Packers @ Bears *NFC Championship*

[tjsunstein]

[J-Mike88]

Originally Posted by BloodBrother

The head ref for the Pack/Bears game on Sunday will be Terry McAulay. Don't know who he is? This was the clown who oversaw the historic flag fest the first time GB/CHI played at Soldier Field

[drowe]

I don't care who the ref is. The Packers deserved every penalty they got in that game. They played sloppy as hell.

[J-Mike88]

And the Bears deserved one or two on the Hester PR.

Now, what's the latest weather forecast up there for Sunday?
Local forecasts seem to be more accurate than when I have checked the weatherchannel.com site. Who's up there?

How cold, and windy will it be?

The great piece of news that came about this morning is on Mike & Mike, Greeny took the Bears!

[princefielder28]

It still looks like it's gonna be about 20 degrees out there with 10 mph winds...it'll feel like a huge warm up compared to what it feels like outside right now...-12 in Green Bay right, -5 in Chicago

[J-Mike88]

Yeah, I heard it's dangerously cold up there right now..... wicked way below zero.

That's the reason I moved south right there....

I'm so damn nervous for this game.... as I get older, I seem to get more nervous. So much so, I barely can watch it live now.... tempted to puzzy out and just wait til 5:30 and find out if we won, then watch it with pure joy knowing we won.... or never watching it and getting heartbreak if we lost.

I care too much and want too badly for Driver, Rodgers, and Woodson specifically to get a ring!!!!

[drowe]

Originally Posted by J-Mike88

Yeah, I heard it's dangerously cold up there right now..... wicked way below zero.

That's the reason I moved south right there....

I'm so damn nervous for this game.... as I get older, I seem to get more nervous. So much so, I barely can watch it live now.... tempted to puzzy out and just wait til 5:30 and find out if we won, then watch it with pure joy knowing we won.... or never watching it and getting heartbreak if we lost.

I care too much and want too badly for Driver, Rodgers, and Woodson specifically to get a ring!!!!

As a true fan, i would never NOT watch a game due to nerves. But, I'm with ya. Life would be a lot easier if I could just know the result beforehand. It's going to be an unbelievably nerve-wrenching 3 hours.

And there will be no in between.

I'll either be euphoric and want to eat, live and breathe football for the next 2 weeks knowing my team and my city will be at the center of the sports world.

Or...I'll be depressed and want to avoid anything sports related for 2 weeks because it'll just piss me off knowing it could've been...

about 52 hours...we'll know.

[J-Mike88]

I just get more nervous than ever.... is it age? Just loving the team too much?
Soft?

That's part of the reason why I have taken out "Packer Insurance" so far this playoff season. I put a little money on Philly, and Atlanta. Now I am increasing my stake this week, on the Bears, because our emotional stakes are bigger.

NOW, EVERYONE, CHECK THIS OUT: Does this fire you up?

[drowe]

Originally Posted by J-Mike88

I just get more nervous than ever.... is it age? Just loving the team too much?
Soft?

That's part of the reason why I have taken out "Packer Insurance" so far this playoff season. I put a little money on Philly, and Atlanta. Now I am increasing my stake this week, on the Bears, because our emotional stakes are bigger.

Combo of a lot of things.

I was monsterously nervous for the NFCCG in 2007, but, I was also very confident.

This time, it's not a team I have no opinion about..it's the Bears.

Otherwise, no game in the past 15 years comes close to the magnitude of this one and the game in 2007

[umphrey]

So many thoughts, so psyched for this game, I'll try not to retread any information you've been hearing the past week:

This game needs a name. I'm calling it game 182, the 182nd time the 2 teams have played. Hopefully it will stick, or earn a new happy nickname after Sunday.

This game is massively relevant when it comes to Packers history. Soak it in. Don't miss a damn play.
Here's where I'd rank it all time, being born in 1988:
1. Super Bowl I
2. Ice Bowl
3. Super Bowl XXXI
4. Game 182

That makes it very very close to the biggest Packer game I've seen in my life, so far. It is very close to Super Bowl XXXI.

The field conditions are supposed to be crap. I believe this benefits the Bears in most facets of the game. Slippery field should give an advantage to down lineman over linebackers (4-3 vs 3-4) although I believe the #1 and #2 DPOY candidates (CM3 and Peppers) are going to have a hard time getting around the edge. I have also seen our DBs slipping around a lot, and I'm afraid of the big play there. The Bears defense is built where a DB can fall down and there is still help to make a tackle. We need long, mistake free drives and the field conditions work against us there. Special teams, ugh, the chances of Devin Hester returning one are way too high for my liking.

