Ask About The Bears. 5 Cents/?

by Adam T on Dec 10, 2008 2:31 AM CST Comment 27 comments

Below is a FanPost by WCG from SB Nation's Chicago Bears blog, Windy City Gridiron. Ask him any questions you guys have and please, please, please keep it civil. You guys have been chomping at the bit all week (don't think I haven't noticed) but let cooler heads prevail. Check out my FanPost on Windy City Gridiron and help out over there. Give it a rec.

Ahoy, there Saints fans.

WCG here from Windy City Gridiron. Just stopping by to see if I can answer any Bears related questions on our upcoming bruhaha.

To answer you first question. Yes, Drew Brees will break every record he can this year in this game. I'm expecting him to throw for about 505 yards.

I think we can shut down your running game, but I have no doubt you are going to racking up the pass yards.

Drop the questions here and I'll do my best to give you a unbiased opinion unless you ask me a question I don't know the answer to, in which case I will lie with a Bears slant as much as I can.

This FanPost was written by a reader and member of Canal Street Chronicles. It does not necessarily reflect the views of CSC and its staff or editors.

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A couple questions

First, we played you last year in December, and Pierre Thomas gashed the Bears for over 100 yards rushing and receiving. That’s each, not combined. What has changed this season to make you think it will be an easy matter stopping him?

Second, I see the forecast calls for freezing temperatures and snow flurries (not too much wind, but some). Not the best conditions for throwing the ball, but then these are the Saints…we know they’re going to throw it anyway. What particularly scares you about the potential matchups with Brees and his receivers?

Stupid Bucs...

by MtnExile on Dec 10, 2008 6:04 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

We stop the run by crowding the line

We put 5 guys on the line and then 2-3 of the LBs are real close. Also, until now we weren’t battling injuries, so we had our best guys in there. This is pretty effective. The only guy who has nullified that all season is Adrian Peterson and he does that to everybody.

What scares me? Everything. The Bears cannot stop your passing game by dropping more guys. We just can’t. The only way we can limit is to find a way to get to Brees. If we keep pressure on him at the very least it takes away the long ball. He will still get his 200+ yards, but they would be on 10-15 yard chunks.

The Bears are the best in the league at takeaways. For the Bears to win this they will need 2-3 and would be a major plus if the D or ST can score a TD.

Being Who You Thought We Were Since 2005!

by Adam T on Dec 10, 2008 7:39 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

didnt we...

shut down AP?

In fact we have done a pretty good job of stopping most teams premier backs. How do you think your offence will do if forced to throw the ball against our… wonderful secondary.

MT
Taking games 1 game at a time, but wearing a cup just in case

by MT_always on Dec 10, 2008 8:00 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Orton can throw

He isn’t going to go down, down field on you much, but we do have some weapons.

As you know Hester can beat pretty much anybody off the ball, so if they can connect in stride or if we can get him the ball in some space he can be dangerous.

The biggest threats sadly are not receivers. To stop our passing game you need to bottle up Desmond Clark, Greg Olsen and Matt Forte.

Being Who You Thought We Were Since 2005!

by Adam T on Dec 10, 2008 9:47 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Isn't Clark hurt?

How bad is it?

Stupid Bucs...

by MtnExile on Dec 10, 2008 10:12 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

He didn't practice yesterday,

But he is expected to play, just like last week. Not that you should be too concerned either way: he has caught a grand total of 4 balls vs. the Saints in 4 games.

Residence: Portland, Oregon Pro Team: Da Bears NCAA Football: LSU Baby!! Make sense?

by Dane Noble on Dec 10, 2008 2:42 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

That makes not sense at all!!

You’re from Louisiana? And not a Saints fan? You must be from Shreveport or Monroe…

8-8, Here We Come...

by Hollywoo! on Dec 10, 2008 3:08 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Lol... From Springhill (Webster Parish, right between S'port and Monroe)

I am a Saints fan, but Da Bears are my team. I root for the Saints anytime the Bears are not involved :)

Residence: Portland, Oregon Pro Team: Da Bears NCAA Football: LSU Baby!! Make sense?

by Dane Noble on Dec 10, 2008 4:22 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

"5 guys on the line and then 2-3 of the LBs are real close"

That’s not a standard Cover 2 as I understand it. I realize that Cover 2 is only a base defense, and every team that plays it switches out from time to time…but if what you wrote describes the Bears’ base defense, doesn’t it leave large sections of the field wide open? You guys think you can get to Brees consistently before he finds the open man? The Bears aren’t much better at sacks than the Saints are.

Stupid Bucs...

by MtnExile on Dec 10, 2008 8:09 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

AH HA

You have hit on it. We actually do not run as much Cover-2 as many have said. We run a lot of man to man.

And yes ‘mugging the line’ leaves holes all over the field, hence why 5 QBs we have faced have had their best game of the season.

No I do not think the Bears can get to Brees consistently, but what other option do they have? If we drop 8-9 back into coverage your running backs will average 7-9 yards an attempt. The Bears can create turnovers and they have some history of picking off Brees. The best option we have is to try #1 get to him, so he can’t throw or hurry him so he has to dink and dunk. The longer an offense is on the field the more opportunities the Bears have to pick on off or create a fumble. The Bears will need that this week.

