Yo Adrian

With so much going on, and since I wasn’t able to discuss much earlier in the week, it seemed like a good idea for random thoughts on the Bears and college football. Here goes…

1- Remember a decade ago, when the Bears would play the Lions? You knew that no matter hard they tried, how complex their defensive strategy was, that Barry Sanders was going to make some big plays and embarrass countless defenders; it was automatic. That’s how I see Adrian Peterson these days. Versus the Bears last Sunday, Peterson ran for 131 yards on 26 carries (about five yards per rush). He scored one TD and broke off a long of 60 yards. And for the most part, I thought the defense did a pretty good job on him. A majority of his runs went for under five yards, and his big plays only occurred when somebody on the Bears missed their assignment to cover the backside of the play. Peterson, similarly to Sanders, is so elusive and fast that you have to MAKE SURE that he’s actually on the ground before stopping pursuit. The few long runs that the Bears gave up all occurred because it looked as though a defender had him wrapped up, and then Peterson changed directions and busted loose.

2- Other than that run defense though, that Bears game was as infuriating as any game this year. (I’d rank the Bears losses, from most upsetting to least, as Falcons, Vikings, Packers, Panthers, Bucs, Titans) Not only were they five feet from taking a commanding 14-3 lead near the end of the second quarter, but they were taking advantage of Minnesota mistakes. Of course offensive coordinator Ron Turner called a fullback dive on third-and-goal, followed by a predictable dive with Matt Forte on fourth down, halting any chance of that 11-pont advantage. Very next play, the Vikes play action with Peterson and go deep to former Bear Bernard Berrian. 99-yard TD, and after being oh so close to going up 14-3, the Bears are down 10-7. After that, it was all over. Peterson ran wild in the second half, Kyle Orton couldn’t complete a pass if his life depended on it (make that, he couldn’t complete a pass to a player wearing a white jersey) and the only positive was learning that John Madden felt Peanut Tillman is the best stripper in the league (Direct quote).

3- So what is next for our downtrodden football team? At 6-6, they are on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoff picture, one game behind the Vikings for the NFC North lead. They have four games left, all against teams with losing records, three of four at home. So can they make the playoffs? Based on their last month of play, that seems about as likely as Plaxico Burress and Tank Johnson doing a commercial for firearm safety. Since the Super Bowl run of 2006, the Bears have yet two win more than two consecutive games; to make the playoffs this year they would most likely need to win their final four. The offense looks stale right now, and other than a nice juke by Devin Hester on a slant route and running by Forte, the Bears did nothing offensively versus Minnesota. The defense is banged up, and I still have no faith that our pass defense can stop anybody when needed. And I won’t even go into the coaching. I predict a 2-2 finish (wins over the Jags and Packers) and an 8-8 overall season. Of course by the end of Sunday, that view could easily change.

4- Moving to college football, I have to add my two cents about the current BCS mess. You already know how I feel about the system (see my October 24 post for the 1,000-word version. Here’s the short one-- I hate it.) and you most likely have an opinion of your own. Maybe you like it, or maybe you agree with President-elect Barack Obama and think it needs to go away. Whatever.

The current BCS mess has nothing to do with choices for the National Championship. It has to do with figuring out who should be in the title game of the Big XII. Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech are all 11-1, all 7-1 in the conference, and all 1-1 against each other. The Sooners beat the Raiders in Norman, the Raiders beat the ‘Horns in Lubbock, and the ‘Horns beat the Sooners in Dallas. That means a win for OU on their home field, a win for TTU on their home field, and a win for UT on a neutral field. So who should be the top of the three? It ended up being the Oklahoma, who have won four consecutive games by scoring more than 60 points. This caused great outrage in Austin, who argued that not only did they beat Oklahoma, but they did it while being the only one of the three teams who didn’t get a home game. And they are right; the Longhorns got screwed. But if UT had made it in, Sooner fans would have had a complaint as well. OU played a much tougher non-conference schedule than Texas did, and absolutely destroyed Texas Tech, while the other two games in this series had all been close. (Note: TTU has no argument because they played no tough games out of conference and also got whooped by 40 points in the second-to-last week of the season.) So the point is, one of the teams had to get screwed. It just so happened to be Texas. The only way to avoid this in the future: a playoff. And there’s nothing a BCS-supporter can argue about that.

5- A brief SEC title game preview between Florida and Alabama: It’s all about Percy Harvin. If the Gators WR/RB/all-around baller is able to play, I really like the Gators chances. With Harvin, Jeff Demps, Chris Rainey, and a bunch of other talented skill position players, plus Tim Tebow, the UF have just too much speed and athleticism for ‘Bama to contain. I realize that the Tide have a really strong defense, but they haven’t faced any team with the depth and skill of Urban Meyer’s crew. As a longtime Florida fan, I can say that this year’s offense equals the best UF attacks there have been in a long while- the 2001 team is a close second- and with Harvin on the field, there isn’t a way that U of A stops them. But if his ankle isn’t ready to go, a good possibility according to all the articles I’ve read, I am concerned. ‘Bama is a physical and strong team, and of course well coached with Nick Saban they’re well coached. They control the ball, play great defense and rely on their opposition to make crucial errors. Without Harvin’s big -play ability, Florida may have a tough time putting up points. Still, I trust Meyer, I trust Tebow and I have faith in the Gator attack. My prediction is UF by a touchdown without Harvin, Gators by 17 with #1.

Week 14 winners: Chicago, Minnesota, Houston, Tennessee, Indianapolis, Atlanta, New York Giants, Miami, Denver, New York Jets, New England, Arizona, Pittsburgh, Washington and Tampa Bay