Game 5: 'Hawks at Bears NSFW edition

[Danny Darko]

VS.


Game 5 in Chicago will feature Seattle vs Away games, bye weeks, and a ferocious defense. Needless to say not many people are giving us a chance on this one and there's not much evidence to contradict that idea cough*sandiego*cough. Bring in the Beast Mode era, the no broken Branch era, and the Whitehurst era?

Injury update:

Seahawks-
Pitts is likely to suit up, but shouldn't play with continued knee trouble. Trufant (CB) and Mebane (DT) should play but haven't practiced. Mebane limited with a calf strain. Locklear has also been limited, but is likely.

Bears
For Chicago, LB Lance Briggs (ankle), G Roberto Garza (knee) and S Major Wright (hamstring) did not participate in practice.


Things to Watch:

1-Matt gone wild. The old man has been asked to open it up and throw down field more. All the while he'll be stalked by a murderous bunch of blitzers no doubt. CBJ is a snap away or possibly 3 int's away. Can Hass throw past 20 yards anymore? We should find out.

2-Beast Mode, Beast Mode, Beast Mode- change of scenery and a return to his 08' ways or more Chicago ground game snuffing?

3-Earl Thomas watch. 1 more to tie a rookie record for int's and Cutler likes to throw them suckers.

4-Russ & Lock vs Pepper. ummm good luck rookie and turnstyle.

5-Can Clemons get some licks on Jay considering a roughed up Chicago O line.

6-WR's Tate will get more looks, Williams is healthy again, and Butler is the new starter with Stokely coming in on slot. I like this group alot if they can get the ball in their hands, but who's going to emerge as the go to guy?

7-Curry. He's a goat this year regardless of "solid" play. He still needs a statement game in his career. Can he get one here?



Predictions-

21-6 Bears ushers in the Whitehurst era either by turnovers or injury to MH.

[Sweezo]

Yeah, I don't have a good feeling about this on either. Cutler's a terribly inconsistent QB, but given how he looked on national TV in his last game, and that he has a chance at home to try and right the ship, I am thinking he is going to come out gunning. If we don't get pressure we're hosed.

This may be Hass' last gasp. Coming out of a bye week, with the roster continuing to churn, the only positions on offense that haven't seen some change [or attempted change] are C, TE #1, and QB. This coaching staff likes to tinker, and I imagine they will continue to tinker until they find some combination they are happy enough with to try and establish some consistency.

[TTown]

14-7 Seattle, early 2nd Q.

149-16 total yardage advantage to Seattle, but Chicago scored in part to a 58 yard PI penalty on their first drive. Offense has had two impressive drives, and we've owned the field position battle.

[TTown]

Hawks win 23-20!

[Danny Darko]

Fun game to watch, wish we hadn't made it that interesting at the end but some thoughts:

1- Matt Gone Wild- looked good out there. I still think he makes some hasty throws and that near fumble shovel pass was plain stupid.

2- Beast mode got it done, but really it was lynch making Forsett more effective. Still against a tough bears run d lynch fought for every inch.

3-Earl was around the ball alot, but alas no interceptions.

4- Okung was the man in beast mode. The strength he showed could make him special. I did see a few breakdowns, but i attribute that to being so focused on shutting down Peppers, which he really did.

Williams was pretty awesome out there. Carlson needs to catch some of those passes a little better. Tate was plain dumb on the return decisions twice.

[TTown]

I agree completely, one of Lynch's best features as a feature back is making Forsett more dangerous in relief. Forsett the starter is kind of sad, Forsett the 3rd down/change of pace back is a weapon.

Props to Lynch for some tough running... pedestrian overall numbers, but he had some nice runs on our scoring drives that helped move the chains. Fought for extra yardage on 2nd and 9 that made it 3rd and 2 instead of 3rd and 6, etc. Nothing eye-popping, but the Bears are tough and it was his first game. I liked what I saw.

Loved the pressure on Cutler. 44 yards lost on 6 sacks, several rushed deliveries, lots of knock downs.

[Sweezo]

Agreed. Lynch's stats are completely misleading. He came out running hard, fought when there wasn't much there, and made that seemed to make Forsett just look more explosive in relief.

The punt return at the end made things interesting, but the 'Hawks were in control pretty much the whole way. Kudos to the blitz packages the Seahawks were using [and equal thanks to the Bears for failing to adjust their coverage the ENTIRE GAME when we sent a safety from the right side].

Thurmond made one mistake as a punt returner by muffing a punt a few games ago...and was unceremoniously dropped from that role. Tate made that gaffe pale in comparison. You don't run 10 yards backwards on kickoffs. You should fair catch when a guy is about to level you. You need to secure the ball before you run. Guy has all the talent in the world but he scares the hell out of me when he returns punts. Depending on what the team's goals are this year, we may need a Plan B.

Okung's play today was insane. It's one thing to have a guy like Polumbus hold his own, or watch Wrotto keep Jared Allen at bay when he has a TE helping half the time. Okung today completely bottled up possibly the best DE in football. One the road. While we wait for Aaron Curry to dial it in, our two #1's from this season are playing dominant football without having to make excuses for them.

This win gives me a lot of hope. Not only for this season, but for seasons to come.

