It was Wednesday today and in the NFL that means "Conversation Day" when the parties involved gather in front of microphones and take questions from us media types. There was a lot of the usual from both sides as I jumped between listening to both 670 The Score in Chicago and 540 ESPN in Milwaukee from my humble apartment in West Bend.
A couple things. First, Packers media, like their fans is not really worried about this game and it bugs me. I know I'm a Bears fan, but as a writer, I feel I have enough perspective to look at this game and not thing the Bears will run all over because that's what I want to happen. If you've talked to me in the last month, you know I also HATE hearing the words "The Bears suck" as reasons why the Packers will win. Essentially, cutting all the crap, to those that think this game will be decided by more than four points need to get checked out mentally.
I've started to form my thoughts on what needs to happen in this game for the Bears to win and they were touched on slightly in talks today and written about by the sources I usually hit during the week.
One of the big ones is protecting Jay Cutler
. Had a talk with a Packers fan today and he tried telling me that Jay is still an interception machine. Said INT machine did not throw a pick against Seattle last week. In response to that, this what I feel is an intelligent Packers fan said, "But Seattle sucks." OK, that is beside the point. In fact, that totally ignored the point. So against bad teams you shouldn't and can't throw picks? What about the good ones? Yes, Jay made a couple bad decisions, but none ended in an interception. Yes, Jay does have times where he makes wreckless decisions with the football, mainly when he is under pressure, but that doesn't mean he is still an INT machine. Yes, I said still, as last year he was prone to turning it over, especially in the red zone.
As the season has gone on this year, Jay has gotten better at taking care of the football and limiting his mistakes. Hell, in the games the Packers have lost, Aaron Rodgers was pretty wreckless with the ball and threw some picks, as well.
The Bears, though are the team with the quarterback that has been sacked 50 times this season. So that is the key part to this game to me. The Packers' 3-4 scheme is so hard to break down, especially when they go into amoeba mode of sorts and only have two down linemen. The presence of a running game will keep Cutler safe and more specifically a few draw plays will keep Woodson and Clay Matthews at bay on the edge to the Packers pass rush. Those will be the key guys to keep off balance, along with BJ Raji, who has been a beast up the middle. Those are a lot of guys to stop (well really, they need to keep everyone back), but still, it's a job that is vital and almost goes without saying.
On the other side of the ball, the most pleasant surprise has been Tommie Harris. I touched on it yesterday a bit, but Harris had two sacks and was the only Bears player to do so. I know Julius Peppers is the guy most think about when they think Bears defensive line, but Harris needs to go back to the guy he was in 2006 and what got the Bears to the Super Bowl. He needs to have a presence up front and has some guys around him that will keep the Packers off balance in Peppers and Israel Idonoje on the ends. All three have a job on the line. One of the biggest may be to contain Aaron Rodgers in the pocket. I'm talking about rushing with a mindeset and not letting No. 12 get outside too much and run wild. That could come up big in helping the rest of the defense. It's what the defense is built on. I'm seeing the three of them, along with Anthony Adams, having to play their game Sunday. They'll have to start with not letting James Starks be a factor and make the Packers one dimensional.
Alright, I'll have more tomorrow on what to expect in this one. Including some fan picks on what to expect from this game and how fans on both sides of the fence are picking this.
On to the Nussie Hunter portion of the show. It was announced today that Anne Hathaway was cast as Cat Woman in the newest Batman movie by Christopher Nolan. I'm a little apprehensive about it, but Nolan has absolutely taken Batman to a whole new level with his movies, so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. What can you expect from Hathaway? Guyism.com has a peak. And there's one below.
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