NFL (2024 Season)

[ilpt4u]

My 2 cents from someone who's watched > 90% of Bears games dating back to the early 1980s:

The Bears have a very strange dynamic in that they are Top 5 in the league in terms of defensive talent and at the same time Bottom 5 in the league in terms of offensive talent, and it's been this way to varying degrees for going on 30 years. What makes this really unusual is that it has persisted through a variety of GMs and coaches. I don't know if there is some weird nostalgia about the 1985 team or if coincidentally they've all been really bad at identifying offensive talent.

To be more specific, the offensive line, which is the most underrated position group in the game in terms of importance. With an elite offensive line, you can have a productive offense with less than elite skill players. An elite offensive line forces you to put 8 defenders in the box to be able to stop the run, which opens up the passing game, and it forces you to rush 5+ defenders in order to get pressure on the QB, which makes covering the receivers much harder.

For a converse example, consider my college alma mater, Notre Dame. They have, hands down, the best offensive line in college football. If you look at QB, RB, and WR, they don't come close to matching Clemson but that line gave them the ability to take them down.

The Bears as an organization just don't get it.

Almost makes you wonder if Virginia McCaskey and her children/Halas's grandchildren are more involved in Football Ops than we are often lead to believe. Ownership is the constant, over varying GMs and Coaching Staffs

[thspfc]

My 2 cents from someone who's watched > 90% of Bears games dating back to the early 1980s:

The Bears have a very strange dynamic in that they are Top 5 in the league in terms of defensive talent and at the same time Bottom 5 in the league in terms of offensive talent, and it's been this way to varying degrees for going on 30 years. What makes this really unusual is that it has persisted through a variety of GMs and coaches. I don't know if there is some weird nostalgia about the 1985 team or if coincidentally they've all been really bad at identifying offensive talent.

To be more specific, the offensive line, which is the most underrated position group in the game in terms of importance. With an elite offensive line, you can have a productive offense with less than elite skill players. An elite offensive line forces you to put 8 defenders in the box to be able to stop the run, which opens up the passing game, and it forces you to rush 5+ defenders in order to get pressure on the QB, which makes covering the receivers much harder.

For a converse example, consider my college alma mater, Notre Dame. They have, hands down, the best offensive line in college football. If you look at QB, RB, and WR, they don't come close to matching Clemson but that line gave them the ability to take them down.

The Bears as an organization just don't get it.

Almost makes you wonder if Virginia McCaskey and her children/Halas's grandchildren are more involved in Football Ops than we are often lead to believe. Ownership is the constant, over varying GMs and Coaching Staffs

That's definitely part of it. Sooner or later the old timers need to come to reality and realize that defense doesn't always win championships. The only real defensive teams to win the Super Bowl recently were the Legion of Boom Seahawks and the No Fly Zone Broncos. Those defenses were arguably better than the '85 Bears.

[SSOWorld]

I don't get why people are so astounded when players go down/out of bounds intentionally. It's not a new tactic, and it doesn't take a football genius to understand that it's better to keep the clock moving than score in some situations. And obviously players aren't thinking about bettors or their fantasy stock while playing.

Fantasy football and sports betting are addictive and obsessive

[thspfc]

I don't get why people are so astounded when players go down/out of bounds intentionally. It's not a new tactic, and it doesn't take a football genius to understand that it's better to keep the clock moving than score in some situations. And obviously players aren't thinking about bettors or their fantasy stock while playing.

Fantasy football and sports betting are addictive and obsessive

Absolutely. But the point is that people shouldn't be acting like intentionally not scoring is some revolutionary 500 IQ Belichickian tactic.

[thspfc]

Sick of the Cardinals hype. They started 4-2 against a pillowfight schedule (4-6 Niners, 2-7 WFT, 4-5 Lions, 3-7 Panthers, 0-9 Jets, 2-7 Cowboys post-injury). Then they beat Seattle, who was highly overrated in hindsight, in overtime, and everyone lost their minds. Since? Lost to a QB making his second career start, needed a hail mary to beat Buffalo, and lost to the Seahawks, who played like garbage last night and still won. Now this is not to say that I am not excited to see what they can do. They have a very good young quarterback, arguably the league's best WR, and an interesting head coach. But this year is not their year, and that's okay. They were 3-13 two years ago and 5-10-1 last year. A rebuild is a rebuild, and they're headed in the right direction, but the media has gone absoultely bonkers over a team that is really nothing special.

[thspfc]

Also, Ravens lost to the mediocre Patriots (mediocre Patriots still feels weird to say) on Sunday night. I forgot to dunk on everyone who called me stupid or other things for saying this in September.

It's becoming increasingly clear that Lamar Fakeson won the MVP on athletic ability, not football knowledge or leadership qualities. Put him against a defense that can figure him out, and he's toast.

Is all.

Is all.

[thspfc]

Vikings win in Chicago, which they never do going back the last 20 years.

What? They did in 2017.

[webny99]

The "Hail Murray" play, as it's been dubbed, already has it's own Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hail_Murray
Hopkins tweeted that the best meme of his catch gets a signed jersey, which led to some great entertainment, although painful at times for Bills fans.

