NFL – Green Bay Packers defeat the Chicago Bears for a spot on the Super Bowl

by Stephen Lars on Jan.24, 2011, under Football, Sports News

The Green Bay Packers can start packing their bags for Texas to play for the Vince Lombardi Trophy at Super Bowl XLV. With an impressive 21-14 win over the Chicago Bears on the road, the Packers have now linked three consecutive wins on the road to make it into the biggest sports betting event of the season. Only three other teams have managed to win three playoffs road games to make it into the Super Bowl. Two out of those three have returned home with the trophy: the 2007 New York Giants and the 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers. The 1985 Patriots won the three road games but lost the Super Bowl.

Aaron Rodgers didn’t have his best game ever. As a matter of fact, a quick look at his numbers would make you think he was somewhat of a disappointment. With a 55.4 passer rating, Rodgers was far away from what he has been showing since mid-December during the last two win-or-go-home games of the regular season. But despite his numbers, he was they key-player behind the Packers win over the Bears. The first-year rookie ran for a score and perhaps made his best play of the game in quite an unusual fashion for a quarterback: he completed a touchdown saving tackle that could quite easily have changed the outcome of the game.

The Bears, on the other hand, had to deal with a whole lot of issues on their offensive end. Jay Cutler, the starting quarterback, had been playing way under par before he had to leave the game during the third quarter because of some sort of knee injury. Let it be stated that no one is sure when or how he got injured. As if that was not enough, the Bears’ coach Lovie Smith reaction to the reporters’ questions concerning the nature and the details of Cutlers injury certainly didn’t help to clear up the situation.

Cutler was replaced by the Chicago Bears primary back-up Todd Collins. He was no good. For a moment it really seemed as if the Packers would be able to put on at least a 3-touchdown advantage over the Bears. Things got so bad on Chicago’s side that they had to play their odds and use a third quarterback on the game. Little-known Caleb Hanie came in and was the man in charge of giving the Bears their only hope.

Hanie had a chance to tie the game after the Bears’ defense finally got their act together. Unfortunately he threw a ball straight into the Packers defensive lineman B.J. Raji who ran for 18 yards and into the end zone to give the Packers a 21-17 lead. But Hanie had a few more tricks under his sleeve.

He then completed a 35-yard touchdown pass to Earl Bennet to get the Bears to a 7-point deficit with little under five minutes to play. The Bears recovered the ball, but their last chance to tie the game was frustrated when the rookie quarterback threw his second interception on a fourth down on the Packers 29 yard line.

Aaron Rodgers went 17 of 30 for 244 yards no touchdown passes, two interceptions and a touchdown rush. Not his best numbers, that’s for sure, but heck, the talented quarterback is guiding his team into Super Bowl on February 6.

NFL – Minnesota Vikings fell to the Chicago Bears on Sunday

The Minnesota Vikings fell 27-13 to the Chicago Bears, and now the Vikings which fell to a 3-6 record for the season, could be on its way to missing the playoffs. At the end, whatever it is that you were expecting from the Vikings’ performance on this regular season (lets not forget that they had brought up Randy Moss and had a healthy and veteran superstar quarterback) this is certainly not it. Moss only lasted a month before getting into an argument with head coach Brad Childress, and find himself playing for a different team the following week. And then, once again, Brett Favre began to deal with injuries and many interceptions per game, which ended up in unnecessary defeats.

The Vikings owner, Zygi Wilf, has publicly shown his support for head coach Brad Childress, who despite not handling the issue with Moss gracefully and certainly not putting together a very effective team, is still going to be guiding the Vikings from the sidelines.

What we are not really sure is where is Childress in respect to Brett Favre. Here is the thing: Favre is an outstanding player, but he is also 41 years old, has played every game since the 4th week of the 1992 NFL regular season. And he is now aching a bit. He has been struggling a bit recently. He is suffering from two broken bones in his ankle and tendinitis in his right arm. Yes, he has thrown over 500 touchdowns and has completed over 70,000 yards. And yes, he holds much every record worth holding as a passer in the NFL. And he is still out there every week, trying to prove something that frankly he has already proved a long time ago.

And here is where Childress should step up. He needs to decide if it is worth keeping Favre playing, or if it is time to be the coach who ended Favre’s 294th consecutive start. Because on thing is certain, the Vikings are not winning. The Vikings are not working their way into the Playoffs, and Brett Favre is in pain and not playing at hist best.

Favre’s elbow flared up in week 5, when the team fell the New York Jets 29-20. When the Vikings then lost to the Green Bay Packers in Lambeau Field, he revealed that there was a big chance that his two fractures in his ankle might sideline him for week 8’s game. Favre started against the New England Patriots and the Vikings lost 28-18. They completed a decent comeback with a 27-24 win in overtime to the Arizona Cardinals, which came as a breath of fresh air to the franchise. But, even then, many specialists had claimed that the Vikings were among the weakest 3-5 teams in the nation.

They were right. Their conference rival, the Chicago Bears had a great game and intercepted Favre 3 times during the game. He is suffering from pain, and as if he didn’t had to worry about his health and his performance on the field, he is also under investigation for allegedly sending improper messages and pictures to a New York Jets’ female worker. It’s probably time to retire. Perhaps this year he will finally but end to what has been a formidable career.

NFL – Chicago Bears defeat Dallas Cowboys

by Stephen Lars on Sep.23, 2010, under Football, Sports News

The Dallas Cowboy are having some serious issues. Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips and the offensive coordinator Jason Garret were blaming each other for the very unsuccessful offensive play that cost them the win last week against the Washington Redskins. Don’t mind Tony Romo’s 282 passing yards. At the end, in the last play and only 6 points under, the Cowboys had a chance to win it. Romo completed a pass to Roy Williams who was open in the end zone. But there was a yellow flag. There was a holding on Alex Barron. Washington could finally celebrate.

This time around, neither Garret nor Wade Phillips had too many to blame. The team is not working, the game plans are week, and let’s face it, the Chicago Bears were able to brake pass the Cowboys defense like if it was a knife into butter. Wade’s defense had nothing to against the Bears, and that cost him the 27-10 loss against the Chicago Bears.

Let’s put this into perspective. The Cowboys defense had not allowed a single touchdown in three-consecutive regular season games. Jay Cutler, the Bears touchdown, had some issues at the beginning of the game. He certainly was found running for dear life when, early in the game, Cowboys’ linebackers DaMarcus Ware and Anthony Spencer had a chance to rough him up a little. As if that was not enough troubles for the Bear’s offensive, the left tackle, Chris Williams was injured in the first quarter.

Now, here is the thing that is a bit upsetting for the Cowboys fans. The 45th annual edition of the NFL championship game, the Super Bowl XLV will be held in the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium in Arlington Texas. But, those local fans are probably not going to be cheering for the home team, as the Cowboys are not playing as they are expected to. At least not if they are really hoping to make it to the post-season, and then keep on with some rhythm into the conference finals and the Super Bowl.

Now, the Cowboys were a 3.5 favorite against the Washington Redskins. And hoping that the team would make use of their hometown advantage and play much harder against the Chicago Cubs, they once again were the favorite against the Bears. The sporstbook industry had set the handicap at -7 points in the spread. Now, this time around, it seems inevitable that they have to go out there and bring a victory. Now, considering their below par performance, thing have changed around for next week when it comes to betting in the NFL.

As of press time, on their next match against the Houston Texans, the Dallas Cowboys are