The Giants got the better of the Green Bay Packers on the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field mostly due to the inept Green Bay offense than anything else.  The Packers couldn’t establish a running game and when they relied on Brett Favre to create some magic, he conjured interceptions.  It was a great game to watch, but more importantly, what effect will it have on the Super Bowl?

I’m afraid a Giants victory has spelled a disasterous Super Bowl.  When you take the Packers and the Giants and match them up to the Patriots the Packers have the best chance of making the game competitive.  When the game is played in sunny Arizona, the Packers speedy offense with weapons like Donald Driver, Greg Jennings, Donald Lee, and Brett Favre could give the Patriots trouble.  Instead we get to see Eli Manning, Plaxico Burress, Armani Toomer, and an array of back up tight ends and runnings backs.  Any team would love to have Plaxico Burress but the rest of the Giants offense is adequate at best.  Favre has a cool head in the pocket, but Eli has shown that he can be flustered in the pocket and make bad choices.  I already have images in my head of Eli running for his life from Mike Vrabel.

The Packers defense had shut down corner backs in Al Harris and Charles Woodson, along with skilled linebackers in A.J. Hawk and good pass rushers.  The Giants bring good corners and a great pass rush led by Michael Strahan, but I get the feeling like the Giants defense is a one-trick pony.  They put too much faith in their pass rush getting to the quarterback.  When they don’t they are picked apart.  The Patriots offensive line is too good and Tom Brady too relaxed to let Strahan and company get to him.

The Patriots have shown that they can put their backs up to the end zone and prevent opposing teams from scoring touchdowns.  After seeing Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes take three attempts to make a field goal you have to wonder if the Giants are in over their heads. 

I have been hoping for weeks for any team to come out of the NFC that can compete and maybe even beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl.  First we lost the Dallas Cowboys, and now the Green Bay Packers.  The NFC now has to rely on the shaky arm of Eli Manning and an overachieving Giants team that is about to take on the Evil Empire. 

Eli Manning is no Luke Skywalker and Tom Coughlin is no Yoda. 

The Packers loss takes away any shred of hope the NFC had to take the Super Bowl.  Eli Manning will have to perform a miracle in the Arizona desert to get his brother Peyton’s trophy.  I love an underdog as much as the next guy but I just can’t wrap my head around this one. 

Of course, if I was a betting man I would have bet the Giants would have lost to the Cowboys and the Packers.  I have been wrong before and could be again.  Perhaps this Giants team has some sort of destiny that could follow them to the Super Bowl.  It could also just be life laughing in the face of Tiki Barber sitting at home wondering what Arizona is like in February. 

The Bears did everything you could expect to gain the advantage. They created turnovers in the form of interceptions at key situations when the Giants were about to score and generated fumbles. The Bears offense looked like it found it’s identity with Rex reaching a quarterback epiphany and understanding how to cut through a defense and Adrian Peterson becoming an all-purpose back. I told a friend that I predicted Peterson would have 120 all purpose yards and he exceeded even my expectations by producing 149 on 67 yard rushing and 82 yards receiving. Rex couldn’t get Olsen involved as much as I would have liked, but that’s more due to the great performance put in by Desmond Clark who is quietly putting together another good season.

The Giants gave the Bears about a dozen opportunities to win the game. There is far too much blame being put on the drop by Hester, which he doesn’t deserve given the heroics he has supplied for the team in the past. The Hester drop was disappointing but I look more critically towards the play of Berrian who saw several deep throws go his way only to see them sail over his head or through his hands. If a receiver misses a pass you can blame the quarterback, but when a receiver has several opportunities to come up with a big play and just can’t get to the ball, I question the route running and ball handling skills of the receiver. I witnessed a couple passes that had an opportunity to become big plays if a receiver was willing to stretch out and make a diving catch. Apparently the Bears receivers a more worried about keeping their pants clean.

Adrian Peterson had a couple chances to break open some highlight reel plays but there always seemed to be a Giants defender ready to make a shoestring tackle. I’m not going to question the break away ability of Peterson who is as tough of a runner as you will find in the NFL. The Giants came in with a game plan to stop Peterson, who they considered to be the Bears biggest threat in this game. Afterwards, Michael Strahan openly questioned the Bears move not to use Peterson more in the 4th quarter. The Giants spent all week preparing for Peterson of all people, who they deemed to be a quality running back that could give them trouble. Really makes you think about all those weeks of Benson’s running troubles when our real threat was riding the bench.

Honorable mentions for blowing the game can be made for the complete breakdown of the Bears defense in the 4th quarter and some down right terrible calls made by the officiating crew. I have had season tickets for the Bears for many years and have watched a variety of quarterbacks come and go. You have to acknowledge when you are going against a clearly superior quarterback like the Seattle game. Matt Hasselbeck cut through the Bears defense with precision passing that I think has left a lasting effect on Rex Grossman. Last week Rex made several attempts to dump the ball down in the flats for small gains that produced big plays for the Seahawks. Yesterday we saw Rex make precision passes with high efficiency in another Hasselbeck-like effort. You wonder if Rex has finally found a mold to follow to develop his quarterback skills. Hasselbeck is a dominant quarterback for his precision pass capability. Eli Manning is none of the above.

