I still don’t understand the new kick offs. Really don’t care too. Just look for a kneel or a run out.
If a Special Teams unit is on point, it provides opportunities for both the kicking side of the ball and the returning. I don’t trust the Vikings Special Teams as far as I can kick them. They have been inconsistent all year, and I thought in the Packer game, they were just bad because of how many mistakes they made.The worst game for them all year.
I concur with everything Big Werm just wrote. If the Lions are going to win, they probably will need to win the turnover battle decisively like they did last night with two second-half INT’s. The problem with that for the Lions is the Vikings D are ball-hawks. And they are exceptional at turning opponents over on Downs if they go for it on 4th Down. With every other team in the league, the odds are about a coin flip or better for the team that chooses to go for it. The Vikes stuff the play almost 2/3rds of the time,
KOC..
Ooh we can attack that guy.
Ooh that play should work.
Ooh no way that guy can cover JJ.
And all the other high football IQ players and coaches are getting ideas in real time as well. I am just astounded by how poor Dan Campbell is at the strategic level. Every hard hit on a Lions player on Offense, yes more please. Beat ’em up, 9er Gang.
I was under the impression that the Eagles had beaten the Bucs, but they in fact lost to them. So the Lions must beat the Eagles on another layer of tiebreaker.
I was wrong, you guys are right.
Detroit and Vikes hold the conference record tie break over the eagles. Which in your scenario that is what tie breaker would be used. There is not a scenario the Eagles can be 1.
That is true as of right now. If the Lions lose tonight and Vikes lose next week. They will all be equal in the Conference. Lions would hold the head to head over the Vikes, so they are eliminated and Eagles hold the tiebreaker over the Lions on common opponents. Lions eliminated.
Right now, the Eagles, Vikings, and Lions can all finish the season with a record of 14-3. If that happens the Eagles will get the #1 Seed in the NFC. The places that say the Eagles have been eliminated from #1 Seed contention are factually wrong. I was giving out the correct info and was corrected a couple of times with inaccurate info.
I was responding to a couple of absurd posts about how the Lions had nothing to play for tonight and could rest their starters.
If the Lions win tonight, the Eagles are eliminated because either the Vikes or Lions will finish with just 2 losses.
If the Lions lose tonight, they will probably lose out on the #1 Seed in the NFC because the Eagles will have the same record, and they own the tiebreaker because they beat the Bucs, but the Lions lost to them. The stakes are just as high for them as they were for us. Losing either game makes getting to the Super Bowl way less likely.
Yay for me. I always thought Bud Grant’s take on it was idiotic. Make the game as fun as you can for the gladiators that play it and they will raise their level of play if showboating or celebrating is a motivator for a player. If guys can’t back it up with their play it’s the Not For Long league. If they can back it up, more power to ’em.
Dirtywater is an intelligent Packer fan. Just because my squad beat his squad this time doesn’t guarantee anything at playoff time. Moss mooning the Packers in Lambert and taking their lunch money after the Pack beat us both times in the regular season gives testimony to that. The Packers were a bit banged up this meeting. I have little doubt that the Vikings are the better team, except maybe on Special Teams. They screw up way too often, and this was among their worst performances yet. Love can be a very good and dangerous QB at times. He is difficult to sack, streaky, and when he is hot, look out. I never bad-mouth a good QB because that is a hard job to be good at, and I’ve watched enough of Love for him to earn my respect. I think if we meet in the playoffs, the Packers will dig deeper for the win. Unfortunately for them, I think the Vikings can kick up their intensity a notch or two higher as well.
Last year J Love played his best football down the stretch into the playoffs. Because the run game has been so dominant the last couple of games, his uneven play hasn’t mattered much. I thought he really balled out in the loss to the Lions in Detroit. I’m really looking forward to the match-up this week of the Vikes D vs. the Pack running game and J. Love, who brings his best to big games.
Chicken’s pick it for the W.
Will Da Bears pull it out vs. the Seachickens? Bears driving in the 4th Q down 6-3.
Packers win Sunday by 2 touchdowns
My confidence level in a Vike’s victory just skyrocketed.
Boom! (The Dagger INT)
TD or bust
Not choosing to run on first down to make Seattle use their timeouts was stupid and costly. Yuge brain fart by KOC.
Da Bears not looking good. Two fumbles in the 1st Quarter.
Ok, Caleb, stop feeling sorry for yourself. You can make your team’s season by beating the Lions at home. Their D is a vulnerable trainwreck. This is very much a winnable game if you play like you did against the Vikings at home a few weeks ago. Recapture that magic. Rally your Defense, and give that home crowd what they are hungry to get loud for. You can do it. I’ve seen it. The Lions are feeling the pressure of the walls closing in on them. Kick ’em, and don’t stop kicking ’em until the clock hits zero.
I’ve never run into the issue, but if I did I would go over and talk to the person/group. Tell them what my plans were and see if we could come to an agreement. I’m not much of a hole hopper who prefers to fish with an underwater camera if there is enough light out. My plan would be to drop the camera down in holes until I spot fish, then set up camp, drilling 3 additional holes: one for the camera, one for a dead stick, one to jig, or for the Vex. Presumably, a person using a Livescope and hole hopping to maximise his catch isn’t going to feel threatened by a mostly stationary turtle.
