Bears Week, Anyone?

[HoosierCat]

We're winning this game. Period.

If we don't I will be p*ssed.

[HoosierCat]

Cutler gets new deal:

/>http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2009/10/20/bears-announce-cutler-deal/

Nothing like a fat 'n' happy QB celebrating a buffed-up bank account coming to town!

[kingwilly]

hopefully, when they sack him, his overstuffed wallet will fall out and someone can snag it.

[SupaBran]

eh i was really more worried about the texans than i ever was about the bears. i dunno why but i just had a feeling the texans were going to outplay us, they are too explosive offensively. and they didnt make many mistakes. the bengals made a ton and still had a shot to pull it out. but i think the bengals beat the bears up, barring any superfluous amount of turnovers.

I was also scared of the Texans for some reason! Maybe b/c they're explosive but there is just no way a letdown was not going to happen! We just won 4 straight physical games in a row and the Texans have not played well this year so they were kinda coming in under the radar so to speak. I don't know what game you were watching though! We never had a shot to pull it out, IMO!

If we do not win this game, I will have lost hope for this season. We need this win to hold 1st place in the division and you just plain have to win the games you are supposed to win!

[semiotter]

Wait a minute guys your talking about"Da Bears" and Da coach "Ditka" Oh!! wait a minute wrong century.

[Pidge]

Meh, Cutler is more than capable of beating our secondary. Or he can throw the game into our hands. Their O-line is ugly too. Not quite '08 Bengals ugly but pretty dire. Hopefully MJ and Fanene can gain some confidence against them.

[Kazkal]

Da bears da bears da bears...

Okay starting this week

If Bengals win =Hot boobie Sig 1 week

If they lose =Nasty sig for 1 week

Better hope we WIN!

[redsbengalsbucks]

Other than the first week game the Bears have played decent football. The Bengals will need to stop shooting themselves in the foot on Offense and shut down Hester in the return game to have any chance at beating the Bears this week.

Since the Bears are my NFC team, I keep track of what they are doing almost as much as the Bengals.

Cutler has shown that he can make even average WR's look good. Knox is very fast and has good hands, he will be a challenge for Hall and JJoe.

Forte is due for a big game either rushing or receiving and the TE's they have are very good.

Lucky for the Bengals that the Bears D is banged up and can be scored upon, but if the stupid penalties and dropped passes continue it will be a close game.

[ArmyBengal]

RBB thanks for mentioning Knox. He has some serious speed and catches very well. However, that's not what my concern is when it comes to him the most. He's also their kick return man and is very good at that as well. With all the concerns we've had with special teams, this could be something to watch out for as well in this game. Hester is another in that regard.

I honestly don't think the Bears are over rated at all. I think Cutler (as much of a crybaby as he may be) is a good QB that if given time, will make plays. The lack of Odom and a pass rush don't work in our advantage here. I agree that pressuring Cutler is the way to go, but they have to figure out how to do that. Olsen is another person to watch working the middle of the field.

I'm hoping our defense is pissed off about their showing next week and comes out motivated. That and the offense finding a way to put something together that doesn't include stupid ass Coats attempting to catch the ball. My co-worker is a Bears fan and it sure would be nice to get the win here, I simply can't say as I'm sold on that happening as much as I have been lately. Just my take...

[ct_bengal]

eh i was really more worried about the texans than i ever was about the bears. i dunno why but i just had a feeling the texans were going to outplay us, they are too explosive offensively. and they didnt make many mistakes. the bengals made a ton and still had a shot to pull it out. but i think the bengals beat the bears up, barring any superfluous amount of turnovers.

I was also scared of the Texans for some reason! Maybe b/c they're explosive but there is just no way a letdown was not going to happen! We just won 4 straight physical games in a row and the Texans have not played well this year so they were kinda coming in under the radar so to speak. I don't know what game you were watching though! We never had a shot to pull it out, IMO[/b]!

If we do not win this game, I will have lost hope for this season. We need this win to hold 1st place in the division and you just plain have to win the games you are supposed to win!

i would say they had a shot at the beginning of the 4th quarter, hell even when slaton fumbled they had time. the D seemed to step up when it had to in prior situations not to mention they had all their timeouts left. but then they fumbled right back to the texans. they could have won this game if they wanted to, and thats without peko and odom. i just dont see the bears wide receivers as a problem. hell if anybody has a breakout game i think it would be johnny knox before hester. minus that 5 sack game odom is fanene. i dont think it will be too hard to replace him and figure that michael johnson should fill in well. this defense isnt molded around 1 player, it's a chemistry thing and i want to see how they rebound to a real loss.

