Bears put it all together in rolling Vikes for NFC North title

With all the talk going around before the game how the field was not playable and the Bears were going to fall on their face after getting blown out by the Patriots the week before, there was little to argue with after the dust settled Monday night.
The Bears are NFC North champs and have one of the most complete teams in the NFC going toward the playoffs. Don't think so? Well, OK, here are my points.
The Bears have a quarterback who can make the big throws and aside from one game this season has taken care of the football. I know all the Jay Cutler haters out there will rag on him no matter what, but he and Mike Martz have clicked. The biggest key has been the fact they've taken a lot of the shots downfield out of the arsenal for Cutler. That may stick out, but he's done a lot better hitting the intermediate receivers down field and limited the turnovers over the last six games when the team has won five of six and won the division.
Maybe more important than Jay and one of the reasons he has turned it on, has been the offensive line. Since the bye week in Week 9, the Bears have come together and shown the ability to run the ball. That has taken a lot of pressure off Jay while Matt Forte and Chester Taylor have shouldered more and more of the offensive load. Those five guys have put it together enough to keep Jay upright enough to be effective in the pocket.
Of course, the consistent for this team has been defense. The front four has gotten pressure every week since the bye week and have let the linebackers and safeties do what Lovie's Cover 2 defense does best, roam the field and cause chaos. It's all about speed and ball hawking in the defensive secondary for this team and when the front four that is led by Julius Peppers do what they did Monday night in getting hits on the quarterback.
Say what you want about the Bears being lucky and not being good. I haven't seen many teams be "lucky" and get to 10 wins in a season before. You have to have talent to put yourself in position to catch breaks and that's what the Bears have done this season.


Of course one player I did not mention above was Devin Hester. There was talk last night on Twitter after the game after he set the all-time return record that he is a future Hall of Famer. At first I didn't know how to take that. But the more I thought about it, the more I think it is actually the right call. Not just because I am a Bears fan, but if you think about how he changes the game and is part of every team's gameplan that takes on the Bears, it makes total sense. In his very first game in Green Bay, Hester ran a punt back for a touchdown in starting the 2006 team's run to the Super Bowl. That was his start of greatness.
Last night after the game in the press conference, he got emotional when talking about the guys that clear the way for him. He is right that it wouldn't be possible without them, and showed what kind of a player he has become. He is an X-Factor on this team and has been his entire career to this point. So, I say in just five years he has become the best return man in NFL history and that, to me, says he is most certainly a future Hall of Famer.

It is Christmas week and to keep with the post I made yesterday on the iBand, today I feature The Roots playing a Christmas song. That in itself is quite awesome, but when they team up with Dr. Elmo, the original singer of "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" it is so much better. So here you go! So good! There is no video of it on its own, so you have to fast forward to around 37:30.


Alright, time for the Nussie Hunter portion of the program. Marisa Miller is one of our favorites here at Wilber's Way. When she made the jump to do work for Victoria's Secret, we were elated. Take a look for yourself, she sure is something special. There's more of where this came from, here.

Pinch yourself, Greinke really is a Brewer!

I woke up Sunday morning like it was Christmas, hoping what I had seen Saturday night was true. Many sources confirmed it. So Monday, when I saw Zack Greinke had caught an early-morning flight to come to town and meet the media, there was no way it couldn't be true. The way it all went down Saturday night gave me reason to wonder and just hope everything was true. But as I wrote earlier today on Examiner.com, multiple reports confirmed what was originally reported by Jim Breen, writer of Bernie's Crew, a Brewers fan blog. Here's the video of that trip to the Brewers clubhouse this morning.
Yes, the Brewers have acquired the 2009 Cy Young Award winner to lead the staff into the 2011 season as one of the contenders. (Wow, I can't believe I just wrote that.)
The words that ring the best to me from what he said this morning was that he is "the happiest he's been since he was drafted" in 2002. Those are some strong words and considering he had to waive his no-trade clause to make the deal stick, says it was partly his choice to come here. Well, Zack , welcome to Brew Town.
I've had a lot of conversations with friends over the move in the last two days and he immediately does make this team a contender. Before you jump on the "The Brewers have no offense" wagon, remember the Giants had the worst offense in baseball last year, but got hot at the plate and had the pitching all year and ended up winning the World Series.
There is one question mark that I do see that does need to be addressed and that is defense. Alcides Escobar and Lorenzo Cain provide great defense up the middle for this team and would have likely been the Opening Day starters here. Now Yuniesky Betancourt at short and the prospect of giving Carlos Gomez the reigns back in center makes me a bit nervous. While the Giants may have had bad offense, they game through when needed because of potential. I'm not so sure those two guys have that potential. Yes, the Brewers resigned Craig Counsell today, but you can't expect him to start or play significant time before his age is evident.
The moves to solidify those positions will not be big ones, but they'll need to be ones for role players that can step in and contribute mostly in the field, but occasionally at the plate. Just as I don't really know who would be on the block to trade away for Greinke, I do not know where this player or players will come from. Just as Melvin has done in the past two weeks, I'm sure he'll find someone to step in if they are out there.

