Where do we go from here??

Well bears fans we have reached the bears bye week and I'm pretty sure we are all more confused about this team than we were before the season. This will be a season-so-far recap mostly because if i just talked about yesterday's game there will be too much swearing. A few words about yesterday's game. Classic bears. Defense good. Offense pissed away the game. The game left me wondering if this team really does have a chance to make the playoffs and if I might be partially rooting for the bears to lose in order to get rid of Lovie. But here is a look at the season so far:

Encouraging:

1. Defensive turnovers. The defense as a whole has been impressive and pretty much as good as advertised. They have keep the bears in every game and they are creating turnovers like the '06 bears. No one is better than Peanut Tillman at punching the ball out and the pressure created by Peppers and Co. have forced errant throws and made it hard for the quarter to identify the coverage. Urlacher and Briggs are still at the top of their games and the defense is getting valuable contributions from Idonje, Jennings, and Chris Harris. Perhaps the 2 most impressive things have been the bears ability to mask coverages and therefore confuse opposing offenses. (Lovie's defense has never been big into disguising what they are doing). Danieal Manning has been very surprising with his safety play. He has played great in run support and his coverage has been so good on TEs that none so far have had a good day against the Bears.

2. Matt Forte and Chester Taylor. I know the bears dont run the ball much (see below) but this combo of backs has really impressed me with their versatility and consistency. They make people miss and are great runners after getting the ball in their hands. In my estimation, these 2 guys are the best play makers on the offense and need to touch the ball more either on running or passing plays. I would like to see these 2 get 30+ touches combined a game as we saw in the Carolina game and the Bears will win those games.

Discouraging:

1. O-Line. I understand they have not started the same O-line in more than 2 games but that is not an excuse. These guys are paid professionals and are just getting beat on a consist basis. There really arent encouraging signs for this group because it is mostly low draft picks/free agents without much potential. They have been unable to communicate more than getting beat 1 on 1. I would say half the sacks so far are attributable to miscommunication or lack of communication in pass protection which is really only shooting yourself in the foot. This communication has to be fixed right away because this line is gonna get beat some based on their talent level. This line will never be good. It can maybe an average offensive line but it has a long way to even reach that. Prayers are welcome to try and improve this.

2. Jay Culter & his WRs. I said in my season preview that Martz's offense depends heavily on the QB & WRs being on the same page. Well from their play Culter and the WRs might have been given different playbooks. I know Martz's offense is very complicated and has like a million plays but these guys are professionals and need to sort this out. The 4 picks yesterday half were the WRs fault and half were Culter's. Cutler has played alright this year minus yesterday's game considering every time he drops back he has to believe that his head has a chance of being removed from his shoulders. Culter can play better and the WRs have to play better and make the tough catches that make their QB look good. *Sidenote: I think Earl Bennett has been the only WR that has performed better than expected. He seems to get the offense and runs very precise routes and has great hands.

3. Coaching................or lack there of. This isnt just Lovie that I'm talking about. This falls on every coach on the team especially the offensive coaches. Jerry Angelo and Lovie Smith have said many times that they have the talent needed to win on this roster. But there are some major problems that are lacking with this roster. Either Lovie & Angelo are full of it (entirely possible) or the bears' coaches arent coaching up or getting the best out of the players. Martz has refused to compromise his system to the talent he has on this roster. His offense is running the ball 36% of the time (if you exclude the Carolina game). His offense is not scoring either. Once they get inside the 30, they have shown an inability to put the ball in the endzone. Shouldn't the genius that we were all told Martz was be able to dream up plays to score? Mike Tice's offensive line is a mess. Darell Drake's WRs are running the wrong routes and dropping passes. And Lovie is letting Martz run the offense totally on his own and now looks like a tool because he doesnt know what is going on on that side of the ball. Plus, Lovie is a bad in game coach. He makes terrible challenges (see this week) and is terrible, terrible at managing the clock.

Where now?