Most important Packer: BJ Raji. Getting to Cutler is key, as is stopping the inside run game. Force them to run outside and make Forte try to cut up field with linebackers going at him on a straight path. Also, he needs to collapse the pocket and command double teams. The edge rushers will struggle so he needs to either get pressure or open up lanes for middle blitzes.

Same ref crew that gave us 18 penalties. Good or bad? It's a known talking point now and a nationally televised game. I am OK with this situation for a few reasons. We deserved probably 15 of those penalties, for one. I think it's most likely that the refs either strive to call a fair game or even let a few calls go our way to prove a point to the nation that they aren't Packer haters.

We are unquestionably the more talented team in this match up. Offensively, what Bear would start for the Packers? Matt Forte and Greg Olsen are the only ones who would get reps. Defensively, the comparison isn't as cut and dry, but we were better statistically, better pass rush, better secondary (by a lot), too hard to compare the front 7.
Of course, none of that matters come Sunday. All that matters is who shows up and plays with the most heart, the most efficiency, doesn't screw up, and leaves it all on the field. It's going to be a brawl.

In our cornerback group, what impact are we still seeing from 2006-08 where Woodson and Harris were our starters? During those years, it was clear those two worked on the same level and set and incredibly high standard for themselves and others. I believe that standard, that competitive mindset, the drive to get better and not be the one to give up the big play is a big part of what made Tramon Williams and is now getting passed on to Sam Shields.
Two instances come to mind. The Jets game, Woodson had an INT that he just took the ball away from the Jets receiver. Tramon did the same thing maybe 10 minutes football time later. It looked like teacher and student. The other, during the Eagles game Vick threw a good ball on a vert route to Maclin or Jackson (I think DJax) and Shields was all alone on him. During the play, it looked like Jackson went up and had his hands on it and just didn't hold on. Slow motion showed Shields was with him step for step, went up with him and had his arm right between the receivers arms and was in position to rip it out. Shields actually had a better chance at an interception than the receiver catching the ball.

That's all for now. This game could not be of more importance and I can't stop thinking about it, so I'll probably have more later.

[drowe]

My Key player--Brian Bulaga. He got lined up with Peppers a lot in the last meeting. If he can hold his own, it's a huge win for the Pack as Peppers is the biggest matchup problem we have with the Bears.

And, you're right. This game does need a name. I'm at a loss. guess it'll have to be decided after the game. Hopefully it's not 'flag fest 2'.

Not sure where it ranks as far as monumental games. Since I've been a fan, I've watched the Packers in 4 NFC Championship games (this will be 5) and 2 Superbowls. By the pre-game hype, I honestly think the 2007 CG was bigger. It was at home, possibly Favre's last year, the Packers were awesome that year, and favored considerably. This year, we're a 10-6 team playing on the road. But, if we win, this game jumps up considerably. probably the biggest non superbowl win since the ice bowl....scratch that...DEFINITELY the biggest non superbowl win since the ice bowl.

[PackerLegend]

I get so nervous during the games especially right away. It was a relief last week after we hit our stride knowing we pretty much had it locked up early.

[Sportsfan486]

Originally Posted by J-Mike88

I'm so damn nervous for this game.... as I get older, I seem to get more nervous. So much so, I barely can watch it live now.... tempted to puzzy out and just wait til 5:30 and find out if we won, then watch it with pure joy knowing we won.... or never watching it and getting heartbreak if we lost.

I care too much and want too badly for Driver, Rodgers, and Woodson specifically to get a ring!!!!

And miss out on the absolute thrill of watching us live if we win? Nah. You need to take the risk. Not like you're going to be less bummed hearing that we lost from the internet.

[GB12]

Why the hell would you want to know the score before watching the game? That takes all the fun out of it.

[Boston]

Yeah that thrill is pretty much the reason I watch football. On that note, I'm really nervous for this game, I always hate playing the Bears because it never seems to go our way, no matter what happens these games are always close. I would love to go out there and just blow them away, as unlikely as that is, but it would probably be one of the greatest feelings as a Packer fan. Knock the Bears out of the playoffs in the biggest game of the rivalry and advance to the Super Bowl with one win...it would be amazing.