The move for the Brewers to get Greinke was big news (Rightfully so). And all the Cubs fans were jacked to get Kerry Wood back. Well, one of my go-to blogs is Miller Park Drunk and he has a shirt that says it better than I could.  You can buy the shirt, here!


A totally non Brewers item to post now, but it was just too cool to not post. Plus, it's Christmas week. One of my favorite times of the year! Enjoy! Oh, and be sure to bust out your lighter app and take part.


Time to get right into the Nussie Hunter portion of the program. Since we're meeting and getting to know Zack Greinke, why not get to know his wife, Emily, as well. She has been ranked among baseball's hottest WAGs over the past couple years. And well, can you blame them after seeing her here and below?

Marcum 'Just the start' could mean good things for Brewers

When news dropped Sunday the Brewers had dealt Brett Lawrie to Toronto for Shaun Marcum, I was immediately excited. I had to double check the stats, to be honest, but knew Doug Melvin would get a guy that could make an immediate impact if he could.
That's exactly what he did. Last year Marcum went 13-8 with a 3.64 ERA (FULL STATS) in the brutal AL East. Yes he did miss all of 2009 after having Tommy John Surgery, but he bounced back and threw 195 innings. That makes me a little less worried about him being a so-called "injury risk" and more excited he will contribute for most of 2011. He was the ace of the Toronto staff after Doc Haladay left town and will fit right between Randy Wolf and the ace of the Brewers, Yovanni Gallardo. The new man at the helm, Ron Roenicke, has already gone on record and said he's "very excited" about the arrival of Marcum to the staff having watched him from the opposing dugout.
Of course, the quote from Melvin still rings out that his is "just the start" of what he wants to do this winter. I'm hoping they can put together something for one more arm - not sure on Carl Pavano, but I saw he talked to his agent - to round out the rotation that already includes Yo, Marcum, Wolf and Chris Narveson. What that move is, I don't know yet, but I'm sure it has to be something of importance. Yes, they would like to deal Carlos Gomez, but you can't just ship your trash out the door and get something great for him. You can't get too much into the rumors you read during the day on Twitter - There's a lot of them - you just have to wait and see what gets finalized.
Let's just hope Marcum is nothing like the douche it has been revealed that Brett Lawrie was. A blog I've mentioned on these pages before, Miller Park Drunk, has posted pictures from Lawrie's Facebook page and let's just say the guy is a bit of a tool. Here's the link. What is up with CLEAN Eminem lyrics? I know you are a bit of a public figure, but what the hell?


Moving on now to my Bears, who had to get a ripping from the usually lax Coach Lovie at halftime in Detroit to move to 9-3. They still aren't getting any respect and the skeptics stood up and pointed when things got dicey at Ford Field, but this Bears team is for real. Make no mistake, they have come along since the beginning of the season, but they are for real.
I watched some video on ESPN.com today that featured Trent Dilfer telling me why the Bears were not Super Bowl contenders and he said because they are built around defense and don't ask the offense to do most of the heavy lifting, they are not even being considered, or shouldn't be.
Hey Trent, what were you on that Tampa Bay team that won the Super Bowl? The defense did everything and you were asked to just not mess it up.
Now, I'm not saying the Bears are going to win the Super Bowl, but being in a spot to earn a bye in the NFC playoffs has to put them in the discussion and he's being asinine for dismissing them so quickly. They surely have the defense that will make noise in December and we'll get to see it get tested in the final four weeks of the season. With games against the Patriots, Vikings, Jets and Packers, that defense will need to step up if they want to hold on to the NFC North lead and earn that bye. Yes, the team is built around defense, but since the bye week (Week 9), the Bears have the second highest third down conversion percentage at just over 52 percent and Jay Cutler is not making the stupid plays. The biggest key has been the emergence of BOTH Matt Forte and Chester Taylor. That means the offensive line has figured it out, having played the same five guys since then.

Alright, I don't get into college football much here on the blog, but that "Teach me how to Bucky" was quite ridiculously awesome. So, when the same folks to another video, you have to take notice. This time "We're Smelling Roses."


It is now time for the Nussie Hunter portion of the broadcast. Today, I introduce you to a woman you probably don't know. Her name is Daphne Joy and she's downright amazing. I found her on Twitter and you can too, here.