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Friday, March 29

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« Know Your Bears: Twitter Edition/Injury Update Short Hops »

Bears Thu Sep 24 2009

Footballic Ramblings: Winless in Seattle

Not technically "winless" mind you, but Chicago has only won one game ever in the Emerald City and that was waaaay back in the Seahawks' inaugural season (1976) and yes, da Bears are "da Winless" since Qwest Field has opened. Which isn't to say Chicago hasn't had it's success against the 'Hawks it's just come at Soldier Field. In any case, the Bears look to reverse 30+ years of misfortune in the Pacific Northwest as they prepare for a Seattle squad that's amazingly even more dinged up than the Bears. Peep the MASH unit list of starters that won't be playing the Bears on Sunday and for the first time in your life, Bears fans, pity your opponent. Starting QB, Matt Hasselbeck, is a huge ? (I'm saying he's not gonna play a down), while TJ Houshmandzadeh is out, along with approximately the entire defensive and offensive lines. Oddly enough this isn't even the first time the Oceanbirds have been cursed with an injury bug in the past five years, if you'll recall: the Great Seattle Owie Outbreak of 2008 [cue evil and mysterious music.] I'd say it's all a voodoo curse.

In any case, one team's misery/awful luck is another team's jackpot! "Congrats, Jay Cutler, you just won a chance to pick apart a very depleted secondary." Matt Forte, the heretofore bottled-up and relatively contained human tank/running back should get his against Seattle's defense which was generous enough to allow San Francisco's Frank Gore 207 yards and 2 touchdowns on the low, low, rushing total of 16 attempts. And if Forte does need a little push, fully expect Cutler (who exonerated himself last week in the rain and muck of Soldier Field) to soften the 'Hawks defense with some mid-range and deep throws to the trio of favored receivers: Greg Olsen, Johnny Knox and Devin Hester/Earl Bennett.

Sans Urlacher and even with a dinged-up Alex Brown, Chicago's defense should be keying in on Hasselbeck backup, Seneca Wallace, a mobile qb who's throwing ability could be charitably described as "modestly inconsistent." What does this spell for the Bears defense? Well, for one, the always flammable secondary will get a (hopefully) modest reprieve. Granted, if Wallace is connecting with the ghost of Steve Largent [Largent is still technically alive and was actually a Republican rep from Oklahoma in the House of Representatives from 1994-2002.-Ed.] and the Bears cornerbacks' unis are spontaneously combusting, well, that won't be boding well for the rest of the season. Seattle's running game thus far has been fairly "meh." Julius Jones ran off 117 yards against the Rams in Week 1, but that's a modest day against the "Let 'em tucker themselves out from running" strategy that the Rams defense employs. Against San Francisco in Week 2, Seattle did not get too much traction but for some reason only ran it 23 times against 41 passing attempts.

Bottom Line: Bears shouldn't look ahead to next week's game but, yeah, if there was ever a time they were gonna get off the schneid in Qwest Field it'd gonna be this week.

The Bears Game Isn't On 'Til 3:15, What Do I Watch Before That?

506.com's always useful NFL TV Maps, tell us, the curious viewer, that if you're in the greater Chicagoland area and don't want to watch the snooze-fest that is Kansas City @ Philadelphia you should have NFL Gameday Ticket and revel in Tennessee @ New York Jets for the early game. The Titans are licking some wounds after losing to Pittsburgh and dropping a shootout at home against the point-a-minute Texans, while the NY Jets are cruising high after crushing the aforementioned Texans in Week 1 and pantsing the Patriots in Week 2.

The NBC Sunday Nighter is an allegedly entertaining tilt between the Arizona Cardinals and the Indianapolis Colts. Tune in if for no other reason to watch the Peyton Manning machine steadily eradicate Arizona's passing game.

 
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