[Favre4ever]

Several things:


The playoffs and the regular season showed that we don't get burn twice

1) Vick ran on us the first game so Capers made sure it wouldnt happen again
2) Micheal Turner stomped on us in the regular season, they made sure he wouldnt be a factor by taking the lead
3) Hester hurt us the first game, week 17 we learned from it and he didnt hurt us
4) I keep reading that the Bears have an advantage because of the field condition and cold. I don't get it...Did we become the Vikings or something? As far as I know we don't play in a Dome and its actually colder in Green Bay. This team is used to these conditions and now we have a running game. I hope they drop in coverage, Starks should have a big game.

[J-Mike88]

Originally Posted by GB12

Why the hell would you want to know the score before watching the game? That takes all the fun out of it.

On the 50% chance that we lost, that's why. Then I wouldn't watch the game and see Driver and Rodger's heart broken out there, which breaks mine.
I don't want to see us lose. If we lose, I don't want to see it.

.... but on the flip side, watching a win live is the way to go of course....if I had a group of 100 Packer fans down here it would be more fun. More fun in cheers, somewhat therapeutic in bad times.

As bad as I wanted to get to the Super Bowl 3 years ago, this is more because of the extra heartbreak on us and Driver and Woodson, and because I respect Rodgers so much more than Farve.

[TitleTown088]

no offense man but that's dumb. You watch the game for entertainment. If you get that worked up over a football game, to the point where you can't watch it and enjoy it, you need to reexamine your priorities.

With a win Sunday, Aaron Rodgers can win as many road playofff games as Brett Favre did in his career.

Interesting.

[TitleTown088]

Originally Posted by drowe

I'll either be euphoric and want to eat, live and breathe football for the next 2 weeks knowing my team and my city will be at the center of the sports world.

I'm not so sure that is a good thing- just in the NFC championship coverage I've read/heard some really stupid things said about the Packers, good and bad. I'd probably ignore a lot of the coverage to tell you the truth.

[Sportsfan486]

Originally Posted by TitleTown088

no offense man but that's dumb. You watch the game for entertainment. If you get that worked up over a football game, to the point where you can't watch it and enjoy it, you need to reexamine your priorities.




Interesting.

Apparently the record for road playoff wins, CAREER, is like 3 or 4. Seriously. They said on ESPN that Sanchez had tied the career road playoff win record.

It seems insane.

[J-Mike88]

Originally Posted by TitleTown088

no offense man but that's dumb. You watch the game for entertainment. If you get that worked up over a football game, to the point where you can't watch it and enjoy it, you need to reexamine your priorities.

Well here's how I can explain it.
There are some professional athletes who's mom or dad sometimes do not watch their games because they are just too nervous. Most do obviously, but some don't. Some cannot..... I've just had my heart broken by this team too many times, scars.

From Denver in the Super Bowl, San Fran in the playoffs the next year when the refs screwed us on Rice's fumble and then TO somehow scored, to the embarrassment in St Louis, to the home losses to Atlanta, to the terrible Culpepper-led Vikings in Green Bay, to the horrific loss in Philly, the choke job 1 play away from the Super Bowl that I had tickets to against the Giants, to last year in Arizona when we all expected to win.... it builds up a lot of scar tissue. The most painful parts of all of those were watching it unfold live!

Had I waited 3 hours and just heard about the losses, and not watched it, I don't think it would have lasted this long, the heartbreaks!
Is that comprehendable for you?

I think it makes perfect sense, but again, on the flip side, if we win, I miss out on the live action, the historical highs!

I'm pretty sure I will watch it live but am probably going to go with my few family members to a local sportsbar in Dallas that supposedly is mostly a Packer bar. Need to be with a huge group of fellow cheeseheads!

[J-Mike88]

Aaron Rodgers in the red zone during the playoffs: 12-of-12, 102 yards, 6 TD

[drowe]

tomorrow.

so nervous. might have to try to make this game a social situation to take the edge off.

[jackalope]

Last year's Arizona game was one of the most exciting games I've ever seen. I would have been pissed if I'd missed it live.

[J-Mike88]

Originally Posted by drowe

tomorrow.

so nervous. might have to try to make this game a social situation to take the edge off.

Thats what I'm talking about.
I found a sportsbar here in the DWF area that's 100% Packers.... perfect.
Except they say to get there by 10 am tomorrow..... and it's smoke-filled.
I can put up with the smoke-filled part with fellow Packer fans, but damn, I gotta sit there for over 4 hours before the game starts?

WTH.....