Chicago Bears 2012 Championship Season: Lovestink is Forever.

[Saul Goodman]

I'm not really sure where the idea that I hated Tillman came from. A couple years ago I gave the assessment that he relatively struggles against smaller, faster receivers while doing a great job against bigger receivers. I also said that Tillman might eventually have to move to safety if he lost some speed.

I still think both assessments are correct, but that doesn't get in the way of my thinking that Tillman has been and is a very good cornerback overall.

Thank God that's cleared up.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

I'm not really sure where the idea that I hated Tillman came from. A couple years ago I gave the assessment that he relatively struggles against smaller, faster receivers while doing a great job against bigger receivers. I also said that Tillman might eventually have to move to safety if he lost some speed.

I still think both assessments are correct, but that doesn't get in the way of my thinking that Tillman has been and is a very good cornerback overall.

I saw Relatively Struggles open up for Because Fuck Steve Trachsel.  Rocked my face off, they did.

[Eli]

[morpheus]

Love it.

[Quality Start Machine]

IF DAT CUTLER WAS A REAL LEADER YOU WOODA SEEN HIM HURDLE TREE GUYS, MY FRENT.

[CubFaninHydePark]

IF DAT CUTLER WAS A REAL LEADER YOU WOODA SEEN HIM HURDLE TREE GUYS, MY FRENT.

STANDIN AHN TOP OF THE UDDER'S SHOULDERS MY FRENT, JUST LIKE SWEETNESS YOOSED TO DO WHEN HE LEAPED INTO DA END ZONE LIKE SUPERMAN.

[R-V]

Somebody get SKO a fainting couch, dem Bears are finally getting de national respect dey deserve!

Yes, that's right, the Bears. The same Bears who capitulated in Green Bay in Week 2 and briefly became a national punch line because Jay Cutler threw four interceptions. That's a rough loss, but it also came in a game where Matt Forte left with an injury during the opening drive of the second half. That forced the Bears to change their offense on the fly and integrate Michael Bush into the starting lineup without many practice reps. As you might expect, the Bears are significantly better with Forte around; he's averaged a full 4.7 yards per carry this year, well ahead of backups Bush (3.6 yards per pop) and Kahlil Bell (2.7). When Forte is around, there's nothing the Bears don't do well. They're proficient running the ball, adequate throwing it, and well above-average in all facets of defense and special teams. The emergence of Henry Melton and Shea McClellin as secondary pass rushers has freed up space for Julius Peppers, while Tim Jennings has had a career year in five games at cornerback: He's set or tied career highs in interceptions (four) and passes defended (10) with 11 games left to go.

And while everybody else has a close call or two on their résumé, the Bears have been dominant in their four wins this season. In their three wins against average-or-better competition — the Colts, Cowboys, and Rams — Chicago won by a minimum of 16 points. Their one game against a cream puff, the Jaguars, resulted in a 41-3 shellacking. Every other team on this list, besides perhaps the Texans, had at least one game in which a change on one play would turn their win into a loss. That hasn't been true for the Bears. They've had some luck in producing five defensive touchdowns in five games this year, but the defense would still be good and the margins of victory would still be impressive without the bonus touchdowns from the defense.

If you want to hop on the Bears bandwagon (a place where I admittedly have to hide, myself), now's the time. Over the next three weeks, Chicago is home for games against the Lions and Panthers before traveling to Tennessee. At that point, the Bears might very well be 7-1, but their schedule will become something resembling punishment: Their next six games include matchups against the Seahawks (thankfully, in Chicago), Texans, Packers, 49ers, and a home-and-home with the Vikings. They might not have the best record in football by the time they're through with that month and a half of hell, but if they can go 3-3 or 4-2 across that stretch, I wouldn't budge them from this spot.

[PenPho]

Somebody get SKO a fainting couch, dem Bears are finally getting de national respect dey deserve!

Yes, that's right, the Bears. The same Bears who capitulated in Green Bay in Week 2 and briefly became a national punch line because Jay Cutler threw four interceptions. That's a rough loss, but it also came in a game where Matt Forte left with an injury during the opening drive of the second half. That forced the Bears to change their offense on the fly and integrate Michael Bush into the starting lineup without many practice reps. As you might expect, the Bears are significantly better with Forte around; he's averaged a full 4.7 yards per carry this year, well ahead of backups Bush (3.6 yards per pop) and Kahlil Bell (2.7). When Forte is around, there's nothing the Bears don't do well. They're proficient running the ball, adequate throwing it, and well above-average in all facets of defense and special teams. The emergence of Henry Melton and Shea McClellin as secondary pass rushers has freed up space for Julius Peppers, while Tim Jennings has had a career year in five games at cornerback: He's set or tied career highs in interceptions (four) and passes defended (10) with 11 games left to go.