The Bears have the guys to get the sacks, the problem is our DC lacks imagination. His idea of a blitz is to show Urlacher or Briggs is coming and then run them right up the middle. We don’t often run corner or safety blitzes where the guy isn’t right on the line showing his hand. We don’t disguise the blitzes. We don’t use delayed blitzes. We don’t have the end start to rush, then pull around the guard and look for a hole. We just put a guy on the line and say ‘Go get em boys’. It usually doesn’t work.

Being Who You Thought We Were Since 2005!

by Adam T on Dec 10, 2008 9:52 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

YOUR DC lacks imagination!

Wanna trade? We’ll throw in our secondary coach. It’s called “lagniappe.”

Stupid Bucs...

by MtnExile on Dec 10, 2008 10:15 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

The sad part is

Lovie was a very good DC and you can see his influence in the way our guys play, but he seems content to let Babich learn as he goes (2nd year), instead of stepping in and fixing the problems. We all watch a lot of football, but if we as fans can see and call every blitz coming it is safe to say that the other team has picked it up as well.

I don’t want you secondary coach, but can we have your OC’s assistant or maybe his assistant’s assistant. or how about anybody related to your OC? His dog maybe. Can’t be worse than our step on the breaks as soon as you are up by 3 points style of play calling.

Being Who You Thought We Were Since 2005!

by Adam T on Dec 10, 2008 11:00 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Actually

The offensive coordinator is Doug Marrone, and he’s being touted as a possible successor to Greg Robinson at Syracuse. If that falls through, maybe you can still pry him loose…Payton calls all the plays himself. Would you want to be offensive coordinator if you don’t get to call plays?

Stupid Bucs...

by MtnExile on Dec 10, 2008 11:24 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Ok, Payton's assistant's assitant's dog

will be fine.

Being Who You Thought We Were Since 2005!

by Adam T on Dec 10, 2008 11:54 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Is the game on tv?

or only nfl networks?

by xen-cuts on Dec 10, 2008 1:15 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Oye, WCG!

Thanks for coming over.

We turn the ball over. When we turn the ball over a lot, we usually lose. In the cold, we have had our troubles holding onto the ball.

The cold is, well, cold to us.

There’s all this talk about dome or warm-weather teams having trouble playing in the cold, etc. I would think that most teams have nice, indoor practice facilities these days, so I’m wondering what you know of the team’s practice routine…do the Bears practice outside a lot, especially later in the season as to be more acclimated to the coldness??? Or do they practice outside all the time, all season long, or what?

Thanks for taking my call, I’m going to hang up and listen to your answer.

"We're one of the better third-down teams in the league..." Saints linebacker Scott Fujita

by HansDat on Dec 10, 2008 8:15 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

I wouldn't say you need to practice outside, but they probably do

they have access to outdoor and indoor facilities. I’d imagine just living in Chicago gets you acclimated to that type of weather.

I don’t have access to know when or why they practice indoors or outdoors, but I’d guess they practice outdoors as long as it is safe whenever they can. It can’t hurt.

Being Who You Thought We Were Since 2005!

by Adam T on Dec 11, 2008 8:01 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

OK Thanks

"We're one of the better third-down teams in the league..." Saints linebacker Scott Fujita

by HansDat on Dec 11, 2008 8:20 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

also...I've only seen a few runs by Forte in highlights

What kind of running style does he use? Quick and elusive with breakaway speed, perhaps, or strong and powerful up the gut-buster who’s hard to bring down?

He was a nice 2nd round pick-up, especially after letting TJ go to the Jets while you learned the hard way that CedBen was a bust. Congratulations. We would LOVE to have our 2nd round pick start all season and be a strong candidate for ROY.

We cheer for him as a local high schooler and a Tulane Man, but we kind of want him to stink on ice tomorrow night.

"We're one of the better third-down teams in the league..." Saints linebacker Scott Fujita

by HansDat on Dec 10, 2008 8:30 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Sometimes it is hard to say

because the Bears seem to use him in the same way over and over. I think they have like 5 plays and just keep using them :) He does not have breakaway speed in the fashion of a Chris Johnson or Reggie Bush. He is a stronger runner than those two. His biggest upside is he is consistent. The problem with a lot of speed runners is in addition to that nice 50 yard run they also have a lot of negative plays. If a defense doesn’t get into the back field Forte is going to get a few yards close to every run. He always moves forward. You will not see him trying to make it around a corner or trying to shake a guy out of his cleats.. He runs straight and will make small, but effective cuts once in the secondary.

He has great vision. He sees the field well and generally makes the right decision. Our line isn’t great, so lot of what you see is him just working hard and getting the yards.

He isn’t a big guy, so he isn’t very hard to bring down, but you aren’t going to arm tackle him often. He runs hard and keeps his feet moving, so you have to wrap him up, but you aren’t going to see highlights of him bowling over 6 defenders on his way the end zone.

Being Who You Thought We Were Since 2005!

by Adam T on Dec 11, 2008 8:08 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

got it

maybe we’ll get lucky and since he played in a dome for college, and played outdoors in the warm and humid SE Louisiana, he’ll cough it up a few times for us tonight in the cold…

"We're one of the better third-down teams in the league..." Saints linebacker Scott Fujita

by HansDat on Dec 11, 2008 8:22 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs