According to former colleague Amanda Kaschube, when Brian Urlacher appeared on “Joe Buck Live” this past week, he said the Bears are still in the playoff hunt and Buck called that a bunch of crap. He’s so edgy.
(Side note: I had no idea JBL was still on the air. Apparently, Artie Lange did not kill it despite his best efforts. And they were valiant efforts. The less Joe Buck is on the air, the better for America.)
Despite Buck’s tendency to be out of touch with sports fans, especially Chicagoans, he pretty much hit the nail on the head. The Bears are playing with the hopes of not finishing with a losing record. Not bloody likely. But unlike the doldrums of the 1990s, the Bears can hang their hopes on not getting swept by the Packers. Plus, the Packers are coming off a short week and the Bears can take advantage if they play this like their Super Bowl, as pointed out by CBS Sports’ Pete Prisco.
Prisco is the only one among his colleagues picking the Bears. Over at ESPN, Adam Schefter is the only voice in support of Chicago. The Sporting News is Packers across the board.
Other people have probably picked, but at this point I’m more concerned with getting to the gym and then coming back and playing my video games than wondering what a bunch of dudes have to say about a playing-out-the-string rivalry game.
Madden ’08:
NFL 2K3: Jim Miller repeatedly finds Marty Booker and Marcus Robinson a step behind their cornerbacks on deep fade routes, but a mere nudge from the defender causes repeated drops from both of those players. Ahman Green tears it up in the second half after the Bears’ defense gets sick of trying to cover for the offense’s shortcomings and the Pack wins 27-7.
My carefully-thought-out, not-at-all-flippant pick: What the hell, I’m gonna homer it. If Jay Cutler can manage to show up for this game rather than throw four picks as he did in Week 1, and if the Bears’ D-line can exhibit some of the pressure they did against the Packers’ O-line in Week 1, the Bears can continue their trend of never getting swept by the Packers with Lovie Smith at the helm. Now that I’ve said that, none of it will happen. Bears 17, Packers 12. That’s right, 12.