And while everybody else has a close call or two on their résumé, the Bears have been dominant in their four wins this season. In their three wins against average-or-better competition — the Colts, Cowboys, and Rams — Chicago won by a minimum of 16 points. Their one game against a cream puff, the Jaguars, resulted in a 41-3 shellacking. Every other team on this list, besides perhaps the Texans, had at least one game in which a change on one play would turn their win into a loss. That hasn't been true for the Bears. They've had some luck in producing five defensive touchdowns in five games this year, but the defense would still be good and the margins of victory would still be impressive without the bonus touchdowns from the defense.

If you want to hop on the Bears bandwagon (a place where I admittedly have to hide, myself), now's the time. Over the next three weeks, Chicago is home for games against the Lions and Panthers before traveling to Tennessee. At that point, the Bears might very well be 7-1, but their schedule will become something resembling punishment: Their next six games include matchups against the Seahawks (thankfully, in Chicago), Texans, Packers, 49ers, and a home-and-home with the Vikings. They might not have the best record in football by the time they're through with that month and a half of hell, but if they can go 3-3 or 4-2 across that stretch, I wouldn't budge them from this spot.

Don't worry, SKO will just start a fake blog talking shit about the Bears so he has continued reason for existence.

[SKO]

Somebody get SKO a fainting couch, dem Bears are finally getting de national respect dey deserve!

Yes, that's right, the Bears. The same Bears who capitulated in Green Bay in Week 2 and briefly became a national punch line because Jay Cutler threw four interceptions. That's a rough loss, but it also came in a game where Matt Forte left with an injury during the opening drive of the second half. That forced the Bears to change their offense on the fly and integrate Michael Bush into the starting lineup without many practice reps. As you might expect, the Bears are significantly better with Forte around; he's averaged a full 4.7 yards per carry this year, well ahead of backups Bush (3.6 yards per pop) and Kahlil Bell (2.7). When Forte is around, there's nothing the Bears don't do well. They're proficient running the ball, adequate throwing it, and well above-average in all facets of defense and special teams. The emergence of Henry Melton and Shea McClellin as secondary pass rushers has freed up space for Julius Peppers, while Tim Jennings has had a career year in five games at cornerback: He's set or tied career highs in interceptions (four) and passes defended (10) with 11 games left to go.

And while everybody else has a close call or two on their résumé, the Bears have been dominant in their four wins this season. In their three wins against average-or-better competition — the Colts, Cowboys, and Rams — Chicago won by a minimum of 16 points. Their one game against a cream puff, the Jaguars, resulted in a 41-3 shellacking. Every other team on this list, besides perhaps the Texans, had at least one game in which a change on one play would turn their win into a loss. That hasn't been true for the Bears. They've had some luck in producing five defensive touchdowns in five games this year, but the defense would still be good and the margins of victory would still be impressive without the bonus touchdowns from the defense.

If you want to hop on the Bears bandwagon (a place where I admittedly have to hide, myself), now's the time. Over the next three weeks, Chicago is home for games against the Lions and Panthers before traveling to Tennessee. At that point, the Bears might very well be 7-1, but their schedule will become something resembling punishment: Their next six games include matchups against the Seahawks (thankfully, in Chicago), Texans, Packers, 49ers, and a home-and-home with the Vikings. They might not have the best record in football by the time they're through with that month and a half of hell, but if they can go 3-3 or 4-2 across that stretch, I wouldn't budge them from this spot.

Don't worry, SKO will just start a fake blog talking shit about the Bears so he has continued reason for existence.

/quickly burns all of the evidence proving that I own FireDustyBaker2 and FireRonTurner

Also, it's odd. There was a time when Bill Barnwell always dismissed the Bears as not as good as their record because turnovers are flukes and all that, and therefore I hated him. But now that he's declared them the NFL's best team I have no choice but to declare him the world's foremost authority on football.

[Richard Chuggar]

THIS TEAM IS DRIVING ME FUCKING NUTS. Every time Jay Cutler goes down, I hold my breath. Every time the Bears don't run the damn ball when they are suppose to, I want to punch Mike Tice in the fucking nuts. Every time I see Jay Cutler go down hard, I hold my breath. Every time the Bears suck ass on defense by allowing teams to drive willingly down the field late in games, I want to throw my remote across the room. The Bears should have been up at least 20 and instead, they are an onside kick recovery away from losing the game because let's face it, the Lions would have won the game because the Bears, all of a sudden, went back to being chicken shit.