[COB]

minus that 5 sack game odom is fanene. i dont think it will be too hard to replace him and figure that michael johnson should fill in well. this defense isnt molded around 1 player, it's a chemistry thing

That actually makes a lot of sense, and reading it has made me feel better about the impact Odom's loss will have on the defense.

Before, I was thinking it's over. Now that I take Odom's 5 sack game into account, maybe he won't be impossible to replace. Who Dey!

[Pidge]

/not as optimistic

I don't think the D will crumble in Odom's absence but it is a big miss and the effects will be felt.

[kingwilly]

[quote name='ct_bengal' date='21 October 2009 - 02:29 PM' timestamp='1256149756' post='297359

i would say they had a shot at the beginning of the 4th quarter, hell even when slaton fumbled they had time. the D seemed to step up when it had to in prior situations not to mention they had all their timeouts left. but then they fumbled right back to the texans. they could have won this game if they wanted to, and thats without peko and odom. i just dont see the bears wide receivers as a problem. hell if anybody has a breakout game i think it would be johnny knox before hester. minus that 5 sack game odom is fanene. i dont think it will be too hard to replace him and figure that michael johnson should fill in well. this defense isnt molded around 1 player, it's a chemistry thing and i want to see how they rebound to a real loss.

[Ickey44]

Yes, losing Odom is a serious thing, but if you use that as an excuse for not playing well on defense that's just pathetic. Fanene and Johnson are more than capable of filling in for Odom while he's out. Fanene has shown that he can play in the last couple years and Michael Johnson should develop nicely. They just have to gameplan better than they did for the Texans because they were not ready for them. The Texans knew how the Bengals would play them defensively and knew are weaknesses and exploited them. Zimmer now has to fix those things and those things have nothing to do with the loss of Odom.

[Wraith]

I am concerned about our overpursuit and Forte burning us on short dumps over the middle. Two weeks in a row we have been burned by Fast RBs catching short passes behind our out-of-position LBs and breaking big gains, Rice and Slaton ate us alive and Forte fits the same mold. I would expect a game very similar to the Baltimore game, Chicago does not have the weapons that Houston (though I am a big Knox fan, wanted the Bengals to draft him badly as you can see in the old draft forums) has and we should be able to force Cutler into making mistakes. Rating the QBs the Bengals have faced this season Rogers, Roethlisberger, Flacco, Schaub and *gasp* Orton are all playing better than Cutler is playing right now lets hope he doesn't put it together this week.

Has anyone heard about the extent of Peko's injury? I think Peko might be as big a loss as Odom if he misses significant time.

[HoosierCat]

I live in Bears Country, so I watch a lot of them as well. In many ways, they actually remind me of the Bengals: a mistake-prone offense combined with a banged-up D missing a key player (in their case, Urlacher). Their LB corps just took another hit with the loss of Tinoisamoa.

They lack weapons on O for Cutler, though given the Bengals' historic inability to defend the TE, I expect Olsen to have a big game. Cutler has handled pressure well this year, so if I'm the Bengals I am judicious with blitzes. Matt Forte has stunk so far. The O-line is iffy.

I've had limited opportunity to listen to the local radio chatter and most of what I have heard has been blah blah blah Benson blah blah blah Tank blah blah blah did the bears make a mistake in letting them go. But five weeks ago the Bengals were a pushover; now, they're a challenge.

I hear a lot of the same complaints about Chicago that I hear about Cincy, especially complaints about poor offensive playcalling & Lovie's in-game management skills.

As noted, STs could be the difference. Hester still has it.

[cincyhokie]

Yes, losing Odom is a serious thing, but if you use that as an excuse for not playing well on defense that's just pathetic. Fanene and Johnson are more than capable of filling in for Odom while he's out. Fanene has shown that he can play in the last couple years and Michael Johnson should develop nicely. They just have to gameplan better than they did for the Texans because they were not ready for them. The Texans knew how the Bengals would play them defensively and knew are weaknesses and exploited them. Zimmer now has to fix those things and those things have nothing to do with the loss of Odom.

I agree. I don't think the Bears are near as explosive as the Texans. They did a great job in their playcalling. We blitzed, they used a screen or a checkdown. If we can gameplan better while staying in the assignements, contain the short passes and checkdowns, and utilize some better blitzing schemes, I think we'll see a much better game by the defense.

