The updated Picks Contests playoff bracket is above. Rules for this week’s matches will be available with the Weekend Show on Friday.
Playoffs?! You Talk About Playoffs?!
The truth is this: it’s no fun to consider the Bears prospects of making the postseason. Two reasons: (1) They can’t seem to beat anyone and (2) Who would want to see Caleb Hanie start a road playoff game? The Bears would be in the playoffs today were they to have survived either the Chiefs or Broncos – two teams they would have beaten by three touchdowns each were Cutler the quarterback – and now would need help even if they were to go into Lambeau and pull the upset of the year. If you want to remain optimistic (and at least have some fun here down the stretch) pull for the Jaguars in Atlanta Thursday night. If Jacksonville wins, the Bears could find themselves truly back in the mix by beating the Seahawks.
On Jerry Angelo…
Anybody who is using the last three games as a mean to indict the management decisions of Jerry Angelo is off-base. The management decisions of Jerry Angelo had the Bears 7-3 and looking like one of the two or three best teams in the NFL. Then they lost their best offensive player (and second best player overall behind Peppers) and a team that scored four offensive touchdowns in the Detroit Lions game has scored three in three games since. Cutler is to the Bears what Eli Manning is the Giants, Brees is to the Saints and Big Ben is to the Steelers. If those teams lost their QB they’d be in the same situation the Bears are in right now.
Josh McCown Should Start Sunday
I don’t believe Josh McCown will be a significant improvement over Caleb Hanie but I do believe I’ve seen enough of Hanie. Put McCown in the game. If he looks like the second coming of Jonathan Quinn or Todd Collins after two or three drives, toss Hanie back into the fire and hope the benching serves as a wake up call. Hanie looked lost throwing the ball against a secondary that surrendered 400 yards to Christian Ponder the previous week. 400 yards. Christian Ponder. If Lovie continues to take the “Caleb is our quarterback” approach to the 2011 regular season, he may wind up 7-9.
I also Tweeted this yesterday but I’ll share it here now: we all owe Mike Martz an apology. He never believed in Caleb Hanie and was criticized handily for it, especially by me. He was right. I was wrong.