I dont know where this team goes now. I think they have the talent to compete and win this division but not the coaches or the system. In an earlier post, I said that if the bears could go into the bye week 5-2 they will be likely to win the division. Now, at 4-3, their record is the same as the packers and their schedule is incredibly tough the 2nd half of the season. Unless there are great giant steps made over this bye week, the bears are staring directly at a .500 record and being left out of the playoffs for the 4th straight year.

And the only undeated team in the NFC is...

Da Bears. I have sat here all day trying to mull over what exactly last night's win over green bay means besides that the bears are only 1 of 3 teams left unbeaten in the NFL. Does this mean that I believe they have the best team in the NFC or top 5 in the NFL? Nope sorry even my homerism cant go that far. Do I believe this team is the best in the division? Nope, sorry. I still think green bay is a better team. Does this win set up the bears to control the NFC north the rest of the season? You bet it does and I now believe the bears will make the playoffs. But, I am still not quite sure of what to think of this team and how to project it. A look at the upcoming schedule though does make me think that the bears will be atleast 6-2 by week 9 (bears have a bye in there). Which wow that exceeds even what i thought were lofty preseason predictions. As for last night's game, here is what I saw:

The Good:

1. Hello, Devin Hester! Yep he is back. Everyone was starting to wonder if he had lost his return ability and he pretty much won the bears that game. Not only because he took one to the house but because of his 28 yard return (on which he got tackled by the punter, the punter!!) before the half set up the bears offense for a TD. If he can be a game breaker on punt returns again, this team can be very very good.

2. Crash test dummy Jay. I cant say enough about how impressed I have been with Jay Cutler this year. The guy gets killed back there every week and not only am I impressed that he pops back up but you never see him yell at an offensive lineman. I mean I have to think he wakes up after every game black and blue from head to toe but you dont even see him react to missed blocks or assignments this year. Plus, his althetic ability is just off the charts and how bout him faking that packers defender out on the scramble and gaining an extra 5 yards. Wow what a difference a year makes.

3. Stars on defense. Urlacher and Briggs look fantastic and better than ever. Not only are they back there wacking guys across the middle and pursuing to the ball but they are penetrating the line of scrimmage and making plays behind the line. Can't say enough about their play this year. And Julius Peppers is awesome. I know he only has 1 sack so far but his presence disrupts the entire offensive line. The MNF guys said a lot about this last night but what is even more impressive is watching Peppers' first step because he is so quick and big that most of the time he is almost already around the tackle with that first step.

The Bad:

1. A run game please. Look i know the bears are moving the ball on offense and Cutler has looked great but please for the love of god Mike Martz discover some sort of run game. I would be happy with 80 yards a game and it doesnt count if your QB has 37 yards in a game as Cutler did last night. I'm not sure the bears havent just changed Forte and Taylor's listed positions to WRs. To have a great passing game is good but the bears will need to have some sort of semblance of a running game to beat teams in the playoffs. Plus, with no running game, it kills the bears on time of possession, wearing down your defense. Last night - Packers 35:49 Bears 24:11.

2. 1 sack is all im asking for. Yes, Peppers had a good game but at the end of the day. Rodgers threw the ball 45 times and not once did the bears pull him down. Someone, anyone on the defensive line has to step up and be better pass rushers. I have liked what i have seen out of Henry Melton so far but he hasn't been on the field all that much. I mean come on, 45 times and no sacks are the bears counting to 5 banana before they start rushing? Pressure and maybe a sack is all im asking for.

3. Long drives. As stated above, the bears got killed in time of possession and it really wears on your defense, even a defense that rotates as many players as the bears. While partially the offenses' fault for not holding on to the ball longer, it is still up to the defense to stop the opponent's offense and while the bears didnt give up a lot of points, they gave up very long and sustained drives to the packers. I understand the defensive philosophy of bend but dont break (which I'm pretty sure, I and every other bears fan hates) but the defense still has to make plays to get off the field.

The Ugly:

They won, shouldn't this section be "the splendid"? Nope sorry folks, I saw 2 things that must be changed right away or I dont think this team can make the playoffs.