[thspfc]

Say what you will about the caliber of the teams in the NFC East but that is going to be a really exciting division race. Everyone within a half game of each other. Right now the Eagles are on top but they've shown me abosultely nothing positive for most of the season. Giants have played five of their six divisional games, so they are going to need to find wins elsewhere if they want to take the crown. Daniel Jones has one career win against out of division teams so I don't think they're going to do that. That leaves Washington, who seemingly has new life with Alex Smith, and Dallas, who is hopefully done with their quarterback revolving door and still has three more divisional games to play.

[1995hoo]

The New York NFC Football Team do, however, hold the tiebreaker over the Redskins by virtue of having swept the season series. The division could conceivably come down to the Redskins—Philadelphia game on the final day of the season, depending on how the next few weeks go.

I would have laughed had today's game ended in a tie. The Cincinnati Football Team and Redskins tied 27—27 in London the last time they had played before today. The real lesson, though, is–if you're a quarterback, try to avoid playing in Washington the two weekends before Thanksgiving. Joe Theismann, Alex Smith, and now Joe Burrow. Ouch.

[NWI_Irish96]

The Packers have never won a game in the state of Indiana (excluding preseason)

[webny99]

My goodness the NFC East is a bloodbath, with three 3-7 teams plus the 3-6-1 Eagles.

The funniest thing is that the division as a whole had just two (!) wins outside the division entering today, and with Washington and the Cowboys both winning today, they've doubled it - in Week 11!

This is going to sound ridiculous, but I'm picking the Cowboys to win it.

[ilpt4u]

The Packers have never won a game in the state of Indiana (excluding preseason)

Not like there are an abundance of opportunities. Colts arrived in Indy in 1984. The AFC vs NFC scheduling formulas have changed, especially as the NFL went from 6 total Divisions to 8 total Divisions, but inter-conference games are not common. Under the current NFL schedule formula, inter-conference teams play each other every 4 years, and they alternate at which site. So GB-IND was in Indy this year; in 2024 will be in Green Bay; in 2028 will be back in Indy, depending on what the NFL does for the 17th game when it is added to the schedule. Most theories I have read on that imply it will be in intra-conference game added

So, once every 8 years they get to play a regular season game in Indiana. The only other chances to play in IN then become Superbowls hosted at Lucas Oil Stadium (I looked up if the Hoosier/RCA Dome ever hosted a SB - answer is no). The only SB played at Lucas Oil was XLVI, where the Giants beat the Patriots

[Alps]

The Packers have never won a game in the state of Indiana (excluding preseason)

I had to check this. The Evansville Crimson Giants played in Wisconsin, but Green Bay never returned the favor. Hammond Pros were a traveling team. They never played the Muncie Flyers. And that was every non-Colts team in Indiana.

[jeffandnicole]

My goodness the NFC East is a bloodbath, with three 3-7 teams plus the 3-6-1 Eagles.

The funniest thing is that the division as a whole had just two (!) wins outside the division entering today, and with Washington and the Cowboys both winning today, they've doubled it - in Week 11!

This is going to sound ridiculous, but I'm picking the Cowboys to win it.

It's guaranteed Washington or Dallas will take the lead in the Division Thursday, as they play against each other...unless somehow that game ends in a tie.

[kurumi]

Have there ever been two divisions in a conference (North and West, NFC) completely ahead of another (East) ten or more weeks into the season? (Specifically, last place north and west teams have a better record than first place east)

[thspfc]

The Packers have never won a game in the state of Indiana (excluding preseason)

I don't believe they've ever won in New Hampshire either.

[NWI_Irish96]

The Packers have never won a game in the state of Indiana (excluding preseason)

I don't believe they've ever won in New Hampshire either.

I'm going to guess they've never played there either. Are there any other state where the Packers have actually played games but never won?

[webny99]

Have there ever been two divisions in a conference (North and West, NFC) completely ahead of another (East) ten or more weeks into the season? (Specifically, last place north and west teams have a better record than first place east)

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say No, certainly not in Week 11, certainly not with two other divisions, and maybe not ever in any week aside from some flukey examples in the first couple weeks of the season.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

The Packers have never won a game in the state of Indiana (excluding preseason)

I don't believe they've ever won in New Hampshire either.

I'm going to guess they've never played there either. Are there any other state where the Packers have actually played games but never won?

Not the Packers, but the Jets have never beaten Philadelphia anywhere.

[Big John]

Packers never won in Buffalo.

[NWI_Irish96]

Packers never won in Buffalo.

But they've almost certainly won in New York state before, given that the Giants played there until 1975.

[Big John]

Packers never won in Buffalo.

But they've almost certainly won in New York state before, given that the Giants played there until 1975.

Yes, they won the 1961 NFL championship at Yankee Stadium.

[ilpt4u]

Packers never won in Buffalo.

But they've almost certainly won in New York state before, given that the Giants played there until 1975.

Yes, they won the 1961 NFL championship at Yankee Stadium.

They beat the Giants multiple times in New York State, at the Polo Grounds and Yankee Stadium

They beat the NFL Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field

They even beat the Staten Island Stapletons, during the Staples short existance in the NFL, on Staten Island

[Roadgeekteen]

This has been a rough year to be a Patriots fan. Go Bucs I guess.