I like the Green Bay Packers chances on Sunday in the NFC Championship game in Chicago. The Packers are playing their best football and I think Aaron Rodgers and his receivers will outplay Jay Cutler and his group. Both teams have outstanding defenses but the Packers have shown that they can lock down nearly any receiver group in the NFL and put pressure on the passer.
The Chicago defense is top notch but I don’t think they can contain the Packers passing game by sitting in the cover two pass coverage. Green Bay has too many weapons and Rodgers is far too good for that. The Bears are going to have to mix up their coverages and come after Rodgers to get him off his game.
I know the Green Bay offensive line isn’t one of the better groups in the league, but I think they can do a good enough job of giving Rodgers enough time to do his thing against the Bears. Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, James Jones and Jordy Nelson can all go for a 100 yards and a couple of touchdowns if Rodgers comes to them.
Rookie running back, James Starks, and the newly found running game will keep the Bears honest, but the Packers will do their damage through the air. Bears defensive end Julius Peppers must take over the game, if Chicago is going to have any chance of slowing down Rodgers and his crew.
Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs are two outstanding backers who will make running the football very difficult for the Pack, but Rodgers is the key to the Green Bay attack and not Starks.
If the Chicago pass rush isn’t getting there I expect the Bears to send one or both of their linebackers to put pressure on Rodgers. It won’t work because the former California Bear has the best quarterback rating in the league versus the blitz.
Cutler had a great game against the Seattle Seahawks, but that’s not the group he’ll be going against this weekend. Clay Matthews will be on the prowl and the Packers have the best secondary in football. Any time you can afford to put a great cornerback like Charles Woodson in the slot, you know you have a great group of corners.
The Bears quarterback must protect the football and not take too many chances. Cutler must have the same type of performance he had against the Seahawks, but I don’t think he can. I think he’ll play well for a while but I don’t think he can stay away from a mistake or two.
I could see the Bears creating problems for the Packers with their running game. Matt Forte must have a big game running with the football and catching it for Chicago to beat the Packers. Forte will need to carry the football twenty to thirty times and gain over a 100 yards for Chicago to win the football game.
The Bears have speed at the wide receiver position with Johnny Knox and Devin Hester. They can get deep but even more importantly they must get open for Cutler on the short to intermediate routes. Catching the football consistently will be very important because there’s no telling what the weather will be.
Green Bay’s young cornerbacks Tramon Williams and Sam Shields can line up and run with any receivers in the NFL. They love to walk up and lock down a receivers group. This frees up Woodson to blitz and go after the big play. Woodson who was last year’s NFL Defensive Player of the Year, will attack the football in the air or lock down the slot receiver and blitz from the slot position.
Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers who invented the zone blitz loves to utilize Matthews in stunts and defensive line games which give him a chance to use his speed and tenacity to get to the quarterback. Cullen Jenkins is the best pass rusher of the other defensive lineman and he ‘s capable of overpowering offensive linemen to get to the quarterback.
This Packers defense is outstanding with underrated linebackers Desmond Bishop and A.J. Hawk doing a good job of covering running backs and tight ends and making plays. You must run the ball against them to have any chance success.
Final score Green Bay 27-Chicago-17
On a side note:
Have any of you guys seen Clay Matthews running over Winston Justice on NFL Network then hitting Michael Vick and talking smack to him? I heard somebody refer to the young Matthews as Thor. That’s a great nickname for him.
I played with Matthews’ Dad at USC, we played side to side for a couple of years. Clay Sr. played about 20 years in the NFL. His uncle Bruce was an offensive guard at USC then he played 20 years in the NFL and is in the NFL Hall of Fame. This young Matthews is like his father and uncle who both looked like walking and talking muscles.
I still don’t understand how he was a walk-on at USC. The guy is a monster and bigger than his Dad.
Matthews has the same attitude of the older Matthews who both got into a fight or two during spring practices back there at USC. We had a great time back there at Troy.
Everyone is on the Packer/Rodgers Bandwagon and deservedley so, for the roll they have been on,
But I am picking the Bears for selfish reasons…The Eagles need to hire Packers D/L Coach M Tgrovac asap as their Eagles next D/C ..Eagles don’t have 2-3 weeks of hype and hoopla that follows the Super Bowl before they hire a DC, they need to get him in town by Monday Feb 2nd to get the ball rolling for the Eagles D for 2011
But back to the game, I expect it to be close,hard fought game and a Bears Victory 24-23
with a big Special Teams play by Hester being the deciding factor and the Bears patience and ability to run the ball will shorten the game and give Rodgers 1 or 2 less chances of directing TD drives which will be the difference.. Should be a good one
Nada! Bears will win.
Let’s see how Packers and Bears measure up to Super Bowl Winners!!! SB Champions have 3 things in common…..1) 2 D players with 10 sacks or more(usually 1 or both are LBs) 2)run the ball 28 times a game 3) QB has usually 62% passing and less than 11 interceptions………Packers are close with Mathews (13.5 sacks) but next person is jenkins 7 Bears have DE Idonije and Peppers with 8 sacks each. Packers get advantage with 1 D player with 10 or more sacks and he ia a LB.
Packers get edge cause Rodgers is 66 passing % with 11 int and Cutler 61% 16 int Cutler gets sacked alot and Rodgers had a 40 qb rating in last game with Eagles when we sent 5 or more guys over 100 rating when we sent 4 or less
Both the packers and bears ave 26 rushes a game(take notes ANDY) we all know that is important cause Manning,Brady, Eagles SB loss the ran less than 16 times. Pats and Colts ave was every Sb champion ave 28rushes. Bears packers tie but interesting thing to watch is packers sometimes run less than 20 times then Bears get edge. but Packers get edge if bears RB forte gets hurt. Most Sb winners and Packers 2 rb ave about the same which reflects the 0-line i guess but bears forte ave 4.5 and Bears taylor ave 2.4 that is big difference he must suck and bears have no shot with injury.
Edge packers but hope bears win…..the only team that has what other SB champions do is u guessed it the same ones who won the last 2 of 5 Super Bowls….Steelers i was born and raised in Berks county and i try to love the Steelers cause same state but i really don’t care if the win or lose but man if i was in charge of EAGLES i would copy cat everything they do run run and have lbs who sack the qb and stop the run
Steelers should beat Jets. Jets run but qb passing % is 55 & 13 int and no D player with 10 or more sacks. Sb losers usually have atleaset 1 player with 10 Jets have alot with 4 and 5 and in a big game i guess 2 great players are better than 4 ok and good ones.
do u know what running back ave 5.2 yards a carry this year but the coach only ran him 13 times. DID U KNOW THAT 4 TEAMS LEFT AVE 27 RUSHES A GAME and ave less than 3.9 yds a carry
FIRE ANDY REID!!!!!! if he learned west coast offense from Bill Walsh, he did not soak it all in. With best qb and wr in the game Bill Walsh still ran Roger Craig 22 times a game and Rathman 7 total of 29 times during season and Sb. Montana was 22-24 in one SB. Think about that. he ran (29times) more than he threw lol with Joe montana…if that was Andy Reid he would have had joe throw 50 times like mcnabb in SB loss and only ran Westbrook who was ave 5.1 a carry 15 times(craig and rathman ave alot less) granted only joe still would have made 50 attempts probally look pretty good but the awesome coach BILL walsh knew better and gave his team a chance to win
Sb champions usually have 1 or 2 LB’s with 10 or more sacks. Eagles this year LB with most sacks was Sims with 2