take away Cutler’s 4 picks. But thats what they traded for…
The Packers probably win this game outright they connect on any of the four or so dropped long balls. Especially that one to Jordy Nelson.
But the best part was seeing Lovie Smith’s face after Rodgers connected with Jennings to take the lead. After all these years, the Packers finally gave him a taste of his own medicine. IE winning a game they shouldn’t have at the end
That was priceless.
Winners:
- Rodgers – Good tablesetter for his 4th Quarter confidence.
- Pickett/Jolly/Collins – Sign them now!
- Hester – Legit receiver
- Ogunlawye – Terrorizing first half
Losers:
- Packer play calling – Urlacher is out, you have weapons in the middle…maybe try throwing over middle to Finley/Lee or James Jones!
- Barbre – One more bad game and we may see Gionconni
- Lovie – (See above)
- Urlacher – Done
Vikings 34, Browns 20
Watched probably half of this game, but it went basically how the Vikings want to play this year. Heavy doses of their D fronting combined with an offense that methodically moves the ball down the field by running and little flare passes.
Then in the second half, their opponent begins to wear down; opening up Adrian Peterson to break out huge runs. If they can maintain this all season, they will be a formidable opponent and probably in the top 5 of the division. But if you factor in the Vikings history + Favre’s age and recent history + Childress + injuries I doubt that will happen.
Winners:
- Adrian Peterson – Yes he’s faster version of Walter Payton
- Josh Cribbs – Solid
- Chilli/Zygi – For one game Vikings management’s moves look to be right.
- Percy Harvin – Very promising
Losers:
- Browns – maybe the worst team in football
- Favre – its going to take a lot to get out of the loser category in the eyes of many…
New Orleans 45, Detroit 27
Didn’t see any of this game, just the highlights. But looks like the Lions have some life. Let’s see how they handle the Vikings in their house next week.
Winners:
- Drew Brees – maybe best QB in NFC
- Lions fans – first game w/o Matt Millen had to feel good
Losers:
- Lions fans – team still sucks
- Browns fans – teams still sucks
- Dante Culpepper – remember he was almost MVP three years ago
Published on September 16, 2009 11:15 am.
Filed under: 2009 Season, Bears, Game Summary, Videos Tags: Bears, browns, culpepper, jennings, jolly, lions, lovie, packers, rodgers, urlacher, vikings
So now the packers are getting closer and closer to being TOO much on the radar…But I love the sports guy’s reasoning here…it would be awesome.
Prediction X: The six best teams this season will be New England, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Green Bay, the Giants … and New Orleans. (That’s right, New Orleans. You heard me.) The other six playoff teams will be Indianapolis, Seattle, Chicago, Baltimore, Denver and Washington. In the Super Bowl, Green Bay will defeat Pittsburgh to cap off the first Eff You season devoted to a specific player. That player would be you, Brett Favre.
And here is his pick for this week’s game at chicago.
PACKERS (-3.5) over Bears
Chicago fans have been wondering why I dumped them and adopted the Packers as my NFC North team and Super Bowl pick du jour. It came down to one thing: I didn’t want to root for Jay Cutler. Has he had a likable moment yet? This year will be his coming-out party as the most despised player in football. Every time they show him on the sidelines, he looks like a pissed-off trust-fund kid who can’t believe the valet scratched his Escalade hybrid. And you know what? He makes the league more fun. I like rooting against him the same way I liked rooting against Rick Barry, Bill Laimbeer and the Iron Sheik. We need more Jay Cutlers in sports. Not everyone was meant to be liked.
Read the full article here, http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090910. Hopefully I’ll have my NFC North predictions up later today or Saturday.
Published on September 11, 2009 6:47 am.
Filed under: 2009 Season, Bears, Favre, Predictions Tags: Bears, cutler, pick, sports guy, Super Bowl
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