#1 = goal line offense. 2 out of 3 weeks in a row the bears have failed to put the ball in the endzone from a yard away. I dont know what the bears' percentage inside the redzone is this season but i know they look bad inside it. When Martz cant spread the field with multiple WRs, the bears seem to have no idea how to put the ball in the endzone and without a running game they cant power it in. They need to figure this out quickly!

#2 - Lovie is an idiot. First off, he is stupid for challenging whether bennett was in the endzone because everyone watching that live and the replay knew that a packer had touched bennett before he rolled into the endzone. Not only did Lovie lose a timeout in the 2nd half of a tight game but he lost the ability to challenge anymore calls the rest of the game before the 3rd quarter was done. Now, what if the refs' had ruled that the fumble recovered by jennings had gone out of bounds. Guess what the bears where out of challenges and it would have been packers ball and probably a very different result of the game. But most importantly, why does Lovie refuse to take the points??? The bears again went for it on 4th down at the 1 and failed to get the TD. Yes, with a good throw they do score but they didnt score. Plus, Lovie in case you havent been watching the games your team can run the ball in short yardage and they arent that good at scoring TDs, why dont you take the points??? I just cant understand how you dont take the points to tie a game in the 2nd half. Lovie, its gonna cost you one of these games and being lucky over good will only get you so far in the NFL.

It sure doesn't feel like a win...

but it counts as one. Bottom line is that the bears are 1-0. The lions lost the game on technicality which i dont agree with but I and the bears will take the W. Now my general impressions of the game was mostly positive for the bears.

The Good: The offense looked good/better than i thought it would. They moved the ball on the Lions and racked up a ton of yards. The offense looked to be in sync and I was impressed with Martz's play calling. It was as good as advertised.

- Jay Culter was very good in yesterday's game. Yes, he threw an inception and had a fumble but he was poised in the pocket after he got hit a lot. He even threw the ball away a couple of times where his WRs were covered after forcing the ball on his inception. He even took a couple of sacks in those situations where last year he would have chucked it up. This is the type of improvement that I think every bears' fan has been looking for from Jay. Plus he threw for 370+ yards. I would give him a B+ for the game.

- Brian Urlacher & the defense - Urlacher looked like the guy that won a Defensive Player of year award. He was everywhere and huge on sunday. He looked faster and hitter harder than I have seen him since 2007. There was no question that his presence on defense made a huge difference. The line keep the O-line off of him and he flew through the gaps and made big impact plays. The defense as a whole was very impressive. Not just because they held the Lions to 1 first down until the last drive in the 2nd half. But because they pretty much shut down Calvin Johnson who is ridiculously good and they held the lions to 20 yds rushing. They had pressure on the QB and Peppers knocked out Stafford. They made plays and created turnovers and only allowed the Lions to convert on 29% of their 3rd downs. We never saw the defense look this good last year. It gives me hope for the rest of the season.

The Bad: Turnovers - The bears turned the ball over 4 times and twice in the red zone. It cost the bears what should have been a blowout. Also, the only points that the Lions scored happened right after a bears turnover. Most games you cant turn the ball over 4 times and win. Forte had 2 fumbles in what was an otherwise spectacular game. Greg Olson also had a fumble and I swear I feel like he is gonna fumble every time he gets hit. The bears must protect the ball better next week to win and as a result put more points on the board.

- Run blocking - Did the bears run block? I'm not sure there was a hole for Forte or Taylor had to run through. The line did alright pass blocking too but they only averaged 3.3 yds per carry. Maybe the Lions' defensive front is that good this season with Suh and company. And did i mention they couldn't pound in the ball from the 1 in 3 tries. The run blocking needs to improve a lot.

- Devin Hester - Was Devin even on the field with the offense? On a day which Culter threw for 372 yds, Hester caught 1 pass for 7 yards. Either Devin did something to piss Culter off or he just wasnt able to get open against a Lions' secondary that was burned by all the other bears. Hester has too much break away ability to only touch the ball once a game on offense. Martz & company need to remedy this for next week v. Dallas.