Nobody knows how the book of Uncle Sam’s 2024/25 season ends. So far, it is a feel-good thrill ride. Next Chapter: Sam Invades SeaChicken Territory To Take On The 12’s.
I just discovered that the Saints/Pack game is on Monday Night. This means the Pack will come into US Bank to play the Vikes on a short week. Interesting.
The Bears didn’t fight for every blade of grass like a typical Bears/Vikes game. For whatever reason, the Bears were disinterested in getting really physical. I’ll take it.
The last Packers/Lions game had a physical intensity of 9 or 10.
The Bills/Lions game was also a 9 or 10.
The Packers/SeaChicken game was an 8 or 9
This Bears/Vikes match-up was a 5 at best. That bodes very well for the Vikings and very badly for the SeaChickens. It adds a minimum of 10% to the Vikes win probability next week and as high as 35% if Geno is really hobbled or just can’t go. With the loss and all the injuries the Lions sustained yesterday, their win probability dipped to 55-60% for next week. The Lions are highly vulnerable if the Bears show up and fight next week. Which I’m sure they will. I’ve been saying it for weeks: the Lions are in trouble. They may not win another game this season, thanks to the additional injuries they sustained against the Bills.
It looked to me like Da Bears did the smart thing and didn’t play a particularly intense physical or competitive game against the Vikes. Well done Bears, now go out and shock the world next week.
Looks like the Pack will dispatch the Seahawks without much trouble.
Yep, the Pack laid the smackdown tonight.
Buffalo got complacent in the final two minutes. They screwed up two chances to put more pressure on the Lions. Now the Lions will be coming out of the half with momentum and only down 7 points. If the Lions D can make a stand coming out of half it will be nip and tuck.
It’s SeaChicken Week for the Green and Gold. One of the podcasts I listen to uses the SeaChickens as the demarcation line for good teams. Beating them means the squad is pretty good, and if your squad can’t beat the Chickens, they are frauds. The Giants did beat Seattle, but that was after they got beat up by the Lions. I think this game is a good test of where the Pack are at right now.
Does this logic only work for bad teams or can it work for good teams too?
This is dictated by the situation the good team is in. What is it that they have to play for? If they are playing for anything meaningful at all as far as playoff standings go, it’s either pedal to the medal or as close as possible without taking too much tread off your player’s tires. They need to have their players able to give their best in the most meaningful games. This is why fighting to get the #1 Seed in the Conference is a hill worth dying on if a team is in the race for it. I think the Lions are in real trouble. They had a fight to the death last week vs. the Pack. This week, it is a fight to the death vs. Bills. That is back-to-back games against tough competition while short-handed on Defense. The Vikes can’t afford to overlook the Bears, but they can’t afford to run A Jones or their defensive starters, who have been playing a lot of minutes the last few weeks, into the ground either. The Eagles are in a similar position to the Vikes. This is a balancing act that the coaches have to manage. The best coaching staff at managing it all wins the right to go to the Super Bowl. The Packers coaching staff has their hands full this week up in Seattle trying to avoid a losing streak, but the stakes are not as high as the Lions, Eagles, and Vikes. The Pack would like to win but don’t have to this week, so they are playing with house money against a team fighting for its playoff life. The situation is an important component of the strategy.
I don’t think much of Dan Campbell as a strategist. His agressiveness works for him until it blows up in his face
Let me put it in BP’s % where I see things sitting right now.
The Bears have a 10 to 15% chance of beating the Vikes
And the Bears have 35% to 40% chance of beating the Lions at home
If they give their all in a losing attempt to beat the Vikes, then the % fall to 20 to 25% to beat the Lions. If they beat the Vikes they fall to 25 to 35% to beat the Lions. Really laying it on the line against the Vikes is wasting valuable ammunition. Throwing good money after bad. It’s strategic stupidity. You come to MN, go through the motions, and live to fight on the day when the odds are more favorable to your squad. The Lions are more vulnerable than the Vikings right now. It’s obvious.If they are smart they will lean into where their chances are best. That is my argument and it is sound.
Why not play to win every week?
Save the “lose for a better draft pick” garbage.
It’s called using leverage to your advantage. Playing smarter means you can play harder when you are in the most advetageous position or at the most critical moment. Strategy 101. If you fail to think that way as the Bears did in 18/19 it has real costs. You can only get away from bad fundamentals in strategy for so long. Especially against superior teams or peers.
Winning in NFL Football is a marathon not a sprint.
If I were the Bears coaching staff, I would be targeting next week’s game at home vs. the Lions for the upset of the season. Coming into MN after the show the Vikes put on for their fans last week, the Vikes team is hot and fan base are going to be charged up on Monday night. Your squad has a much better shot at winning at home vs. that beat-up Lions D. That is the smart strategic move.
I thought the Bears should have thrown the final game of the season in 2018/19 when they played the Vikes at home. Instead, they won a meaningless game and got beat the following week at home in the first round of the playoffs by the Eagles.
If Da Bears are smart, they will be playing this week to win next week versus a more vulnerable team in front of their fans. That means plugging in their 2nd and 3rd stringers as if they were starters this week and sprinkling in the starters with individual pitch counts per player, much like how the Vikes have been handling Aaron Jones the past couple of games.
