December 2007 - Posts
Week 14 - Bears at Redskins Preview
Quick commentary on last week’s loss (and these conversations are rarely conducive to anything) . . . the Bears should have won. Not because of some boneheaded play, or a Rex Grossman turnover, or anything like that. But, because of an A-hole named Walt Coleman, a dairy farmer from Little Rock, Arkansas. He is also NFL referee number 65, who is most famous for the tuck rule decision of the 2001 AFC Championship game between the Oakland Raiders and New England Patriots. Many fans regard him as the worst referee in the league, and you can include me in that crowd. In the final half of the game, Coleman made two crucial decisions that essentially handed a tight game to the New York Giants. Play Number 1: A ridiculous penalty. The Bears are driving down the field with 13:56 to go in the third quarter with a ball that Derrick Ward from the Giants fumbled away to them. From the Giants 11, Adrian Peterson has a four-yard gain on a 2nd and 8. Little Rock calls a 15-yard personal foul penalty on Terrence Metcalf for kneeing a Giants player. If you watch the replay, this is a non call. The linemen push and pull all day long. The Giant’s player probably didn’t even notice anything happen. Ridiculous call that killed a very promising drive. Play number 2: Eli Manning, pass to Amani Toomer in the end zone with 6:59 remaining in the 4th quarter, ruled incomplete as it was a low pass the appeared to “one-hop” into Toomer’s chest and waiting hands. Tom Coughlin challenges the ruling on the field. Several slow motion replays show the ball arrive to Toomer, barely off of the ground, and then bound up into his chest, seemingly from the ground, as hands don’t have that affect at that angle. NFL rules require indisputable visual evidence to overturn a call on the field. Keep in mind that the official is looking at the same replays that fans watching TV are and that the original call was an incompletion. Judging by the angles of the shots they were showed on TV, and my extensive knowledge of physics, the fact that this play was overturned is insanity. This was a third down play, and if called correctly would have likely resulted in an easy field goal try from the six-yard line. My mind says that Coleman had his money on the Giants this week.
Moving on to more substantive things. The Bears meet the Washington Redskins on Thursday at 7:00PM, central. If you are in Chicago you can catch this game on either the NFL network or local channel 50. But if you are outside of either these markets, don’t expect to see the game unless you have the NFL Network.
Despite the doom and gloom surrounding Sunday’s loss to the Giants, the Bears are actually still in the playoff hunt. After all they are only one game out of the sixth and final playoff seed position. The sixth seed is currently held by the Arizona Cardinals at 6-6. There are two other 6-6 teams (Minnesota and Detriot) and five, 5-7 teams including the Bears. That’s a lot of teams vying for one spot and the Bears will likely have to win out to hope to even have a shot. That being said, you have to wonder, at this state of the season, what is the point? If, excuse me, IF the Bears make it too the playoffs, how far could they really go? Coming from a fan you hope that they just lose out and secure the highest draft position that a 5-11 record can get you (usually somewhere in the 4 to 7 range). As a professional, the NFL athletes and coaches are endlessly competitive animals. While their play may not always be inspiring, they will give it their best shot, and should win a few more before the season is over.
The Redskins are ranked third in their division with a 5-7 record, and are similarly on the outside looking in. However, the bottom line is that this is a team in disarray at this point. Their defensive leader (and best player on the team), Sean Taylor, was just killed in his home by four burglars. The funeral was held on Monday, and the ‘skins have to find a way to prepare for a Thursday night game while traveling back and forth to Miami to attend the services. The Redskins have lost two straight to the Buccaneers and the Bills. A match up against the Bears doesn’t look too promising as the Redskins apparently have problems with the B-teams. Ba-dum-pum.
I think that you can throw all statistics and history out the window. Emotion is bound to unravel this team. I expect a very physical and undisciplined game by the Washington Redskins. Hopefully, the Bears will be able to capitalize. There is a giant whole in center field now that Taylor is gone. The other safety is LaRon Landry, a rookie first round pick, and Reed Doughty, a second year player. If there aren’t some opportunities down the field for any of our receivers, I’d be shocked.