The Ugly: I think Lovie is a fucking moron for not kicking the FG to go ahead in the game and his explanation after the game was even more idiotic. If your justification is that your defense has been stopping the Lions the whole game then how you do you not take the lead and then let your defense stop them??? Just a stupid decision.

Also, Lovie's bears with the lead have always gone into what i like to call their "shell" defense which is really a cover 3 or quarters pass defense and it drives me insane. Here the bears had been killing the Lions all afternoon by only allowing them 1 first down the entire 2nd half but instead of keeping your aggressive defensive style, they drop into passive coverage and allow the Lions to dink & dunk their way down the field. It kills me and they do it all the time and it should have cost them the game. I will never understand it and they do it every time they have the lead and the other team is forced into passing drive to try and win it. It is just so stupid to all of a sudden change the type of defense you have been playing all game!

The bears played better than I thought they would and except for their own mistakes, they would have won this game by a lot more. I happy to say it was a good first game and I look for more improvement next week.

Bears Season Preview

Honestly, this could be an 8 page post but I will struggle to keep it brief as possible. I will go on the record right now and say I'm not a big Lovie fan and didn't agree with the hire of Martz. With that said, every sunday I go into the game thinking that they will win. It's gonna be a very interesting season that I know for sure with a ton of ups and downs.

Offense

QB - We all know that Lovie is full of it when he says that "this team still gets off the bus running". The offense of Martz's has always depended on the QB and this team will depend on Cutler's right arm. Cutler has all the talent in the world and we can only hope that he will turn it around in his 2nd year in the bears' uni. He will throw a boat load of interceptions there is no doubt but he should be up in the 30s in TDs and should average 270+ yards per game. This team will lean on Jay and he has to step up and respond. This season has the chance to propel him into the elite tier of NFL QBs. As for the backups, Cutler has been as durable and if the Bears see Todd Collins or Caleb Hanie on the field for more than 1 game then you can kiss this season and Lovie's job goodbye.

RBs - So, the last time Chestor Taylor went to a team to split carries with a back, the back turned into the machine known as Adrian Peterson. Could this be a repeat theme with Matt Forte? I certainly hope so (othewise, i wasted money on that Forte jersey!). Seriously, though both Forte and Taylor are exactly the type of RBs needed for Martz's offense. They are both great in space and have good hands. Martz will run the ball probably because Lovie has told him he has to and so that Cutler wont get hit every play. I dont think either back will get 1000 yds rushing but the bears running attack should be vastly improved just because of a healthy Forte and because draws will work when you throw 70% of the time. Also, look for Martz to really use Forte and Taylor in the passing game to offset some of the lack of running. Screens, designed swing passes and deep routes for the RBs are frequent in the Martz offense and fit nicely with the bears' backs skill set. Bell and Wolfe provide some nice depth but really should factor into this season besides maybe on special teams.

WRs - I'm not sure if this Martz offense makes WRs look good or vice-a-versa. But either way Martz's WRs have a history of having big years. Now, this is the position that I really think will make or break the bears offense. The bears have talent at the position with Knox, Aromashadu, Hester, and Bennett. The question is can they be on the same page as Cutler because this offense is all about timing with them running their route precisely and not allowing the defense to disrupt their timing. If the WRs are not on the same page as Jay and off with their routes, this offense wont be as successful as we have seen in the past and hope it will be this year.

O-line: I'm not gonna beat a dead horse here. The line needs to be better than it was in preseason. I think Lance Louis and Frank Oh-my-god wouldnt start for a lot of NFL teams but that is who the bears are stuck with and we must hope the line can work as a unit together. I dont think they will ever be a great O-line and maybe not even a good O-line but they can be an average O-line which would be enough for the bears to win quite a few games. Under Martz historically QBs get sacked around 2-3 times per game. (yes this stat includes his time with the rams). So, we know Cutler is gonna get hit and sacked. The biggest question is can this line run block and can Jay have enough confidence to stand in the pocket and not get happy feet? I have no idea to the anwers but i hope yes.

Defense - They arent the monsters of the midway anymore and they wont regain the title either. But they have enough talent to be a top -10 defense in the league.

