Might as well get this out of the way...

Cage 2.0

...and take my beating for yesterday. I took a beating on another board, so I'm just cut and pasting my response there:

Regarding the fiasco that was the Bears/Panthers playoff game yesterday...

Some thoughts on the game:

Bears got outcoached, plain and simple. Your NFL Coach of the Year, ladies and gents, and he brings his team sadly unprepared for a home playoff game.

I hope Ron Rivera spent more time preparing for that job interview he had in St Louis last week than he did preparing a gameplan this week. From what I saw tonight, I would say he spent WAY more time on that interview. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out of town, Ron. You'll be out of work in 2 years, mark it.

Another Ron: Ron Turner. Dude, you suck. Did this guy think he was playing Madden? When they showed him in the press box during the game I half expected to see an XBox up there with him. What kind of offensive playcalling was that? Grossman goes 3/15 for 2 yards to start the game because they're calling all these stupid deep throws. WTF?? Thought I was watching the old Raiders for a bit, minus the talent. They wasted a quarter and a half of opportunity with those idiotic calls.

Speaking of lacking talent...hello, Chicago wide receivers. Please read your job description again (especially the part where it says you have to CATCH the damn ball...and oh yeah, getting open now and then might be nice) and then sign here so we know you read and understood it.

On the same subject: Mushin Muhammed. Dude, see the Ron Rivera comment. See the "old Raiders" comment too, and buy some Stick'em or something for crying out loud. At one point they showed a graphic of 8 balls thrown to, 1 catch. Eh? Then right after he made a catch for a first down which meant 9 throws, 2 catches and what does he do? He CELEBRATES! Dude, STFU and go back to the huddle, catching a damn pass is no reason to showboat.

Olin Kreutz (and I've said this for years anyway) is the second most overrated player in the league behind Vick. That offensive line was putrid on pass protection. See: gameplanning.

Steve Smith is a beast. That said, perhaps if they had a GAMEPLAN they might have at least contained him a bit to where he didn't single-handedly destroy them. Maybe, I don't know, DOUBLE FUCKING COVER THE GUY??!?

I hate Delhomme. All I can wish for that prat is several Joe Theismann-esque leg and arm fractures next week against Seattle.

Dr. Giganto

Sports Moderator

The Panthers are really good. I wouldn't beat yourself up over it. Look what they did to the Giants

Dr. Giganto

Sports Moderator

Alright, here's some more in-depth analysis...

Well, the offense did put up a decent number of points against a very good defense, so you can't be totally disheartened. Especially since Rex Grossman is VERY inexperienced and the receiving corps, including the tight ends, is nothing special (Muhsin Muhammad aside).

As for the offensive play-calling, I think Chicago looked at what the Panthers did to the Giants last week, which was basically put 8 guys in the box to stop the run, and let the young, inexperienced QB try to make plays. So Chicago probably decided to throw deep to open up the offense and exploit that type of D. Unfortunately, Chicago doesn't really have the personnel to run that kind of offense, and it didn't work. You'll notice that Grossman got much more accurate as the game went on, suggesting either he got more comfortable in the offense they were running or they went back to the typical Bears offense that got them this far. I didn't watch closely enough to pick up on which one it was.

Turning to the defense, I think it's just reached a point where Steve Smith has become un-defensible. If the corner doesn't play up on Smith, they'll just run that little screen they run all day long, and keep picking up 5-8 yards on it. If the corner does play up, Smith will just burn him, and the double coverage is neutralized, since the corner is basically taken out of the play.

I just wish Carolina had beaten the Cowboys in Week 16, because then they would have been the 3 seed and the Giants would have played Tampa instead in the wild card round.

Basically, to sum up, the Bears far exceeded expectations for this season, and they got beat by a team that many people thought was the best in the NFC this season. And they only lost by one score. I think it's nothing to be ashamed of.

