Media Musings - Week 6

[rilamann]

Some gems this week:

Dr. Z:

The Packers game was another story entirely. This was another one that flew out the window after they had it nailed. The Pack came out running effectively against the Bears defense. Surprise! And the shock of that plus Brett Favre's accuracy gave them 341 yards at halftime and a 10-point lead.
During the intermission you're supposed to make adjustments. OK, they're gonna stop the run now, so here's what we'll do. What the Packers did in the second half was run the ball into the heart of the defense, like mindless idiots, and then throw the short checkdown on third down. They got one first down on their first possession, on a screen pass. And between that time and their last possession, with 1:58 left in the game, after the Bears had fought back and taken the lead, they didn't have any. Five straight series of three and out. Five series of garbage plays, highlighted by that lunatic pass Favre threw into Brian Urlacher's arms that came back for six.

Their last series, that ended with the Hail Mary that was intercepted, was something that had even the Favre apologists, and they're in full voice this year, rubbing their eyes. An entire drive of nothing but in-routes or crossing patterns underneath -- the kind of thing you give a rookie QB as a confidence builder, easy passes, clock killers. It's as if they hadn't worked on the two-minute offense during the week.

The Bears were the hungry team, at least in the second half. The unbeaten Packers were supposedly ready to move to a higher level this season. Uh uh. Sorry, not ready yet. Not tough enough. The Bears out-toughed them.

Peter King:

5. Green Bay (4-1). The Packers could have had a four-game lead over the Bears in the NFC North. Now you know why coach Mike McCarthy and offensive coordinator Joe Philbin have been preaching about turnovers since the first Green Bay minicamp. Talk about throwing a game away.

MVP Watch: 3. Brett Favre, QB, Green Bay. We see how slim the margin for victory is when the Pack turns it over four times.

10 things...

posted about 12 hours before the Dallas game...

5 - I think anyone who ever chuckles about the importance of turnovers needs to watch a tape of the second half of the Sunday night game, when Green Bay turned it over three times, and also needs to know that the Packers were 31st in the NFL in turnovers, with 139, in the four years before 2007. There is such a direct correlation between winning and not turning it over. The Pack was expert at winning the turnover battle in its 4-0 start, and horrible in losing a game it had no business losing to the Bears on Sunday night.

7. I think this is what I didn't like about Week 5:

b. Green Bay's offense was beyond futile in the second half, as conservative a unit as I've seen all year.

Sportsline:

5 Packers

[rilamann]

Unlike the Packers the Cowboys got away with their mistakes because Bears>>>>>Bills.

The Cowboys are overrated and got lucky as hell last night.

When I say overrated don't take it the wrong way,I think Dallas is a pretty solid football team I just don't think they are quite as good as a lot of people think.

[xTitan]

I can't believe that idiot Dr. Z is still writing, GB gashed the Bears in the first half running right at Urlacher, which is what you should do ...Urlacher's biggest strength is his ability to run sideline to sideline and make plays.....Lance Briggs blew up in the second half, partly due to his greatness but also horrible guard play by Coston and College, a common theme....................on a side note, once the Bears allow Briggs to leave in the offseason that will damage that defense fatally, he IS there best defender.

[th87]

I can't believe that idiot Dr. Z is still writing, GB gashed the Bears in the first half running right at Urlacher, which is what you should do ...Urlacher's biggest strength is his ability to run sideline to sideline and make plays.....Lance Briggs blew up in the second half, partly due to his greatness but also horrible guard play by Coston and College, a common theme....................on a side note, once the Bears allow Briggs to leave in the offseason that will damage that defense fatally, he IS there best defender.

You go with your bread and butter until it stops working. And our bread and butter has been lots of motion and spreading things out. Plus the cover 2 would've been susceptible to motion and such, making Briggs have to cover Jennings, for example.

This was just like the Mavericks going small against the Warriors. A winning team shouldn't let the other team dictate play-calling. We impose, they adjust. This is what we had been doing and what got us to 4-0.

[El Duderino]

.Lance Briggs blew up in the second half, partly due to his greatness but also horrible guard play by Coston and College, a common theme.

Chalk up Colledge as another of the young high pick guys i had hoped would make a step up this year,but hasn't done it so far along with Hawk and Collins.To think we are 4-1 and should be 5-0 while these three guys haven't improved their play a lick over last year is pretty amazing to me.

You go with your bread and butter until it stops working. And our bread and butter has been lots of motion and spreading things out.

McCarthy got more conservative than i'd have preferred in the second half,especially that third and six run at about our 35 yard line.Don't just dismiss a few things though

1.Horrible field position most of the second half,starting most drives between our 7-15 yard line.

2.We had three 10 yard offensive penalties that were drive killers,two holding and one offensive pass interference.If i remember correctly,two of those penalties pushed us back way deep in our territory facing 2nd and 20 situations.Most coaches get very cautious down there facing 2nd/3rd and very long with good reason.Lots of very bad things can happen throwing from there and the odds are against getting a first down with 20 yards to go.

3.The pass blocking was worse in the second half.Brett wasn't getting sacked because he's a master at avoiding them because of his awareness and ability to throw going backwards.There was more pressure though which helped stop getting first downs on third down passes.

4.Jennings was out for awhile


I'd like to have seen a few more passes also,but it's not like there were no extenuating circumstances at all on some of those drives.

[ReasonablySober]

I can't believe that idiot Dr. Z is still writing, GB gashed the Bears in the first half running right at Urlacher, which is what you should do ...Urlacher's biggest strength is his ability to run sideline to sideline and make plays.....Lance Briggs blew up in the second half, partly due to his greatness but also horrible guard play by Coston and College, a common theme....................on a side note, once the Bears allow Briggs to leave in the offseason that will damage that defense fatally, he IS there best defender.

What's more likely...

a) That all of the sudden College and Coston just inexplicably became ineffective run blockers despite opening holes the entire first half, and Lance Briggs decided it was time for him to 'blow up'?

or

b) McCarthy put his team in a hole by benching his #3 WR despite already being down his #2, operating out of more blatant run formations (two tight ends, one WR sets) and running our last place rushing offense right at a defense that ranked 6th last year and is middle of the pack this season despite being killed by injuries.

The Packers caught the Bears by surprise in the first half with a rushing attack that they hadn't diligently gone with all season. They weren't going to surprise them the entire game.

[xTitan]

The bottom line is that the offensive line executed there blocks in the first half and failed miserably in the second half.....I really am starting to like Wynn as a runner and had no problem going to himn in the second half to start with.....GB I belive only ran once or twice in the fourth quarter the only time they ran the ball three staright times was after Favre's hideous int...may have been a message but the play call would have worked with proper execution..... I also believe MM thought his defense was good enough to keep Chicago out of the end zone and the only way Gb would lose would be if they turned over the ball...which they did 3 times in the second half.