Official 2023 season opener pregame thread: @Chicago Bears

[Poppa San]

Bout time to start talking about real games. MLF has never lost a game to the Bears as head coach. Jordan Love has never beaten them as a starter. Soldiers Field should be in about as good a condition as it gets. Nice tune-up game for one team or the other.

 

[OldSchool101]

It feels weird being the underdog for once. While it’s obviously just 1 game and very early in the season, capturing a Win would set the tempo

 

[milani]

It feels weird being the underdog for once. While it’s obviously just 1 game and very early in the season, capturing a Win would set the tempo

Will help deal with any overconfidence from past seasons.

 

[gopkrs]

The bears have improved on the D line which will help their pass rush. So we should have a good sense of how our guards and center will do. Otherwise, it is going to be very interesting. Would like us to keep the QB in the pocket. Make him throw and keep his running yards down. I think Love will spread the ball around and am looking forward to watching Q. I think if McDuffie plays; he will do fine.

 

[Voyageur]

Put simply, the Packers need to get to Fields soon and often in the first half, to insure they have a shot at this one. He has good wheels, and can create offense in the air, when given enough time to evaluate what's in front of him.

As far as our offense, as I've said for a long time. We need to score over 30 points to win games. I don't believe this game will be an exception.

 

[lambeaulambo]

Barry predeparture game 1...I'm going to give him 5 games before he is canned. We will not own the bears in this one. 28-17 bayers.

 

[milani]

Put simply, the Packers need to get to Fields soon and often in the first half, to insure they have a shot at this one. He has good wheels, and can create offense in the air, when given enough time to evaluate what's in front of him.

As far as our offense, as I've said for a long time. We need to score over 30 points to win games. I don't believe this game will be an exception.

What you just said means that all that has been invested in our defense has been for nothing all these years. That was the case made for more than a decade. We had a HOF QB but never had the resources or the coaching to provide a defense for him. Now that he is gone you are saying we STILL do not have one? 30 points a game? We might be 2-15 then.

 

[Voyageur]

What you just said means that all that has been invested in our defense has been for nothing all these years. That was the case made for more than a decade. We had a HOF QB but never had the resources or the coaching to provide a defense for him. Now that he is gone you are saying we STILL do not have one? 30 points a game? We might be 2-15 then.

Wait for it. The 30 points per game is based on the season long need. As far as the Bears, it could be a lower figure. They aren't really that good, but Fields could beat them with his legs. We have a history with our defense of letting QBs get away on scrambles.

We'll have some idea where it's going after the game next Sunday. As for my personal opinion, I'm just not a proponent of the 3-4, 3-3-5 defense. You need special talent inside and outside at LB to make it happen, along with the horses in the front 3 to act as a wrecking crew going into the middle on pass rushes.

I just don't think we're even close to having a dominating defense.

 

[milani]

Wait for it. The 30 points per game is based on the season long need. As far as the Bears, it could be a lower figure. They aren't really that good, but Fields could beat them with his legs. We have a history with our defense of letting QBs get away on scrambles.

We'll have some idea where it's going after the game next Sunday. As for my personal opinion, I'm just not a proponent of the 3-4, 3-3-5 defense. You need special talent inside and outside at LB to make it happen, along with the horses in the front 3 to act as a wrecking crew going into the middle on pass rushes.

I just don't think we're even close to having a dominating defense.

I do not think we are dominating either. I do think our defense will be pretty good but will have to play too MUCH defense. And I, too, do not like the 3-4 or 3-3-5.

 

[Firethorn1001]

If they score 30 a game, on average, they will be in the Super Bowl.

 

[weeds]

As for my personal opinion, I'm just not a proponent of the 3-4, 3-3-5 defense. You need special talent inside and outside at LB to make it happen, along with the horses in the front 3 to act as a wrecking crew going into the middle on pass rushes.

I just don't think we're even close to having a dominating defense.

Yeah. I'm right there with ya, brother.

For what it's worth, I have an official NFL gear ( the tag is still on it ) NFC North Champions hat - from which year, I don't recall - that doesn't have the "year" on it. I have pulled it out of my hat closet for this season and was taunting a Bears' fan with it this morning. I call it my Champions in Perpetuity Hat. The NFL just got tired of redesigning the hats every year when everybody KNEW the Pack were going to win it anyway. So it is written, so it shall be.

My wife's uncle who was a Bears' fan by birthright passed away this year. Every year, it was the same old refrain, "When Favre retires, you Puker fans will be brought back to reality ...." Maybe...uhhh...not so much, eh? Then, he passes away right before Rodgers gets traded. Still, I was welcomed into her family the very season the Bears won the Super Bowl following the '85 season - I don't have to tell you that season marked the first salvos of 40 years of sh*t talk.

