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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Ballsey prediction.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

I agree with most of this, except

Ignoring all the stuff that GD has said about that game, anyone who writes about football for a living shouldn't be so stupid. The rule applied there is the rule applied in every single damn football game on every part of the field. If you don't control the ball to the ground on the 40 yard line, it is incomplete. If you don't do it in the end zone, it is incomplete. In the act of falling, Calvin Johnson let go of the ball. You can't call it complete just because you believe he could have held onto it.

But yeah, I agree, this might be a 6 or 7 win team.

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Fire Phil Emery

Quite generic indeed, huh?

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

It always irks me when people keep referring to the 3 games the Bears won against third string QB's, as if the Bears were the only team in the league to face a third stringer, or how those are just guaranteed wins.

The Packers LOST to the same Detroit team playing their third string QB (yes I know Rodgers missed the second half but the Packers 2nd string QB should be better than the Lions third string QB right?). The Eagles LOST to the Vikings and Joe Webb at home a week after the Bears beat the Vikings badly. And really was Tyler Thigpen or whoever played QB for the Dolphins against the Beloved that much worse than 1st string Chad Henne?

And if we are to play the what if game, that Calvin johnson should have been reward a TD, then give the Bears a win against the Redskins when the officials did not give Cutler a TD on the QB sneak.

And while the Bears may certainly drop back to a 7 win team, I find it hard to believe that the team that was in the NFC Championship game could be on the same level as the Bills. The Bears have no chance to win?

Agreed.

He only kept one hand on the ball, and paid for it. If he would've kept both hands on it, he probably would have gotten the TD.

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Barnwell lost me the second he called Brandon Marshall a top-5 wideout. FO's own stats have Marshall as a below-average player in every year of his career but one.

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The Bulls haven't done anything wrong, and they're not going to do anything wrong.

I wouldn't even try and quantify what the Bears are. It is pretty clear that under Lovie, that is pointless.

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"Mattress technology has come a long way"

- Dan Bernstein, 2016

These 2 don't add up. Worst case scenario for ANY NFL team is to be just awful. Because of injuries or bad play, bad luck, or whatever. So he says they will be terrible, then he rattles off a bunch of stats that to me pins them as mediocre to slightly above average.

I think a lot of people (myself included) see the Bears as being a 9 or a 10 win team, possibly making the playoffs, possibly winning one of those playoff games but not advancing past the Divisional Round. I think the only way they end up with 12 wins again if is Cutler has an MVP type season, which means the Oline has to be very very good. And staying as healthy as possible, but thats a given.

Missing the playoffs at 9-7 or 8-8 would be diasppointing, but not terribly surprising and certainly not "terrible in 2011"

8-8 is not terrible. Its not good but its not terrible. 4-12 or 3-13 is terrible, and the Bears will not be terrible.

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There's a flip side to that coin. Any team can go 10-6 with the right amount of luck. Usually if the best case scenario is 10-6 and a wildcard the team in question is considered bad. I'd agree with you though that their best-case might be slightly better than that. I see them as an 8-8ish team with too much competition to get a WC berth this year.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Either way, we'll see what sort of team they are after their first 3 games. 2 of the 3 at home, but against very tough teams. If they are 3-1 after week 4, look out. Though that stretch of 4 games in a row against the AFC West worries me too.

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Not sure if serious....

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Kinda sorta. Just the travel aspect alone hurts a little bit. Some bad teams out there, but just from an irony standpoint I could see Orton lighting up the Bears

The Chargers are good and I could see the Bears having a little trouble with the Chiefs too.

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The Bears will be Carolina even if Collins were their QB. They could easily go 0-3. Those first 3 games are easily their toughest stretch of the year. Finishing 2-1 or 3-0 would be a major victory in my eyes. We could be looking at a 14 or 13 win team if that were to happen.

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Whatchu know 'bout dem Pats?

People continue to discount what Lovie and his staff do very well- defense (mainly turnovers), special teams, and having players working hard for him. That equates to a lot of wins. His staff has 4 guys who were once NFL head coaches, which is a big positive.

I know a lot of folks dislike Lovie because his public demeanor. The fact of the matter is that his teams are usually competitive over a course of a season. People count him out. I do not.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

They're going to be really good. Brady may put up video game numbers again this year. I think this is the season people rightfully give him his respect as the best QB of his era.

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I don't really think he was dissing Lovie. He was just saying that under him, the Bears have been pretty unpredictable and I can't disagree with that.

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Careful, HOVA. If you aren't careful you might take over my board crush from the absent OKC if you keep talking like that.

His era is over. Its Rodgers world now, Brady's just living in it.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Under Lovie the Bears have been like the Sox have been for the last 20 years. Really good to mediocre. A 7-9 season is now considered terrible. The bar has been raised.

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I've been saying the same thing for years now.

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+1

One could argue that Lovie-coached teams are incapable of winning the big one, but Lovie's teams are always competitive and are generally right there at the end of games, even against much more talented teams. The one exception I can think of is the year the Bears were clobbered by the Cardinals and Bengals midseason, but there were so many injuries that they were down to Nick Roach playing MLB.

It is a simple but relatively successful formula Lovie uses: dominate with special teams, don't give up big plays on defense (generally top 10 defense), and hope for some scoring from the offense. In the NFL, this is generally enough to compete for a playoff spot every year. Once in, anything can happen. Having Urlacher and Briggs on defense certainly doesn't hurt, either.

Bears 10-6

Ditka.

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Did that just happen right now, today? Because from what I remember, Rodgers has some catching up to do.

It happened last Thursday.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Someday he'll win the big one and people will end their posts with

Bears 10-6

Smith

I hope you're right. I have Rodgers in a couple keeper leagues and I could really enjoy a good 5 year run with him leading the way.

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For the sake of my Packers friends, here's hoping that is a fact. My guy Brady is certainly on the back end of his career, but I think he's got one more ring left.

Brady wants Moss back.

http://espn.go.com/boston/nfl/story/_/i ... d-patriots

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DON'T JINX IT.