D-line: Peppers is a stud and should get 10+ sacks. Tommie Harris looks to be somewhat healthy and can maybe play the whole season without getting hurt. But now in the NFL, you have to have atleast 3 good pass rushers on the team and i dont whether/if the bears can find the 3rd one. I have given up on Mark Anderson, Idonije will be solid player but nothing special, and Anthony Adams is a solid middle filler but not a pass rusher. The bears must hope that Henry Melton, Marcus Harrison, Matt Toenia or Corey Wotten can take a huge step forward and provide the pass rush that is needed in the NFL today. The bears have always stopped the run when healthy and it will be more of the same this year. Its really all about getting to the QB.

LBs: There is no question that this is the most talented position on the bears and when healthy they have 3 potential pro bowl LBs in briggs, urlacher, and tinoisamoa. The questions are two-fold. 1 - Can they stay healthy? 2 - Can they just be allowed to play LB? #1 is kind of out of anyone's control and we just have to hope for the best. But what i mean by #2 is that the bears LBs are not at their best when they are blitzing or having to take on OL men and shedding the blockers. The bears LBs and specifically Urlacher and Briggs are best when they can see the play and attack the play with their speed. Their ability all comes down the Dline really. If the Dline is able to absorb/engage the offensive line then the LBs can roam and attack the ball. (why Urlacher had his best years with people eaters like Ted Washington and Keith Traylor on the Dline). Also, the LBs are pass rushers and their strength isn't blitzing either. If the D-line can get get pressure then the LBs should be allowed to roam and we should see atleast 2 pro bowlers from this group.

DBs: This is the bears thinist position talent wise. Bowman on the corner could be a very good player and Peanut Tillman will be solid although not great in man to man coverage. After that the bears have no depth at CB. If bowman or peanut have to miss significant time, it will get ugly. The bears have to hope that an improved pass rush will take some pressure off the CBs. At safety, the bears are unsettled. To start the year, Chris Harris will start at Free safety a position that he doesnt have the speed to play and Danieal Manning will start at Strong safety. I think sooner than later you will see Major Wright start at Free and move Harris to strong where he can be alright player. Manning has all the talent in the world but cant seem to put it to good use. The overall point of the bears DBs is that there isnt a play maker among them. Unless Bowman or Wright emerge as playmakers, this secondary is at best average and the defense will need the front seven to be good to great to cover up the secondary.

Special teams: The bears have had one of the top special teams units in the NFL for years and that shouldnt change this year. Robbie Gould is automatic and Brad Maynard is skilled at directionly punting which the bears value over leg stregnth. Hester, Manning and Knox will all be returning punts and kicks and i would look for 2+ TDs from them combined this year and pray that Devin can regain his 2006/7 form.

The Schedule: The bears schedule goes in waves with incredibly hard stretches followed by easy games. After much agonizing, here's what i think will happen this season.

Week 1 - Lions at home -- W (34-21 The lions are better but still not good)

Week 2 - at Cowboys -- L (The cowboys have too much talent and too good of pass rush)

Week 3 - Packers at home -- L (The pack is the class of the division and sadly they will win big)

Week 4 - at Giants -- L (Same as the coboys, too much talent and too much pass rush)

Week 5 - at Panthers -- W (Bears shut down the run & run all over the panthers, plus revenge game for peppers)

Week 6 - Seahawks at home -- W (Seahawks are terrible)

Week 7 - Redskins at home -- W (McNabb will be hurt by then)

Week 8 - bye

Week 9- Bills in toronto -- W (Bills are like a triple AAA football team)

Week 10- Vikings at home -- W (They have split with the viking 7 out of the 11 seasons)

Week 11 - at Dolphins -- L (Their defense will disrupt Culter & the passing game)

Week 12 - Eagles at home -- W (Kolb will have many bumps along the road including this game)

Week 13 - at Lions -- W (The lions still arent good)

Week 14 - Patriots at home -- W (Its not the same Pats team of years past and yep this is a gut call)

Week 15 - at Vikings -- L (I hate that stupid horn they have)

Week 16 - Jets at home -- L (Can the bears get more than 150 yds against the Jets D?)