Anyway, THIS would have been his year for retribution, or "a return to the norm" as Larry used to predict - still and the same, losing to the Bears is the one thing I just cannot stomach, although, this year's L0INS may be close. (I can't believe I had to trick the filter to misspell Lions)

Therefore, the Pack will beat the Bears twice this year. This coming Sunday will be a win due to both defenses being unable to find their collected a**es with both hands but the Pack's new kicker's sole FG from 53 yards out will barely go over the crossbar (he'll miss 3 other attempts from the 10-yard line, the 12-yard line and the 16-yard line).

Remember: I have a Champions in Perpetuity Hat and am not afraid to use it.

 

[Voyageur]

Love that hat! Hope you're right on kicking some hairy woodsy beasts into submission again. Hopefully the same with those horney Scandinavians, and wild Serengeti types.

I know the feeling on the thing with Bears fans. Imagine this guy I have had a $20 bet on for each Packer Bears game since about 1995. Even though he lives in Rockford, IL, every year, when they lose both games to the packers, he sends me my $40.

I hope to see him one more time before one of us is gone. We've tipped a few glasses, talking football.

I worry about our defense too. Fields can be such a wild card out there. I don't know if we have the speed in our front seven to keep him honest.

EDIT: I see what you mean about those verboten words. That one I have in front of Scandinavians was not accepted. Had to add a letter to it.

 

[OldSchool101]

Put simply, the Packers need to get to Fields soon and often in the first half, to insure they have a shot at this one. He has good wheels, and can create offense in the air, when given enough time to evaluate what's in front of him.

As far as our offense, as I've said for a long time. We need to score over 30 points to win games. I don't believe this game will be an exception.

If we score 30+ points I’d be tickled.
That first game of the season is always speculative. Look at how Rodgers n Co got blown out in Jacksonville the other year 3-38? Tom Brady lost a season or two before that in the opener 3-38. Week 1 is really tough to gauge future success. Although with a team projected to win ~7 games area, that game going into the Win column is pretty important.
The pressure is on Chicago even more though. All the talk of how much better they’ll be and this is a home game against a team that has largely dominated them for 30 years. We even knocked them out of their chance at reaching a SB in 2010. It would be bordering on humiliating for Chicago having a green pea QB come in and continue that getting slapped around.

 

[Poppa San]

As for my personal opinion, I'm just not a proponent of the 3-4, 3-3-5 defense.

If Cap'n were still here he'd debate the 3-4 as wrong and assert we run a 4-3 with the DE/Edge standing up.

wild Serengeti types

Until a few hundred years ago lions roamed the mountainous areas of the Mideast. Historically they are native throughout Africa, southern Europe and southern Asia. There is still a distinct subspecies living wild in the Pakistan and India area from some ruler's personal estate. Lions mind you not tigers or cougars or other felines.

EDIT: I see what you mean about those verboten words. That one I have in front of Scandinavians was not accepted. Had to add a letter to it.

We didn't get to choose the language nanny.. It really hits on almost anything that refers even remotely to "adult activities" (though children are no longer socially excluded in today's culture.)

That first game of the season is always speculative. Look at how Rodgers n Co got blown out in Jacksonville the other year 3-38? Tom Brady lost a season or two before that in the opener 3-38. Week 1 is really tough to gauge future success.

I recall a few decades back I think it was Pittsburgh got smoked first two games before winning out or close to it. I don't recall their post season fate.

 

[Voyageur]

If Cap'n were still here he'd debate the 3-4 as wrong and assert we run a 4-3 with the DE/Edge standing up.

Until a few hundred years ago lions roamed the mountainous areas of the Mideast. Historically they are native throughout Africa, southern Europe and southern Asia. There is still a distinct subspecies living wild in the Pakistan and India area from some ruler's personal estate. Lions mind you not tigers or cougars or other felines.

We didn't get to choose the language nanny.. It really hits on almost anything that refers even remotely to "adult activities" (though children are no longer socially excluded in today's culture.)

I recall a few decades back I think it was Pittsburgh got smoked first two games before winning out or close to it. I don't recall their post season fate.

I don't think anyone has reason to complain. It's better to have controls, even if they sometimes seem a little too restrictive, then it is to let people act out like idiots. There are sites they can visit that are like that. I'm glad it isn't at any places I visit and post. People need to learn self control, and improve on their usage of the English language.

