LET'S GO FOR FOUR IN A ROW!!! HEPCAT'S WEEKLY POSITIVITY POST!

[hepcat]

Well guys, here we are again. Three weeks of positivity posts, three straight wins. So SADDLE THE F*CK UP AND GET READY FOR ROUND 4!!! 

Much like the Falcons, the Bears have owned the Panthers in recent years. The Panthers have beaten the Bears ONCE in the past 10 years!!! A 31-24 victory in 2014. I think it's time to change that. 

Teddy Bridgewater is 4-1 against the Bears all time, including a lights-out performance against them last season with the Saints. Sign me up for that sh*t.

Long story short, this game is very winnable. I dove in and watched the highlights and lowlights of the Bears 5 games this season and I have to say, they are a very beatable team for being 4-1. They play like an 8-8 team which I fully expected their record to be at the end of the season. Inconsistent play on both sides of the ball doesn't lead to playoff appearances very often. 

Nick Foles is so hot and cold it's hard to get a read on him. He'll throw a perfect dime and then a dead duck two throws in a row. It's no secret why he's bounced around the league so often. The Bears offense also misses Tarik Cohen - hard. He gave their offense a lot of speed to the edges. Cordarrelle Patterson is trying to fill that role but he's not as shifty. The offense sputters a lot before finding footing later in games.

Anyway, here's what I saw in their 5 games.

Week 1: The Lions were up 23-6 late in the 3rd quarter of this one. Then what happened? The Lions couldn't pressure mistake-prone Mitch Trubisky, who dinked and dunked his way down the field to bring the team back. The Lions missed a 4th quarter FG that could have been the edge in the game (a theme that has benefitted the Bears throughout their season). The Bears used speed to get to the edges of what looked like a slow Lions defense. Matt Stafford drove the Lions down into Bears territory but couldn't close out the game, including a drop from a RB with the ball in his hands in the end zone that would have won them the game at the end. Bears get lucky and start 1-0.

Week 2: The Bears lead the Giants 17-0 at halftime. The Giants had lost Saquan Barkley for the season in the 2nd quarter. The Bears Giants missed a long Graham Gano The Bears didn't score a single point in the second half. At the end of the game, the Giants had the ball in the red zone with seconds to play with a chance to win the game. Daniel Jones isn't that good so the Bears won. With competent QB play, the Giants would have pulled this one out.

Week 3: The Falcons meltdown after holding a 26-10 lead in the 4th quarter. Matt Nagy threw in Nick Foles to give the team a jolt. The Bears get lucky again. The Falcons missed a FG and had wide open dropped passes on 3rd downs. The Bears should have lost this game - badly - if the Falcons were anywhere near competent. 

Week 4: Bears lose to the Colts. The Colts defense is the real deal so the Bears were shut down. They held the Bears to 3 points until under 2 minutes in the 4th quarter when the Bears scored a garbage time TD with barely a breath left to win. I hope Phil Snow watched this performance from the Colts defense.

Week 5: This was a close game throughout. This game was easily the Bears best performance of the season. Bruce Arians and his mistake-prone undisciplined team made a bunch of mistakes, including when Tom Brady forgot what down he was on at the end of the game. Bears get lucky again - vintage Brady would have pulled that one out at the end. Bet he misses having a head coach that has a full deck of cards upstairs.

Overall, what I saw were teams that got up big on the Bears in 3 games, and only 1 of those teams was able to hold on to win. The Bears played two close games against the Giants and Bucs, and were luckily able to pull out those games because of miscues and poor play from the opposing QB.

Meanwhile, Teddy Bridgewater is playing lights out. He is quickly becoming a top 10 if not top 5 QB in the NFL with his control over Joe Brady's offense and efficient play. Mike Davis is the truth. Dude has been nothing short of a combination of every great RB to play for the Panthers rolled into one. He's not only making guys miss, he's making guys hurt. Davis also has an axe to grind against the Bears, who cut him last season because they're idiots.

On defense, the young players on Phil Snow's squad are coming together and playing better every week. The defense definitely had a bend-don't-break vibe against the Falcons and that's exactly what happened. After missing a crucial scoop-and-score opportunity earlier in the game, Juston Burris came through with a huge INT on a Matt Ryan throw in the end zone with a chance to tie the game. (Side note, what an idiot. He sucks). The Panthers need Brian Burns to play and pressure Foles. Having his presence on the edge could be the difference in the game. 

Either way, I am very high on the Panthers chances to win this game. The Bears frankly don't show up as a 4-1 team on tape. They are a .500 team that has gotten lucky in a couple games. Their schedule gets REALLY hard starting this week. The Panthers, as we are all learning the past few weeks, are not a bad team. Then the Bears play the Rams, Saints, and Titans. Yikes. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Bears lose ALL of those games. 

The Panthers are getting better every week. The Bears are getting lucky. I see this game going more like the Colts game than the Falcons game. 

GO PANTHERS!!! BUTT BLAST THE BEARS BACK INTO THE HELL THEY CAME FROM!!!!

[Jeremy Igo]

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[BPF]

Let's get this W and keep this thing rolling. Not nearly enough of this on here, big time thanks for making this and I agree with your very well stated points above. If our D makes them look like they did against the colts, I will concede that Snow is my all time favorite DC ever. I was more worried about the D this season than any season past, and they have been wildly better than I would have ever believed. Can't wait to go start this Bears losing streak.