Week 17 - at Packers -- L (Unless the pack doesnt need this game for playoffs, this will be a L)

Overall Record of 9-7. Yesterday I had them at 8-8 with losing both to the vikings but the vikes looked bad last night and i think the bears can steal one from them. Still they wont be in playoff contention because i think year in the NFC you need to win 10 to get the playoffs and their schedule in december is brutal. We will see flashes from the offense but the defense will be up and down every game. There might be a chance to sneak in the playoffs but the real suspense will be, does 9-7 save Lovie's job?? Let's settle in for a season of ups and downs and it will glue all us bears fans to the TVs every week.

Click-a-Bull (Kirk/Caron, TMac, Lovie Smith, Noah, Rose, Stats Outlier)

Caron Butler for Kirk Hinrich: A Move the Chicago Bulls Should Strongly Consider

Recently it's been rumored that the Washington Wizards are interested in trading former All-Star Caron Butler for longtime Chicago Bulls point guard Kirk Hinrich.

While Washington star guard Gilbert Arenas has the team reminiscing about past mascots, the Wizards have began openly talking about dumping a star player in order to get some sort of order back to such a distraught organization.

Butler and current leading scorer Antawn Jamison have both been rumored to be on the trading block as long as the Wizards can find some guys that don't like to shoot, per se.

And what better person and leader is there to try to organize a team than Kirk Hinrich?

VOTE IN THE POLL --->



Shots just not falling for Hinrich

Kirk Hinrich does a lot of positive things that don't show up in the box score, but you can't have a starting shooting guard bricking wide-open shots the way he did Tuesday night.

He missed a wide-open three from the left corner with about a minute and a half left that would have given the Bulls the lead, and then two possessions later missed a 16-footer with about 25 seconds left that would have tied the game.

''The first one ... I thought was going in,'' Hinrich said. ''But then the second one, I came off [a screen] naked, and I just felt like my feet weren't set.''

T-Mac takes his spot on the NBA trading block

I thought I knew where Tracy McGrady was headed last week. I thought I had it figured out given the Rockets’ parameters. They seem to want most a potentially unexplored talent underutilized where he is. I am fairly confident from talking to some general managers that nothing much is going on yet regarding McGrady, whom the Rockets conceded last week they are prepared to trade as he left the team to return to Chicago to train.

My guess then was he would end up with the Washington Wizards for a package of players that included some expiring contacts to get the Rockets below the luxury tax and little used JaVale McGee, who has star potential.

Perhaps it’s still possible, though who knows anymore with last week’s gun incident with Gilbert Arenas (of course) and Javaris Crittenton. I’ve since heard the Wizards are on the verge of a deal that could be completed in the next day or so. I don’t know what it is, but it’s not the latest speculated deal involving Kirk Hinrich (happy 29th birthday already, Kirk on Saturday) and Jerome James for Caron Butler and Mike James. I’ve heard the Bulls have had some talks with the Wizards, but none involving Butler.

Lovie Smith keeps his job and how it relates to the Bulls

The Bears announced yesterday that they're keeping Lovie Smith on for at least one more year though they're dumping all of the offensive assistants and agreeing to bring back in a defensive coordinator rather than having Smith run the defense while being the head coach. I'm sure many Bears fans are disappointed in the lack of action against Lovie, but here's the thing:

It's not Lovie's fault. Your team stinks. Your team stinks in the way the Bulls stink. They have some high caliber pieces, but they don't match the talent of most teams in the NFL. Jay Cutler is your Derrick Rose, the rest of your team is the rest of our team.

What do the Bears really have after that once Brian Urlacher [already in decline] went out for the season? A putrid offensive line, the worst receiving core in the NFL, and a running back who was overrated after a strong rookie campaign. On defense, they have no quality safeties, one quality linebacker, no pass rush, and decent corners.