After spending an afternoon watching Eli Manning work the Giants offense I can safely say he is an average quarterback at best. The only thing that separates Eli from by being compared and treated more like Josh McCown or Joey Harrington is his last name. You have to wonder how long he can run on his family name before it all comes crashing down. Eli will go down for bringing his team to a 4th quarter comeback and will be heralded in New York, but make no mistake about it, he is not a good quarterback. Rex is an uncontrollable force at quarterback that can light up a scoreboard with scoring, for his team or the other team depending on his play. Eli hasn’t shown that kind of capability and is more of a product for amazing talent at receiver and tight end. Rex may still develop into a great quarterback, but Eli may be hitting the end of his road.

The officiating crew made me want to puke. I’m not going to say much more out of fear for keeping my lunch down, but they should be ashamed of themselves. The NFL should sit all of them down and make them watch Sunday’s game.

Make no mistake, the Bears were the better team on the field on Sunday. Despite being sacked 6 times, Rex kept himself composed in the pocket. Adrian Peterson delivered as promised by producing yards all over the field. The rest of the offense couldn’t step up to the challenge. The defense put in 3 quarters of solid work but let the offense down in the end, something Bears fans are not used to seeing. Lovie Smith’s coaching staff made some questionable decisions down the stretch that gave the Giants opportunities. When the Bears had the ball with about 5 minutes left in the game why didn’t they make more of an effort to run the clock down??

Most of all, please stopping blaming Hester, who is the last person that deserves any blame for a lost season. I put more blame on a coaching staff that can’t seem to get younger defense players prepared to play and can’t execute a simple offensive game plan.

 The Bears offense has it’s hands full going up against the Giants defense, ranked 7th in the league.  Even more troubling is the dominance of Michael Strahan, Justin Tuck, and Osi Umenyiora to get after the quarterback.  If the Bears can keep the ball away from the Giants sack attack they still have a chance in this game.  The Giants rely a lot on their pass rush the way the Bears relied upon turnovers for the defense to excel last season.  If Lovie wants to win this game, this will be a game won by the art of deception and decoys. 

I hope the Bears utilize the hands of Adrian Peterson and keep the action spread out all over the field.  Normally I am a fan of running between the tackles and picking up tough yards.  If the Bears can get a running game going with Adrian Peterson, the Bears will do everything they can to control the tempo of the game.  When the Bears are forced into passing you should get your fill of screen passes, dump offs to the sideline, and maybe a few more appearances of the end around with Hester. 

If you are not in Chicago, let me fill you in.  I just looked out my window and there is a HEAVY snowfall coming down.  Weather reports indicate 3 inches will fall today but the snow isn’t melting.  It’s hitting the ground and accumulating quickly.  Field conditions tomorrow will pretty bad by game time.  The only thing this takes away from the Bears offense is the deep bomb to Berrian. 

Field conditions will be in the Bears favor tomorrow to establish a running game and using short, quick passes to confuse the Giants defense.  The Bears need a good, accurate game from Grossman and another game from Peterson with effort he showed last week.  Look for Bears receivers to be downgraded to blockers on every play.  The x-factor on offense is Greg Olsen and Desmond Clark that may find themselves open for a big play or two.

Giants offense v. Bears Defense

 The Bears are capable of putting up big points with the play makers on the roster, but it won’t matter if the defense keeps giving up 30+ points a game.  Eli Manning put up a terrible performance last week against the Vikings, who are not known for having a great secondary.  The troubling part is Eli has been very relaxed all week in interviews and New York reports are a little frustrated with how much he appears to not care. 

Two things could happen here.  Eli could be going down the road of Bad Rex by ignoring his critics and try to win the game on Sunday with a great play.  This would play to the Bears advantage unless he throws a pass towards the portion of the field where Adam Archuleta is too busy chasing butterflies.  Charles “peanut” Tillman will have to shadow Plaxico Burress the entire game and give him no room to come up with a big play. 

Brandon Jacobs is out but Derrick Ward is in, so the Giants running game will be ready.  The best the Bears defense can hope for is a little rust on Ward.  With the field conditions messy, the Giants will give Ward every opportunity and then some so shake it off.

The x-factor for the Giants will be Jeremy Shockey and if the Bears can contain him.

Special Teams

If the Giants want to win they will kick away from Hester.  Look for some creative package by the Bears to try to make something happen.  If the Giants kick short I wouldn’t be suprised if the Bears try a lateral to get Hester involved.  Anything can happen with Bears special teams on the field.

This could be a game with a lot of field goals, be prepared to see a lot of Gould.