Cage 2.0

According to the Bears "braintrust" today they called those plays to get Grossman comfortable. Hm. Maybe you should have played him against the Vikings then? Idiots.

Muhammed (however its spelled) is a bust, dude. He has about as many drops as the rest of the Bears WRs combined I think. People were ready to run him out of town a month ago but with Grossman back most people seemed to be willing to side with him that it was Orton's fault. Now Muhammed is blaming Grossman for his lack of production. Btw, I notice how Carolina seemed to miss him.

Grossman made some nice throws and some bad ones, I think he did ok. The loss has to be pinned squarely on the defense and the coaching. Bad plays were called (again, why no doubling of Smith?) and guys made bad decisions and were consistently out of position. That really was not the defense we watched for 16 weeks this season, it was an abomination. I blame that squarely on poor game planning and probably lack of preparation.

Rivera can't even be considered more than a decent coordinator at this point. He's been in the job 2 years now, and has had some success but is still really green. He learned under Buddy Ryan, and let me assure you this guy is no Buddy Ryan...at least not yet. Ryan would make adjustments between series that would shut down the other team, Rivera is hardpressed to make effective halftime adjustments. I can't see this guy being a head coach, but screw it...see ya.

The officiating sucked beyond words too. I'm not saying thats why the Bears lost, but it was bad on both sides. That first TD to Smith? They called interference on Tillman (who had the worst game I've seen a Bears CB have since the days of Vestee Jackson) when Smith clearly knocked him down. That was totally offensive interference, yet they flagged Tillman because Smith almost tripped over him after knocking him down. Whatever. Then there was that Jones fumble that they called a touchdown. Eh? Huge break with that facemask happening before the fumble or it would have been a Carolina touchback, but how do you sit on top of that play and call a score when the ball was out of Jones' possession a good yard before the goalline?

The punting was horrible too, but the bottom line is that the Bears offense had ass field position and Grossman still got them 21 points. All year long all we heard was "If the offense scores 14 we can win any game". Well, you got 21. The defense blew it, period. The coaching blew it. That field goal they gave up before halftime? Pathetic. The Bears come out and score on their opening drive of the second half to make it 16-14 Panthers. If the defense actually bothered to shut Carolina down before the half the Bears would have been up 14-13 instead, and who knows what would have happened then?

They were laughing about Delhomme on the local sportstalk radio today. They said every time he saw Tillman line up across from Smith he got those big cartoon eyes that bounced out of his head. Pretty accurate I think. Especially since the safeties forgot to roll coverage to his side and Rivera wouldn't double team the guy. Or blitz aside from maybe 4 times. I still like Tillman as a CB because he takes chances to make plays and is normally a very good tackler, but he was bringing the suck yesterday and needed help badly.

As far as that screen went, I don't think it worked out but maybe one time. What was pissing me off is that they didn't recognize it any of the 7 or so times they ran it and no one jumped it for a pick. The Bears used to run that damn WR screen all the time about 5 years ago and eventually it became like Ringling Brothers with all the things defenses were doing to it.

Anyway, what a waste of a nice season. Even Urlacher said today that the season meant nothing cause they fucked up in the playoffs. I totally agree. You play beyond expectations, sure. But as long as you're here, win something. You get the 2 seed in the playoffs and embarrass yourself. Yay.

Ah well. At least I still have the White Sox.

Freak

Tillman got flagged on that first TD because he never once looked for the ball, stepped right into Smith's path, and got run the fuck over.

For the record, yesterday Jake Delhomme became the highest-rated quarterback in NFL playoff history. I've never given him enough respect, but the guy is a real gamer and he's fun to root for. I bet the Saints are kicking themselves, settling with Aaron Brooks, letting the local kid walk.

Cage 2.0

Absolutley not. Smith shoved off to seperate and Tillman went down. It was a crap call.

Not taking anything away from Smith cause I haven't seen anything like him since Jerry Rice, but it is what it is.