Bear Down Baffa

So much for the battle of two highly-touted defenses and two under-producing offenses.  The Bears and Jets forced the scorekeepers to earn their pay, combining for 72 points – 59 in the middle two quarters alone – in a barnburner despite snow flurries and sub-freezing temperatures.  When the smoked cleared, the Bears had handed the Jets their third loss in four games.  And with all the crap the Not-So-Sexy-Rexy Jets coach has spouted, the Bears forced him to put his wife’s foot in his mouth.  And though capturing that on film is nothing new, this version will be watched by a completely different contingent of viewers.

Johnny Knox(ville) Scores First of 2 TD’s

If you’re like me, the Christmas holiday isn’t complete until the Bears win a game.  That is, unless we’re the first team in the NFL to clinch our division – which we were.  So while I was more than content before my family gathered around the piano to sing our first carol, and I celebrated the birth of “8 pound 6 ounce newborn infant Jesus, don’t even know a word yet, just a little infant, so cuddly, yet still omnipotent” with its due fervor, winning at home for just the third time in three months was a nice bonus.  It was also the third time we beat a team that matched our record (2-0 GB, 7-3 Philly).  And after losing 3 out of 4 to teams without winning records and falling to 4-3, the Bears are now 4-1 against winning teams and have won 7 of 8.

The Butler started out a little flat, going 7-14 for 98 yards with a QBR of 43 and a terrible pass that was intercepted and returned 20 yards for a TD.  He righted himself at the half though, coming out gunning.  He went 6-7 for 117 yards with 3 TD passes of at least 25 yards – on only 9 offensive plays – in the 3rd quarter.  He finished 13-25 for 215 yards, 3 TD’s, 1 INT, 2 sacks and a QBR of 104.  He’s now 21-0 when his QBR is over 100, which he’s done 4 of our last 5 games while throwing 11 TD’s to 4 picks.   Forte ran for over 100 yards (113) for the 8th time in his 47-game career, and was the first RB to do so against the Jets this season.

The Jets’ Mark Sanchez came out hot, going 13-15 for 156 yards with a QBR over 100 in the first half while putting up 24 points.  But other than one drive, we put his Sanch-ass on lock down in the second half, holding him to 11-22 for 113 yards, an INT and just 10 points.  We did allow 124 rushing yards and had no sacks, but we came up with 2 turnovers.  The first (an early fumble) gave us the ball in Jet territory and led to a TD, and the second (a pick) ended the game.

Urlacher Doing his Version of Broadway’s “Spider-Man”

Although Robbie Gould missed a 35-yard FG (his first miss inside 40 yards in 64 attempts) that prevented us from scoring 40 points in two straight games for the first time since 1948 (nice job, jackass), special teams was once again huge for us.  After stopping NY on a fake punt, and Hester returning kicks 38 and 40 yards, we scored TD’s on 3 straight possessions to start the second half – all of which started in Jet territory.  This brought us from being down 7 points to being up 7 points in just over 7 minutes.  The Jets started in Bear territory only once all game – after we punted from our own 12.

Game Ball
This week’s game ball goes to Chris Harris, who led the Bears with 11 tackles, recovered a fumble and had an INT.  He now has 5 picks in his last 8 games (a career high) and leads the Bears in INT’s.  Our dedicated readers may remember our season preview where we listed the return of Chris Harris in the “Top 10 Things to be Excited About for the 2010 Season.”  We’re not saying, we’re just saying.

Chris Harris Doing his “Super Bowl Shuffle” After his INT

Winning is Winning
If you consider that we won our final 2 games last season (including game 15 on Monday, Dec. 28), we’re now 13-4 in the last 363 days.  That puts us in a tie with the Patriots for the second best record during that span behind the Falcons (13-2).  The 13-2 Pats lost their last regular season game and only post season game last year, while the 12-2 Falcons lost their last regular season game last year, didn’t make the playoffs and don’t play until Monday night.

Best of All Time
It took Seven Hester 287 returns to score his record-breaking 14 TD’s.  Brian Mitchell, who held the old record, took 1,070 returns to score his 13.

Ha-Ha Uncle Jerry!
After trashing his home town Bears all season, my Uncle Jerry’s Giants choked for the second week in a row, getting shellacked in GB (6 turnovers?!).  And after blowing their shot at a division title, they now need to win in Washington AND for either GB to beat us or the Saints to lose their final two games to squeak into the playoffs.  I’d tell him to suck it, but I already did in last week’s post.

Summary
The Bears clinched at least the #3 seed (of 6 NFC playoff spots).  The top four seeds host their first game with the top two getting first round byes, which is why the second seed is so critical.  We can clinch the #2 seed if we win in GB, OR if Philly loses either of their two games (host Minn in a postponed game Tuesday night and Dallas next week).  I think we can still clinch the #1 seed, but only if Atlanta loses out (host the Saints and Panthers).  But even if that were to happen (which it won’t), we’d still need the 10-4 Saints to lose to Tampa in their finale.  Translation:  the #2 is very likely, but the #1 is virtually impossible.

First round bye, here we come.  Super Bowl, Super Bears!

© 2010

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