Sit and ask yourself, how are the Bears going to win games? They can't rush the passer, they can't really stop the run. On offense they can't run the ball, and they don't have the receivers to have a really high powered passing game. They have no real competitive advantage against another team. They show flashes of everything, but consistency at nothing. There's no consistency because the team isn't good enough.

Sounds exactly like the Bulls, and much like the Bulls, fans have looked to blame the head coach. Much like the Bulls, the head coach isn't the primary problem. Do you really think another head coach comes in and takes that same team last season to the playoffs? Do you really think a new head coach would have figured out a way to protect Cutler better with that offensive line? Do you really think a new head coach would have gotten Cutler to not through so many interceptions?

Seven Surprises this NBA Season

6. Last season, neither Joakim Noah nor Gerald Wallace were in the top 30 in rebounding. This season, Noah is 2nd with 12.2 rpg and Wallace 3rd with 11.9 rpg. Kevin Love, who started the season injured, is also having a breakout year, grabbing 12.3 (only 17 games).

Only the Bulls can stop Derrick Rose

Charlotte is around the same level as the Bulls, and with them at home and the Bulls playing the night before, it's not a surprising loss.

What is alarming is the Bulls still being clueless in late-game situations. It looks like the pattern will be being terrible for 40 minutes and then hope Derrick Rose bails them out (until Rose's recent surge, it was just 48 terrible minutes). That's fine, superstars bail out bad teams (and organizations) all the time.

But after scoring several baskets upon entering the game midway through the fourth, Rose was unable to get a chance to follow through with the comeback. Some of it was his own doing, with lazy passes (and an iffy offensive foul) earning him 3 TOs in that final stint (I believe these were called BG TOs from commenters way back when?). And the Bobcats did make a good adjustment replacing DJ Augustin in the lineup and more effectively trapping Rose up top. Though it helped the 'cats cause with the Bulls lack-of-adjustments, always sending Noah up to screen and bringing an extra defender for Rose to go through...

What happened afterwards was worse, though. Rose took 2 shots in the final 3:30, one of those being a desperation 3-pointer after Salmons was caught in the air and passed him the ball in the final possession. Salmons managed to miss another three in that same possession, and it's pretty safe to say the Bulls should try and avoid 3-point deficits.

Early nominee for Statistical Outlier of the Year

We have a nominee for Statistical Outlier of the Year: Bobcats 113, Bulls 108. I'm not sure exactly what the odds were of the Bulls and Bobcats playing a 113-108 game in regulation, but I'm thinking they were well south of 1 percent.

The two teams entered Tuesday ranked 29th and 27th, respectively, in offensive efficiency, and 10th and third, respectively, at the defensive end. Charlotte had played only one game all season in which both teams eclipsed 105 points in regulation, a 106-105 win over Philadelphia on Dec. 5. That was one more than the Bulls had played; Chicago had seen both teams break the century mark in a game just once, a 103-101 loss to New Jersey on Dec. 8.

Somehow, all those tendencies went out the window Tuesday and neither side could miss, as both squads made more than half their shots. It was a fluke, of course, but it produced what was probably the most watchable game either team has played this season.

Interesting Poll Results

We recently posted an identical poll for both the Bears and the Bulls. The question: Would you rather the team

(a) win a bunch of games, get into the playoffs and make an early exit?

or

(b) lose a bunch of games, miss the playoffs, get the coach(es) fired, and start over next year?

We got the same number of votes in each poll, but completely opposite results.





______________________

Vote in the new poll --------------->
______________________




On the Bulls side, 65% of voters wanted the Bulls to make the playoffs, while only 35% wanted the Bulls to lose and get VDN fired. Compare that to the Bears side, where 65% of voters wanted the Bears to lose and get the coaches fired, while only 35% wanted the Bears to turn it around and make the playoffs.

So why the difference? I would guess that more people want to the Bulls to win and make the playoffs because it was earlier in the season and hopes were still high, plus there was excitement carrying over from the playoffs last year. People wanted the Bears to lose because expectations started high but they had been a huge disappointment, so people were giving up.

So am I right, or were there other reasons for the 2 different views? Let us know in the comments!