By Steve Rhodes
What was that all about?
The defense made a comeback, the offensive line regressed, and the Bears hung tough in what was essentially a meaningless game against a determined team.
All in all, not a bad showing, sacks notwithstanding.
So, no, the Bears aren’t the Milli Vanilli of the NFL?
But they are still a bit of a mystery – not only winning ugly, but losing that way too.
Let’s take a spin through the Internets.
1. Chicago media ruminate on Bears-Packers.
2. “There haven’t been many brighter moments for that [Green Bay] defense than the second half of Sunday’s 10-3 victory over the visiting Chicago Bears, when Capers pulled out all the stops to help the Packers beat their rivals to clinch an NFC wild card berth,” Madison.com reports.
3. “Brett Favre Quits NFL For Third Time.”
Just sayin’.
(Is it really only three?)
4. “The real stunner was that the Bears barely made a play on special teams,” Mike Mulligan writes for the Sun-Times in “Nothing Special About Bears Loss.”
5. “Bears Elude Disaster With Playing Time Plan.”
6. Jeff Dickerson’s “Five Things We Learned” on ESPN.com is as good a summary of where this team stands as I’ve seen. I’ll give you the five things, but you’ll have to go read the whole thing to totally appreciate his analysis.
* Jay Cutler is the ultimate wildcard
* The offensive line will never be completely fixed
* The defense was able to bounce back
* Tinoisamoa benefitted from the playtime time
* Nobody can figure out this NFL
7. “Chicago will face the lowest numbered seed remaining in the NFC after the wildcard round of the playoffs on Sunday, January 16th, 2011 at 1:00pm ET. That game will be shown on FOX and could be against Philadelphia, Seattle, or New Orleans,” Sportsbook Gurus note.
“It’s hard to rule out the Bears with their stout defense. For that reason, oddsmakers have installed them with 12 to 1 odds to win Super Bowl XLV.”
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Posted on January 3, 2011