Sunday, September 14, 2008

A few Sunday morning predictions

Just cuz I'm in this kind of a mood:

-Either the Vikings or the Colts are going to be 0-2 in about four or five hours. It's not going to be the Colts.

-The Bears are going to have an easier time rushing than everyone expects. The word around the league has been that Carolina "stopped" LT2 in San Diego last week. They didn't, really. They played well, but San Diego's offense only stumbled when they went to the pass, and they pretty much stopped running in the second half. Which isn't to say that Carolina completely stopped SD's passing game either: just that they never actually had to stop LT2 because SD didn't rely on him. The Bears would do well to try to rush to the outside more against Carolina than they did against Indy, because Carolina looks like it has a slower defense, but the Bears will have some success running wherever they do if they're rushing offense last week was any indication.

-There will be some interceptions in this game. Carolina's CB's are always looking to intercept first, and it's likely that they'll get one off of Orton. Meanwhile, Delhomme, the offensive spark that he is, was wildly off target fairly often against San Diego last week, and likely that'll happen a few times today, and the Bears' opportunistic defense has the speed to take advantage of mistakes like that. I expect the Bears to have the lead in this category, but I'll be really impressed if Orton manages yet another game without an INT.

-I expect this game to be closer than last week's. I'd be surprised--although totally impressed and excited--if the Bears' coaching staff came up with a game plan as effective as the one they had last week against the Colts. They'd been preparing that game plan for months--possibly even as long as since their Super Bowl. So here's hopin'! But I expect Carolina to get a few things across.

1 comment:

Marcus said...

Stop making predictions! It always backfires!