Week 1: Falcons at Bears

[The Explorer]

Who you got?

Atlanta Falcons at Chicago Bears
Falcons 19, Bears 16

Games are won in the trenches, blah, blah, blah. But this one will be. The Falcons went out and paid Ray Edwards $27 million to give John Abraham help rushing the passer. Now Edwards will line up over rookie Gabe Carimi, playing his first NFL game. Meanwhile,Abraham, one of the league's best rushers, will duel left tackle J'Marcus Webb, who allowed 12 sacks as the Bears' right tackle last year. I say the Falcons will pressure Jay Cutler into a couple of mistakes and that'll be the game.

I say J Peppers will have his way with Atlanta's tackles, and force Ryan into a couple of key mistakes. Bears will be looking to force fumbles on Turner.

Bears 24, Atlanta 17.

[kyrv]

I'm going with you and da Bears this week.

[emperorjones]

The NFC South was really overrated all last season. Atlanta's record was inflated. They had cupcake schedules with games against Cleveland, San Fran, Cinninati , St. Louis, Carolina twice, Seattle and Tampa twice. Most of their tough games they played at home. Same thing for the Saints. It showed in the playoffs with the Packers killing the Falcons in the dome (and then only beating us by 7 without Cutler) and the Saints losing to the Seahawks.

They are a good team, don't get me wrong. Just were more of a 10-6/11-5 team, not a true 13-3 team.

I think its still a tough game, because their offense is built to slowly attack and limit errors. That's bad for the Bears secondary.

But I still have us winning because I think we stop the run and get good pressure.

Bears 97 Falcons 3.

[WEFFPIM]

Well that's pretty optimistic.

[Chewie]

Bears 97 Falcons 3.

Is that the Bears or mini-Ditkas ?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d32OeqbYbHg[/youtube]

[Chewie]

You lose this one and you could be looking at a nasty hole to start the season given we've got the Saints and Packers next. The torches come out after an 0 and 3 start.

[heir_jordan22]

This game gives me pause because of the White-Jones combo. Tillman can handle one of them, but Jennings is too small to cover either of them. I really can't get any guage on what this game will be like, I just know it'll be good.

If we lose I'm not afraid about starting 0-3 because we will beat the Saints.

[emperorjones]

You lose this one and you could be looking at a nasty hole to start the season given we've got the Saints and Packers next. The torches come out after an 0 and 3 start.

16 games to the season. The rest of our schedule lines up well. If we went 0-3 I'd still have us at 10-6.

[SportsWorld]

Don't want to say it but this is a must-win. If we start 0-1, we go to New Orleans where they are 0-1 and will do anything to prevent going 0-2. Going into the Green Bay game at 1-1 looks much better than 0-2.

[Chewie]

Looking forward to the Olin hype for Saints week already.

Trib writers just in love with him.

[emperorjones]

Yea, all that crap was generated from the local press love fest & then went national. I mean think about it - we had the worst offensive line in the league and people are mad at the Bears because Olin wanted more from the Bears than any other team would consider. Lol

[Chewie]

Nice screen to Forte for the TD. Good blocking by Klutts (#44).

[ipoopinmypants]

Forcing TO's on D! Getting back to Bears football, with an offense that appears more capable of moving forward than last year...pleased with what I'm seeing so far.

[Chewie]

Tillman is so d*mn good at stripping the ball.

[Susan]

I love the ball punch.

[SportsWorld]

This team looks good so far. Impressed. Uralcher=Beast

[Howling Mad]

Forte looks different, err healthy.

[ipoopinmypants]

You had to think we'd have a leg up on a poor man's version of a defense the Bears know like the back of their hands.

[Chewie]

Yeah, Forte has the burst of a guy that wants a fat contract.

O-line still crap as predicted. Cutler on 96 sack pace.

[Chewie]

Lance Louis still out.

I've heard worse news.