[BengalByTheBay]

Yes, losing Odom is a serious thing, but if you use that as an excuse for not playing well on defense that's just pathetic. Fanene and Johnson are more than capable of filling in for Odom while he's out. Fanene has shown that he can play in the last couple years and Michael Johnson should develop nicely. They just have to gameplan better than they did for the Texans because they were not ready for them. The Texans knew how the Bengals would play them defensively and knew are weaknesses and exploited them. Zimmer now has to fix those things and those things have nothing to do with the loss of Odom.

I agree. I don't think the Bears are near as explosive as the Texans. They did a great job in their playcalling. We blitzed, they used a screen or a checkdown. If we can gameplan better while staying in the assignements, contain the short passes and checkdowns, and utilize some better blitzing schemes, I think we'll see a much better game by the defense.

They screened our pants off. It's a good strategy against a young defense, especially one with a kamakazi OLB like Maualuga. It worked well. I wish we would do it more often.

[cincy9275]

i think ced could cause the bears to lose focus this week. i mean all the news on this game is ced and the bears. the bears what nothing more than to shut ced out. if the bears come out so focused on ced, that maybe they lose sight of plamer and crew. then we burn them for a couple long td's?

[COB]

i think ced could cause the bears to lose focus this week. i mean all the news on this game is ced and the bears. the bears what nothing more than to shut ced out. if the bears come out so focused on ced, that maybe they lose sight of plamer and crew. then we burn them for a couple long td's?

I'm with you. Maybe they will overpursue on the runs, Ced can cut back pretty well. Tank's getting healthy, he could have a big game as well.

[walzav29]

Huge game this week. I think if they win they'll be the front runners for the division. Confidence etc... If they LOSE it will be wildcard fight time., Which I hate. A win we're looking like 05 a loss and we're looking like 06. I would love to see just a blowout going into the bye week. Still waiting on the offense.

Check out 06
/>http://www.bengals.com/team/history/bengalshistory2006.html

[jjakq27]

Time to focus on this week and talk about the actual game a little.

Keys:

Running the ball on offense and staying with that mindset and not get impatient

Avoiding the big play on defense. Play a good, solid base defense and tackle better and stay within their assignments.

Containing Hester and Knox on Special Teams.

Make sure Cedric doesn't get too caught up in the hoopla about playing the Bears.

Realize that they are at a very big moment in the season and what a win would do for them.

It's time to take advantage of the opportunity before them and take a giant step towards a playoff birth.

[ShulaSteakhouse]

Yep, gotta win this game at home if you have realistic playoff hopes, going 1-3 at home to start the season is not the sign of a playoff caliber team.

Losing combined with a potential Pitt victory puts them a game back with a trip to Pittsburgh the 2nd week after the bye, and a Ravens game at home a week before that.

So, gotta win this one, already used up 2 of your home losses this year, going 4-3 into the bye week starts looking like the predicted 7-9 or 8-8 team.

Fantasy owners might want to think about plucking Hester and Olsen off waivers (if available) and/or starting one or both of them this week.

Cutler's been bad on the road, the Bears are generally very beatable, losing this game really will look bad and bring out the "same old Bungals" crowd, the Mike Brown apologists here hate so much.

[BengalByTheBay]

Cutler's been bad on the road, the Bears are generally very beatable, losing this game really will look bad and bring out the "same old Bungals" crowd, the Mike Brown apologists here hate so much.

I continue to believe that "must win" games should be reserved for the second half of the season, but that's just me. As for comments about the "same old Bungals," I am confused by your remark SS. Do you enjoy hearing that kind of comment? And, if not, are you a Mike Brown apologist? It must be interesting living in the land of absolutes, but with everything so black and white I suppose it ends up boring.

[ShulaSteakhouse]

Cutler's been bad on the road, the Bears are generally very beatable, losing this game really will look bad and bring out the "same old Bungals" crowd, the Mike Brown apologists here hate so much.

I continue to believe that "must win" games should be reserved for the second half of the season, but that's just me. As for comments about the "same old Bungals," I am confused by your remark SS. Do you enjoy hearing that kind of comment? And, if not, are you a Mike Brown apologist? It must be interesting living in the land of absolutes, but with everything so black and white I suppose it ends up boring.

Yet losing to Denver, Chicago and Houston at home really hinder their chances when you look at the rest of their schedule.

As for the SOB comment, it's sarcasm, not sure why you think I'd "want" to start hearing that again, but it will be inevitable if they lose another home game to a mediocre team.