 

[Poppa San]

I don't think anyone has reason to complain. It's better to have controls, even if they sometimes seem a little too restrictive, then it is to let people act out like idiots. There are sites they can visit that are like that. I'm glad it isn't at any places I visit and post. People need to learn self control, and improve on their usage of the English language.

As I tell most young people, a well placed occasional curse word is effective. Cursing every other word loses it's effect and means you're too dumb to think of the right word.

 

[PackerDNA]

Just a gut feeling right now, but I think the Packers are going to win this game decisively. I'm pretty excited for the season.

 

[Voyageur]

I think this one will be 27-24. Twenty-Seven will win. Which team will that be? It will be the one that scores 27 points, doh!!!

I don't want to pick it, but I think it's the Bears by a whisker. They won't go into hibernation until about the 7th game.

 

[AmishMafia]

Lots of folks writing off the Packers because we lost our HOF QB. We did not.
We lost an average QB. Aaron Rodgers did not play at a HOF level last season. He was average to a bit below average QB last season and we still just missed the playoffs. I think with improvements at OL, DL, MLB, and OLB, we should be a borderline playoff team if Love is a bit below average. Should he play good, which I am expecting, we should be a feared team that gets into the playoffs.

I'm shocked the Packers are underdogs in this game. If I had a nearby sportsbook, I would put some $ where my mouth is.

Packers 27 - Bears 16

Love has higher QB rating in this game than Fields, and that will be true at the end of the season as well.

Musgrave and doubs get TDs. AJ gets a TD run as well.

 

[Half Empty]

Lots of folks writing off the Packers because we lost our HOF QB. We did not.
We lost an average QB. Aaron Rodgers did not play at a HOF level last season. He was average to a bit below average QB last season and we still just missed the playoffs. I think with improvements at OL, DL, MLB, and OLB, we should be a borderline playoff team if Love is a bit below average. Should he play good, which I am expecting, we should be a feared team that gets into the playoffs.

I'm shocked the Packers are underdogs in this game. If I had a nearby sportsbook, I would put some $ where my mouth is.

Packers 27 - Bears 16

Love has higher QB rating in this game than Fields, and that will be true at the end of the season as well.

Musgrave and doubs get TDs. AJ gets a TD run as well.

Talk about subjective. Just for fun, searched for "2022 QB rankings", and AR was variously #3, 4, 8, 14, 17, and 26.

 

[AmishMafia]

Well, sort thru the stats. 11th in yds, 24th yds per attempt, 23rd in comp %, and 18th in rating. This is NFL.com. nothing really stands out as excelling in anything. How he can be rated in the top 5 is difficult to imagine the metric.

 

[OldSchool101]

As I tell most young people, a well placed occasional curse word is effective. Cursing every other word loses it's effect and means you're too dumb to think of the right word.

Once in school many moons ago we had Penmanship class. I refused to participate and they called my parents in for a conference. My Mom asked me why in just that one class I would not communicate? I told them because ever since I was a young child I had been warned not to cursive.
It makes sense why my teacher kept giving me the lowest “F” letter grade. I suppose looking back she was just trying to get to the bottom of it all.

 

[Poppa San]

Once in school many moons ago we had Penmanship class. I refused to participate and they called my parents in for a conference. My Mom asked me why in just that one class I would not communicate? I told them because ever since I was a young child I had been warned not to cursive.
It makes sense why my teacher kept giving me the lowest “F” letter grade. I suppose looking back she was just trying to get to the bottom of it all.

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[OldSchool101]

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It’s ok I think it was just a misunderstanding between my teacher and myself. I thought when they told me not “curse” that somehow “cursive” was putting cursing into some form of written action plan for it’s root word.
Then I remember around that time the part of being kept after school with all the slow kids and that was awkward. I don’t like “cursive” to this very day it holds a bad connotation. I know everyone is trying to push cursive down our throats again.. but for me personally I prefer print it’s easy and safer

Packers 24 Bears 20

 

[Voyageur]

Actually, curse dates back to the 1200s. It was loosely a term for anger, and somehow related to vocal anger. It was about 500 years later that it was turned into the form we see it used today.

Studying the evolution of words and language is boring, so most people don't find it interesting enough to try. I hate to admit it, but at one time, I enjoyed doing that, and did quite a bit of it to insure I was using correct words when I was writing something from a bygone era.

In the 1400s, if someone was mad at someone, they'd say; "Curse them!" Anger.

As an example, if it was 1895, and people were having fun, you would refer to them as having a gay old time. To today's reader, it has a totally different connotation.