Goose’s Go-Ahead
The Bears will dominate an emotional and mistake prone Washington team. Going by the history, this will be a very low scoring affair. But I’m not going by history. The field will be wide open, with some nice highlight plays on both sides of the line of scrimmage, with the Bears ultimately winning.
Bears 31 Washington 24.
Postscript – this go ahead presumes that Walt Coleman will not be officiating this week’s game.
Bears at Giants Preview
The Chicago Bears at the New York Giants
This week’s column will be unfortunately brief (and late) due to some on-going work non-sense. Who needs to work anyway? Football is life, what am I doing for 8 hours a day? Anyway . . .
This weeks match-up, with playoff implications for both teams, is important to both teams, but for different reasons.
The New York Giants have seemed to be one of the strongest NFC contenders for a wild card spot all season, assuming that they don’t catch up to the 10-1 Dallas Cowboys. They started off the season slow with an 0-2 start but raced off to a five-win streak that ended with a match-up against the Cowboys. The Giants wins this season come against the Redskins, Eagles, Jets, Falcons, 49ers, Dolphins, and Detroit. None of these teams are considered elite and point-of-fact, four of them are vying for worst team in the NFL. So, while there seven wins look impressive their overall play has not been. Point-of-fact, this is a redemption game for the New York Giants who look to proof that last weeks embarrassing loss to the Minnesota (less Adrian Peterson) Vikings at 41-17 was just a fluke, and not emblematic of a playoff pretender. The Giants have seemed to follow the same trend of the past few seasons under the direction of Eli Manning. The trend starts with Manning starting off hot, numerous media comparisons to Peyton, and assertions that this is Eli’s breakout year. But it seems to end with a un-Peytonesque melt down by the younger brother at the end of the season that puts the team in a downward spiral. If the Vikings smashing win was any indication, history may be repeating itself.
The Bears have been at odds with themselves all season. Underwhelming play and inconsistency mark the season, and is the primary reason for the Bears disappointing 5-6 record. But, in the NFL, you get what you deserve. The Bears are a 5-6 team and fans and media need to get off the Superbowl-caliber rhetoric. That being said, the Bears are doing their best to reel off some wins at the end of the season and make a problematic playoff push that can possibly save some players’ jobs in the offseason that will likely be cut as a result of the 2007 implosion. Lovie Smith has charged the team with finishing the season on a six-game win streak. Can they do it? That will be the on-going question that will be asked Sunday, as the Bears produced the first win of the (hopeful) streak last week in a come from behind victory against the Denver Broncos. Was this win a sign of things to come as the Bears dig deep to produce some wins along with Devin Hester’s highlights?
Goose’s Go-Ahead
Make no mistake that both teams can win this game, and I suggest that there should be even money here. Key factors to the game will the New York’s homefield advantage, the Giants superb pass rush combo, the Giants beat up and under-experienced secondary, the loss of Cedric Benson, Rex Grossman’s pocket presence, the Chicago’s offensive line pass protection/run blocking, and field position. When it’s all said and done the one person that we know has ALREADY created a positive position for the Chicago Bear’s is Devin Hester. Teams have been wary to kick to him all season and Denver’s mistakes last week will pay dividends for the Bears this week. The Giants will avoid kicking the second-year phenom at all costs. Kick-offs will likely be returned to at least the 40-yard line due to either penalty or squib kicks to the up men. Punts will likely be shanked as much possible. By the way, Jeff Feagles’ in on a streak of 377 punts without a return TD, one of the longest in NFL history. So, you know that he will do everything in his power to extend that streak. Special teams are a key part of the Bears game plans, obviously, and should provide the edge this week. Grossman’s struggles are well documented. But, a shortened field all day will provide him with enough opportunities to drive his field into scoring position. The Bears defense, while not great, is still steady and should hold their own. Because in the game of field position, if one team has a short field, the other team has a long one. Look for some turnover potential too as I think that Eli will continue his melt down, and not really care either way.
Bears 20 Giants 17