1- As I detailed a week ago, this was one of the most bizarre Bears seasons in recent memory. Nothing really went as expected, yet at the same, the ending made perfect sense. Needing to win and then a little help to win the division or a lot of assistance to grab a wild card, the Bears of course got the latter, yet couldn’t come through on their end of the deal. Missing the post-season for two consecutive seasons following a Super Bowl appearance is indeed disappointing, but the team made great strides this year. To go from a pre-season pick of a 5-11 or 6-10 to be within a game of the NFC North title is pretty impressive, especially how seeing this team is flawed on offense, defense and on the coaching staff.
2- That being said, there needs to be some changes when the season opens on September 12, 2009. Priority number one has to be a big-play wide receiver, something the Bears have lacked since….well, forever. In today’s NFL, a team doesn’t need a Randy Moss type to win the Super Bowl, but they do need a player who forces defenses to be honest and respect the pass. (See nearly every team in the playoffs for an example: Hines Ward, Steve Smith, Reggie Wayne, Larry Fitzgerald, etc.) Until Devin Hester learns how to complete player at the position, wideout will be a top need. Other positions to fix include getting younger on the O-Line, another pass rusher, and please, some serious help in the secondary. As for what should stay, I like Orton at QB, Lovie as head coach and (this is killing me to type this) Ron Turner as offensive coordinator. Bob Babich, you and your Cover-Two train are boarding and should be leaving town at any moment now.
3- Moving to basketball, and a I find it how interesting people are comparing the three best teams in the NBA right now- Boston, Cleveland and LA- to the ’95-’96 Bulls team that won 72 games. It’s a fascinating debate as to which of the current teams matches up best with the Bulls, and they all have somewhat valid points. Boston, with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, would be a tough matchup inside for the Bulls. Cleveland, thanks to LeBron, has a player that Jordan and Pippen would have to focus on so much defensively that it would make for a close battle on both sides of the ball. And the Lakers are probably more talented than that Bulls team was, but don’t play constant enough defense to say it’s a sure thing they would win. The one thing people don’t bring up enough though when talking about the Bulls though was how smart they were. Thanks to Jordan and Phil Jackson (wonder where he sits on the ’96 Bulls vs. ’09 Lakers debate), the Bulls knew every night what it took to beat their opponent. If they were playing the Grizzlies or Raptors, MJ knew he could take it easy and let his teammate do the heavy lifting, yet if they were lacking, he could flip the switch, get things going and save the day. If the opponent was the Pacers or Magic, then Jordan took it upon himself to be the team’s go-to guy, regardless if that meant scoring, passing, defense or just mental toughness. In my book, any of the three teams today could beat the Bulls in a game here or there, but none would beat them in a best of seven.
4- Quick List---The top five things I’m looking forward to on New Years Day: 1) The Rose Bowl, 2) watching the hockey game at Wrigley Field from the comfort of my warm couch, 3) the other bowl games, 4) The idea of watching sports, eating massive amounts of food, drinking beer, and just chilling with friends for about ten consecutive hours and 5) the USC Song Girls.
5- How about those Illinois Fighting Illini? I never got around to writing up a college hoops preview for the blog for a wide assortment of reasons, but if I had, I would have written to watch out for the Orange Krush as a sleeper team to be on the NCAA Tournament bubble. My thinking was with the assumed maturity of players like Demetri McCamey and Mike Davis, along with the addition of transfer guard Alex Leigon and the departure of selfish players Shaun Pruitt and Brian Randle, they could finish in the top six of the Big Ten and somewhere around 20 wins. Turns out I underestimated them. After last night’s overtime win at #11 Purdue, the Illini are 13-1 and playing great basketball. Sophomores Davis and Mike Tisdale have made great improvements from 2007, combining for 24 points and 13 rebounds a game, which really gives the guard-heavy squad some nice balance. College hoops changes so much on a week-to-week basis, but if things keep going this way, I like my Illini’s chances to get back to the Big Dance.
6- Finally, a few photos to reflect the year in Chicago sports. Scroll down for #’s 7 through 10, which are my 50-word breakdowns of this week’s NFL games.
7- Atlanta at Arizona: This is the easiest game of the weekend, because the Cardinals pretty much quit trying after they clinched the NFC West. Add to that Michael Turner facing a poor run defense, and this looks like a game the Falcons should dominate. Atlanta 31, Arizona 17
8- Indianapolis at San Diego: Very interesting matchup, with the teams having combined to win their last 13 games. I think that all-around, the Colts are the better team. But San Diego owns Peyton Manning for some reason, and Phillip Rivers is playing great right now. This one could go either way, but I’ll take the home team. San Diego 24, Indianapolis 20
9- Baltimore at Miami Don’t really have a good gauge on this game, because I really haven’t been able to watch much of either team this year. I know the Ravens will run the ball and play physical D, while the Dolphins will use a combination of speed and trickery for success on both sides of the ball. Don’t know why, but I like the latter. Miami 17, Baltimore 10
10- Philadelphia at Minnesota Two average teams in the primetime slot on Sunday afternoon? Great. The Vikings have the better running game, but the Eagles have a better QB, defense and coach. Thankfully for Philly fans, an ugly win counts the same as a beautiful one. Philadelphia 28, Minnesota 17
Last Week: 11-5
Regular Season Record: 154-102 (NOTE: My first two season’s picking NFL games on this site, I went 156-100 each year, so I finished two games back in ’08)
Happy New Year
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