Key to Bears game this Sunday

[Gunakor]

They need to get Quarless involved in a big way. Jermichael Finley type TE's are the perfect weapon to attack the cover 2, and that's what we need from Quarless. A tall, physical TE with good hands to run the hash marks and attack the safeties so Jennings and Driver have more room to work.

The defense better have been paying attention to Cutler's new favorite weapon last week. Greg Olsen had a tremendous game. He's really the only guy that scares me. Contain Olsen, take advantage of Cutler's mistakes, get off the field on 3rd down.

[mraynrand]

Olsen's catches in the Dec game at Lambeau were all short underneath stuff. He will get his catches. But he probably will struggle to make plays down the field, because there's no way the Packers are going to trot out the same absurd coverage as Seattle - and they have Collins back there, not a 36 year old litigator.

They need to get Quarless involved in a big way. Jermichael Finley type TE's are the perfect weapon to attack the cover 2, and that's what we need from Quarless. A tall, physical TE with good hands to run the hash marks and attack the safeties so Jennings and Driver have more room to work.

The defense better have been paying attention to Cutler's new favorite weapon last week. Greg Olsen had a tremendous game. He's really the only guy that scares me. Contain Olsen, take advantage of Cutler's mistakes, get off the field on 3rd down.

[Gunakor]

I'm not worried about the 70 yard TD catches. I'm worried about the 8 yard first down catches. The Bears can move the ball with that underneath stuff coz the only halfway decent cover LB we have is AJ Hawk.

[Gunakor]

The bigger point is that now Cutler is throwing to Olsen. Something that, if Martz were truly an offensive genious, Cutler would have been doing very frequently all season long.

[denverYooper]

that is part of our brand of football....

we're very confident in our brand of football

[denverYooper]

Olsen's catches in the Dec game at Lambeau were all short underneath stuff. He will get his catches. But he probably will struggle to make plays down the field, because there's no way the Packers are going to trot out the same absurd coverage as Seattle - and they have Collins back there, not a 36 year old litigator.

LOL. Here's a brief rundown of analysis I've heard of that play:
"threw it to Olsen over a statue"
"beat an old man down the seam"
"I don't even know what defense Seattle was in on that play."

I can't remember where the first two came from, but the last one was from LeRoy Butler. He thought Seattle's defense looked confused.

[wist43]

1) Don't play a vanilla 3-4
2) Contain Forte
3) Contain Hester
4) If the run game isn't working, don't try to force it... crank up the short passing game and everything else will open up.


If they do those things, I think we could even endure a (-) turnover differential and still win.

Doesn't matter what the Bears do if we play our best football... they can't match up in terms of talent. That said, a word of caution... hatred, and a nasty attitude can carry you a long way - if they come out more focused and determined than we do, we could just as easily lose.

[sharpe1027]

They need to get Quarless involved in a big way. Jermichael Finley type TE's are the perfect weapon to attack the cover 2, and that's what we need from Quarless. A tall, physical TE with good hands to run the hash marks and attack the safeties so Jennings and Driver have more room to work.

The defense better have been paying attention to Cutler's new favorite weapon last week. Greg Olsen had a tremendous game. He's really the only guy that scares me. Contain Olsen, take advantage of Cutler's mistakes, get off the field on 3rd down.

I think that ship has sailed. They tried to get Quarless involved after Finley went down, which makes sense because their offense was already setup to utilize a TE like Finley. They have since gone away from that strategy after Quarless provided only mediocre-to-poor results.

[Lurker64]

1) Don't play a vanilla 3-4

Have we actually done that at any point this year? Capers seems to be running a 2-4-5 defense most games.

[denverYooper]

Olsen's catches in the Dec game at Lambeau were all short underneath stuff. He will get his catches. But he probably will struggle to make plays down the field, because there's no way the Packers are going to trot out the same absurd coverage as Seattle - and they have Collins back there, not a 36 year old litigator.

From a Mike Lombardi interview with an NFC North scout:

"I watched (Seattle safety) Lawyer Milloy get beat on that (long touchdown catch by Olsen), and I'm like, 'Where the hell was the other safety? Who plays zero-man coverage there?," the scout said. "The Packers won't put players in that position -- old-man Lawyer Milloy in zero-man coverage vs. Olsen? That's what stupidity gets you. Woodson would be playing nickel in that situation with a safety behind him. It's not that Olsen is special. He just looked special there because of the matchup the Seahawks put themselves in."

[wist43]

Have we actually done that at any point this year? Capers seems to be running a 2-4-5 defense most games.

Actually no, he really hasn't gone conservative much this year... but then again, we had these same conversations before last years Arizona game, didn't we??

We play Arizona in week 17, and empty the playbook at em and dominate... come back the next week and Capers trots out his vaunted "Sugar Plums and Lollipops" defense, and we give 51.

As I've said from the moment we hired Capers, he's a great coach... but he will revert to his conservative nature at times, and then won't adjust. We've seen it before...

To me, Capers is the most important coach/player involved in the game... if he goes the idiot/conservative route, we don't stand a chance; if he turns the defense loose, we'll likely win.

[Smidgeon]

Actually no, he really hasn't gone conservative much this year... but then again, we had these same conversations before last years Arizona game, didn't we??

We play Arizona in week 17, and empty the playbook at em and dominate... come back the next week and Capers trots out his vaunted "Sugar Plums and Lollipops" defense, and we give 51.

As I've said from the moment we hired Capers, he's a great coach... but he will revert to his conservative nature at times, and then won't adjust. We've seen it before...

To me, Capers is the most important coach/player involved in the game... if he goes the idiot/conservative route, we don't stand a chance; if he turns the defense loose, we'll likely win.

Wasn't he forced into conservative because of how Warner was carving up the blitzes?

[Smidgeon]

I think that ship has sailed. They tried to get Quarless involved after Finley went down, which makes sense because their offense was already setup to utilize a TE like Finley. They have since gone away from that strategy after Quarless provided only mediocre-to-poor results.

To be fair, Quarless is still a rookie. I agree that he isn't offering much and that strategy likely won't be used this year, but he's doing a lot for a rookie TE. Look no further than Finley's rookie year. I for one am glad he was drafted.

/thread jack

[Packers4Glory]

Besides the obvious stuff like taking care if the ball, limiting penalties, and drops....the key is w/o a doubt special teams play. As well as neutralizing Peppers. And controlling the running game. We need to keep them in 3rd and longs.

If we can some how put up some early points and get out to a lead, that might get Martz to panic and feel like he has to shoot it out.

[mission]

Wasn't he forced into conservative because of how Warner was carving up the blitzes?

Yeah, well, facts aren't really a big deal.