Comments on: Two Bears Scare Me

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 14:22:04 +0000

Oh never said I’m not concerned, they just don’t scare me as much in terms of matchups and vs. Colts weaknesses as the other two. Just my opinion, I could be (and probably am, knowing me) dead wrong.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 12:46:13 +0000

The Colts have been playing a base Cover-3 defense this postseason, which means even on “run” downs with Sanders in the box, there are still two defensive backs deep in the formation. The Bears can play-action all day, and if Sanders bites and everyone else keeps their assignments, there still aren’t going to be any one-on-one deep matchups for Berrian. He’s a threat, but the Colts play a disciplined-enough game that he’s not going to be a major threat.

I think you’re right about the Colts offense in terms of distributing the ball. However, the difference in team speed between the Bears and the Ravens (the second-best defense the Colts are facing this postseason) is positively glaring. At LB, the Ravens have Adalius Thomas (who’s a stud, but a little green), Bart Scott (who’s a top 10 linebacker), and Ray Lewis (who’s still pretty good but living on his rep). Two of the Bears’ top three LBs are top-five leaguewide. The Bears defense is giving up a lot more in terms of yards since Tommie Harris went down, but they’re no less effective thanks to the havoc that Briggs, Urlacher, and even Hunter Hillenmeyer create.
I’m not saying that the Colts won’t move the football, but the Bears LBs create turnovers by forcing fumbles, hurrying quarterbacks into bad passes and simply being more athletic than the men they cover. If you’re not concerned about them, you have a very, very bad game plan.

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 04:05:32 +0000

Sorry, but I disagree. As I said, the pass-catchers of green, McNair and Brady didn’t have the speed that Berian does to punish the Colts for bringing Sanders up to stop the run. The Colts “figured them out” because they just weren’t very good.

As for the Chicago Linebackers, well, I seem to remember some realllllly good Ravens linebackers that didn’t prevent their team from losing. I have more faith that the Colts offense will be able to react to and adjust to a good defense than I do our defense and special teams. That is what leads me to the conclusion.

Sorry, but Chicago’s defense just doesn’t scare me that much. With the injuries they’ve had, they aren’t the scary force they once were. Now if Mike Brown were playing I might be more worried about the Chicago D. As it is, sorry. I think the Colts O can do enough to pick them apart with dump passes to receivers and TEs and the occasional long pass to Wayne or Harrison when the Bears line up in man on the corners.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 03:49:24 +0000

You’ve written an article about how only two members of the Chicago Bears scare you as a Colts fan, and neither of them are Lance Briggs or Brian Urlacher.

This leads me to believe that you, sir, are drunk.

While a concern for Devin Hester is certainly valid, and I think that he may be the number one concern for Tony Dungy’s squad on Sunday, I have my doubts that they’re staying up late wondering how to stop Bernard Berrian, after their defense has figured out how to handle the pass-catchers of Green, McNair and Brady.

All-Pro linebackers who can fly are always a bigger concern than a team’s third-best receiving threat. Always.