Bears Need Win vs Defending NFC Champs
At 4-3, this week’s game for the Bears vs. the Arizona Cardinals could be the biggest game of the year. Well, maybe not the biggest, but certianly one of the first “must wins.” There are currently seven teams in the NFC that have a 4-3 or 5-2 record, the Bears (4-3), Packers (4-3), Atlanta (4-3), and Arizona (4-3) are beind two NFC East teams at 5-2 (Philidelphia and Dallas) and the New York Football Giants at 5-3. Arizona is leading their division and one playoff spot will go to the NFC East champ, so the Bears are in a five team battle for two playoff spots at this time. Yes, its a bit early to start thinking about who is in/out, but a loss makes it much tougher down the road.
And after Arizona comes to town, Chicago will head into San Francisco, who could leap into the wildcard hunt if they win this weekend. It’d be much better for the Bears if they win this weekend at home to take off some of that pressure next week in San Francisco.
Arizona has the 18th ranked offense in the NFL, two spots better than Chicago’s 20th spot. The Cardinals also have the 18th ranked defense, while the Bears are ranked 11th overall. This should be a low scoring game.
The key to victory will be the ability of the defense to get to and pressure Kurt Warner (hate seeing a fellow UNI Panther do poorly, but GO BEARS) forcing him to take the sack or turn the ball over. Additionally, we’ll have to wait and see the status of Devon Hester and how much he can contribute with him being a bit banged up.
Finally, Ron Turner will have to get his head out of his no-offensive calling arse. Every week I try to figure out what he’s thinking, but its hard when the guy is obviously throwing darts at the playbook from afar. One day we might get us a real offensive coordinator (the Chicago offense finished 29th, 15th, 27th and 26th from 2005-08 and 28th, 23rd, 9th and 21st in his first stint from 1993-96), until then, we’ll just keep the hope that the Bears D can get the job done.