Offense: "DAT JAY CUTLER IZN'T TOUGH TO PLAY CHICAGO BEAR FOOTBALL MY FRENDT." FUCKING MOTHERFUCKER. PROTECT THIS GUY DAMNIT. Because if the line cannot protect him, sooner or later, we're going to witness more than just two or three plays from Jason Campbell Todd Collins and he sucks. The Bears should seriously consider signing another quarterback. I don't give a crap if it's Josh McCown or (Here's the meatball in me talking) Chandler Harnish to the roster. As soon as Cutler went down, I immediately thought it was a concussion or a broken collarbone. He was also sacked five times. On the first drive, the Bears score a touchdown. It looked like they were on their way to kicking to shit out of the Lions. They get two field goals but on that last one, the Bears had 1st and goal at the 4 and three straight passes were called; two of which were nearly picked off. RUN. THE. FUCKING. BALL. DAMNIT. The offense was missing most of this game. For crying out loud, can the false start/holding/unnecessary roughness penalties stop? Also, get Devin Hester away from the offense. He isn't a wide receiver. He will never be a wide receiver.

Defense: The defense kicked ass in the first half. Props to Charles Tillman for making sure Calvin Johnson wasn't a factor. While only getting three catches, he forced two fumbles and knocked the ball out of Johnson's hands in the endzone which sustained the shutout to that point. As the Bears defense usually goes in all of these years, they seem to take their foot off of the gas in the second half and let teams back in games. We saw that in this game. Stafford drove the Lions down the field with ease only for some fluke fumbles and an interception with a desperate throw. Too bad Stafford didn't give a shit about his face being in the grass after that interception because he got the ball back and promptly, scored on the Bears defense and gave his team a chance. The defense cannot rely on forcing turnovers every game. This shit will slide in these types of games but in the playoffs, if they get there, they will be fucked. I give credit where credit is due but the defense gave up 340 yards; most of them in the second half. I cannot understand why they can't just stick to what has worked like in the last few games. Getting back to those fluke fumbles, if Joique Bell doesn't fumble at the goal line, the Bears probably lose this game.

Special Teams: Robbie Gould nailed two field goals and another was blocked. The special teams did recover a fumble by Stefan Logan and it lead to one of those field goals. Two things pissed me off about the special teams. First, what's with the illegal block in the back/holding penalties? Why do players do this while knowing it's not allowed? It's fucking annoying on every level. Lastly, Devin Hester should be back on every kickoff/punt. There were some punts where he wasn't on the field. Is Lovie that stupid to think that someone else back there is better?

Ugh. The Panthers are in town Sunday. I don't care about their 1-5 record. If anybody remembers last year's game (I was there), Cam Newton had a field day but the Bears found a way outscore them.

[Slaky]

The Bears ended up getting Alshon Jeffery in the Greg Olsen trade, right? Wrong?

Help me out. Had some Cowboys fan telling me the Bears should have kept Olsen.

[Yeti]

The Bears ended up getting Alshon Jeffery in the Greg Olsen trade, right? Wrong?

Help me out. Had some Cowboys fan telling me the Bears should have kept Olsen.

Wiki says that pick was from Dallas and then from St Louis before that.

[Yeti]

The Bears ended up getting Alshon Jeffery in the Greg Olsen trade, right? Wrong?

Help me out. Had some Cowboys fan telling me the Bears should have kept Olsen.

Wiki says that pick was from Dallas and then from St Louis before that.

DPD, that pick, being the Alshon Jeffrey pick. Olsen netted the Bears the third round pick of the Panthers, which wiki tells me the Chargers picked: "from Carolina via Chicago and Miami".

[morpheus]

Defense: The defense kicked ass in the first half. Props to Charles Tillman for making sure Calvin Johnson wasn't a factor. While only getting three catches, he forced two fumbles and knocked the ball out of Johnson's hands in the endzone which sustained the shutout to that point. As the Bears defense usually goes in all of these years, they seem to take their foot off of the gas in the second half and let teams back in games. We saw that in this game. Stafford drove the Lions down the field with ease only for some fluke fumbles and an interception with a desperate throw. Too bad Stafford didn't give a shit about his face being in the grass after that interception because he got the ball back and promptly, scored on the Bears defense and gave his team a chance. The defense cannot rely on forcing turnovers every game. This shit will slide in these types of games but in the playoffs, if they get there, they will be fucked. I give credit where credit is due but the defense gave up 340 yards; most of them in the second half. I cannot understand why they can't just stick to what has worked like in the last few games. Getting back to those fluke fumbles, if Joique Bell doesn't fumble at the goal line, the Bears probably lose this game.

(Yes, I know who the real author is.)  For fuck's sake, the Bears have led the league in takeaways for practically all of Lovie's tenure.  How can these be "flukes" when there are so Goddamned many of them?  And *if* they make the playoffs?  Jesus, Fro.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

I thought Charles Tillman relatively excelled against Megatron last night.