[Bulltalk]

Good Lord! This wasn't supposed to have happened. We beat the cleats off the Bears. The score wasn't any indication of how badly we really beat them.

I'm officially miffed by this team. I went from thinking we were a 5-6 win team at season's start to now thinking it's not out of the realm of possibility of a first round bye in the playoffs. LOL Get this that one radio guy brought to my attention. There is no NFC team WITH FEWER THAN 2 LOSSES already this season. We are one of them. The addition of Lynch to our backfield now gives our running game a perfect change of pace thing now with Forsett. What a pickup for the Hawks.

And the offensive line...I think we are another good draft pick away from having a very good line all of a sudden. Okung was a BEAST yesterday. Peppers was virtually invisible out there. I think, health permitting, we have our LT for years to come, quite possibly a near perennial Pro Bowl one. Add to him the younger talents/prospects of Unger and Polumbus, the vets Pitts, Spencer, Hamilton, Stacy G, and one more talented draft prospect at the OG position, and I think we can roll for a few years there, cut and paste the rest of the way.

Next year's draft seems so simple to me: QB and DE. I can't stop being peed-off about the loss of our 2nd round pick next year to aid in accomplishing this task. Just look at what we've accomplished with our 1st and 2nd round picks in the last two drafts: Russell Okung, Earl Thomas, Golden Tate, Aaron Curry, and John Carlson. You just don't give up a 1st or 2nd round picks, IMO.

But on a happier note, the Carroll/Schneider team has done a pretty damn good job with this roster so far. Okung, Thomas, Tate, Thurmond, Polumbus, Williams, Hamilton, Lewis, Lynch, etc, etc... you'd be pretty hard pressed to find another team that's done such an effective job retooling their roster in the last year.

Next week the Cards at home. HUGE GAME! I can't help myself, but I'm going to say it: I think we're going to kill them, massacre them. There, I said it.

Go Hawks.

[Sweezo]

Next year's draft seems so simple to me: QB and DE. I can't stop being peed-off about the loss of our 2nd round pick next year to aid in accomplishing this task. Just look at what we've accomplished with our 1st and 2nd round picks in the last two drafts: Russell Okung, Earl Thomas, Golden Tate, Aaron Curry, and John Carlson. You just don't give up a 1st or 2nd round picks, IMO.

We still have a 2nd rounder...we don't have a 3rd round pick.

Next week the Cards at home. HUGE GAME! I can't help myself, but I'm going to say it: I think we're going to kill them, massacre them. There, I said it.

Go Hawks.

I thought we were going to clobber the Rams and lose to the Bears...and the exact opposite happened. I'm confident that the 'Hawks will beat the Cards but my track record is lousy! I am going to the game...bought tickets yesterday. Figured if I was going to a game this year this would be the one to go to.

[Bulltalk]

Next year's draft seems so simple to me: QB and DE. I can't stop being peed-off about the loss of our 2nd round pick next year to aid in accomplishing this task. Just look at what we've accomplished with our 1st and 2nd round picks in the last two drafts: Russell Okung, Earl Thomas, Golden Tate, Aaron Curry, and John Carlson. You just don't give up a 1st or 2nd round picks, IMO.

We still have a 2nd rounder...we don't have a 3rd round pick.

You're right, Sweezo. Thanks for reminding/correcting me. We gave up a 3rd round pick AND a swap of 2nd round picks with the Chargers. I had thought at the time that was in essence going to be trading a VERY HIGH 2nd round pick (all but a 1st round pick) for a VERY LOW 2nd round pick (all but a 3rd round pick). I completely spaced out about this.

How strange that SD is now with a 2-4 record, and we are with a 3-2 record. So far, it's like the opposite of the Denver situation last year where I thought Denver's pick was going to be more golden than ours. LOL

[Milkdud]

So are we swapping picks with the Chargers or was it the right for them to switch if they so choose?

[asdf1223]

The swap is already done. It was for last years draft. San Diego traded it to Miami for the Ryan Mathews tradeup and Miami drafted Koa Misi.

[asdf1223]

To further update we have our own 1st rounder, 2nd rounder, Denver or New England's fourth(which ever is better), a fourth or 5th from Baltimore, our own 5th, a 6th from Detroit, a 6th/ 7th from Cleveland and our own 7th.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/ ... ter-trades

[Bulltalk]

To further update we have our own 1st rounder, 2nd rounder, Denver or New England's fourth(which ever is better), a fourth or 5th from Baltimore, our own 5th, a 6th from Detroit, a 6th/ 7th from Cleveland and our own 7th.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/ ... ter-trades

If this is right, then I totally stand corrected. Thanks.

[asdf1223]

To further update we have our own 1st rounder, 2nd rounder, Denver or New England's fourth(which ever is better), a fourth or 5th from Baltimore, our own 5th, a 6th from Detroit, a 6th/ 7th from Cleveland and our own 7th.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/ ... ter-trades

If this is right, then I totally stand corrected. Thanks.

Haha, I find it hard to keep track of it myself. We still dont know what pick we traded for Stacy Andrews as well. I want a QB of the future as well next offseason. If we want to trade up for Locker we need all the picks we can get.