Henry Burris

Just seein' what's up. Not here to troll, just have a discussion with some pats fans about this upcoming weekend/possible SB matchup.

jmt57

Glad you could make it. There hasn't been much talk about the Bears yet; most fans are still talking about the MNF game against the Jets. You should see that change over the next 24 hours or so. Looking forward to your insight on what we can expect at Chicago.

WTE

Welcome.

Weather's not looking good for Sunday in Chicago. Cold, very windy, 70% chance of snow.

Patriots offense is built for those conditions.

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Ice_Ice_Brady

Welcome to the board. Looking forward to a great matchup on Sunday. I feel like both of these teams are playing with the house's money right now, based on preseason expectations. You might notice there is a lot of enthusiasm here, but the Patriots are really a special team this year with a bunch of overachieving, undrafted guys on offense and quickly developing young guys on defense. There's a lot to be excited about.

I'd like to hear more about the Bears, as I don't really know the NFC that well. The few games I've seen, Peppers has been a beast and has changed that defense with relentless pressure.

In my opinion, this game comes down to a few things: how will the Bears respond to the multiple personnel packages that the Patriots can use on offense (as I'm sure you saw on Monday night) and will Cutler play within his system or try to be a hero. I think the first part of this will pretty difficult for the Bears, but then again, the Patriots offense really depends on Brady opening the game with precision, which then forces defenses to adjust and ultimately get confused. If Brady is not precise, the Patriots then have to rely on their talent (good, but not unstoppable) rather than having their way with a revolving group of headaches for a defense. As for the second point, the question is whether Cutler has matured or if just having a string of good games.

Bear Goggles

It's really been night and day with Cutler since the bye week. He's using his feet a lot more when the plays aren't there and not standing in there taking concussions. Also we've committed to the run game a lot more and although it still isn't always working Forte is good to break one every now and again.

I think the biggest thing that was reigned in was the deep ball. It seemed like Cutler's first 2 reads on every 3rd pass play were down the field and he would try to use that arm to fit it into extreme coverage. Now it's an offense predicated on taking what the defense gives and allowing our receivers to make plays after the catch. It's refreshing to see with Hester and Knox not may teams in the league can run with them across the field. Hopefully this continues and we take our shots as they come. But it sounds like your D plays a lot like ours, bend don't break allow the action to happen in front of you and make solid tackles.

Before the bye Bear nation was not feeling too good but I think it came at the exact right moment for this team and they have been playing lights out football winning the last 5. Can't wait for this match-up, hope Brady is ready for the "Windy" in city.