(If you're ever in a bum mood about the performance of your favorite sporting team, try listening to Jim Mora rant about the woeful Saints of the mid-90's. Fantastic. Always cheers me up.)
The Bears finally put in Grossman just to see if he could fare better than Orton.
The results:
| Grossman | 9/16 | 93 | 0td | 1int |
| Orton | 2/10 | 12 | 0td | 0int |
Granted, Grossman did throw a pick. (Didn't Orton throw 5 in a game this year?) But if you watched his arm, it is much better. He has confidence throwing the ball, defenses will have to respect that, opening up the running game. And with longer drives, that helps the defense even more by controlling the clock and letting them rest. (Unless you think that the Bears D played so well, with the intent on scoring themselves, because they knew their offense couldn't score. But that's another debate.)
I will play Devil's Advocate for one minute: Often replacement QB's find success because the other defense relaxes thinking this will be easier, or they haven't studied film on this QB. If Grossman regains the starting position, then he needs to have success with a team that has prepared for him, before he can be appointed Savior. And before people start talking about the Super Bowl.
But now that Devil's Advocate is over, the Bears are a legitimate Super Bowl team. They can get a bye, and home field until the NFC Championship. With Grossman keeping the other team honest, the Bears can score just enough to beat anybody at home. That puts them in Seattle, with a 50/50 chance of getting to Detroit. The Seahawks are real good, but what happens if Hasslebeck needs to score in the 2nd half and he forces one. The Bears defense wins the game and punches a one-way ticket to the Motor City. (Actually, they should probably go for the round-trip ticket. I wouldn't want to stay in Detroit that long. Scary.)
He's the part where I praise myself. I was calling for Grossman 2 weeks ago, when everyone was caught up in "Orton's 8-game winning streak." Let me reiterate: Chicago won 8 games in a row, not because of Orton, but in spite of him.
Moving on.
AFC Wild Card Predictions:
Patriots d. Jaguars
Bengals d. Steelers
AFC Divisional:
Colts d. Patriots
Broncos d. Bengals
AFC Championship:
Colts d. Broncos
NFL Wild Card:
Bears d. Redskins
Panthers d. Bucs
NFC Divisional:
Bears d. Giants
Seahawks d. Panthers
NFC Championship:
Seahawks d. Bears
Super Bowl
Colts d. Seahawks
More like Colts d. Bears in the Superbowl! Or, Manning will choke like yesterday, and the Bears will win. Go Bears!
ReplyDeleteI don't know who is going to win the battles for the final playoff spots, but I pretty much agree with your playoff winners, but i'm not sold on the seahawks beating the bears. as much as i hate to say it, they could be very good and tough to beat. that said, i think the colts will crush everyone.
ReplyDeleteMy predictions didn't take that much reasoning or gambling, I'm basically following the records...I really liked the Panthers early in the season, I still think they could go to Detroit. But they haven't been playing as well as Chicago and Seattle of late.
ReplyDelete