12 and 2 versus 2 and 12. That’s the summation of the matchup between the Bears and Lions in Detroit that is a sure guarantee for Fox’s worst announcers. The Bears have already clinched home field advantage for the playoffs and surely will just try to get through the 60 minutes of boredom against the Lions. Here is the synopis for this week:

Bears Synopsis: The word of the week for the Bears is HEALTHY. Just get through this one and next week against Green Bay and wait to see who they’ll play after a first round playoff bye. I expect to see massive personnel changes in the middle of the third quarter and an appearance from Brian Griese. Not really much to report here (or watch for that matter), but its a good week to put the Tank Johnson situation behind the team. The objective here is to just get injured guys healthy and get out of Ford Field without any further injuries. Also, expect to see Ron Turner give Rex Grossman and Brian Griese plays from the back of the playbook the next two weeks in order to not give potential playoff opponents anything to scheme against. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Bears lose this one, but then again who really cares?

Lions Synopsis: The Detroit Lions are right up there with the Chicago Blackhawks as being one of the worst franchises in professional sports. This team always fails to make the right moves, play calls, or front office decisions. Right now, the Lions should be more concerned about how they will get QB Brady Quinn in the draft or how they will replace GM Matt Millen. The Lions super bowl is now draft day and they need to figure out a way to get good players instead of the usual busts (Kevin Jones, Mike Williams, Joey Harrington, etc.). Even with a bad season, there is some good news and that comes with head coach Rod Marinelli who obviously doesn’t accept losing and looks to get things shored up after Matt Millen is gone this off-season.

Well, not a great game to watch, but it should provide something to do the day of Christmas Eve before departing for family events.

I’d give you a brief synopsis of what transpired in the Blackhawks 3-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs, but that’s right, we don’t get home games in Chicago. It was good to hear that Petr Bondra got his 500th goal of his career (one of five Blackhawks ever to do it…). The Hawks suit up against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday at the Pepsi Center.

Sometimes you get lucky. Then again, if you’re the Knicks you get lucky on three occassions. After last second wins against the Utah Jazz and the Charlotte Bobcats, the Knicks were faced against the Bulls in a once classic matchup from the nineties. The Bulls have won 12 of their last 13, but never seemed to catch stride in a 103-92 loss.

The Bulls were led by Ben Gordon with 27 points in an arena where he loves to play, but this was a marquee match-up for former Bulls Eddy Curry and Jamal Crawford. The Bulls were a dismal 3 for 18 from the three point line and the Knicks got a huge advantage with 57 rebounds.

The Bulls need to seriously find a way to get Kirk Hinrich back into his usual ability to be a primetime player. The media is prompting that Hinrich may be a bit tired after playing for Team USA this summer, so maybe it will help if Scott Skiles reduces his minutes a bit to help him play for four quarters.

In either case, 12 wins out of 14 games is not a bad streak in this version of the NBA.

Seriously, if your looking for the best Bears hat ever, you have come to the right place. The Bears hat below is simply the best Bears hat I have ever seen. Not only is it VERY RARE, but its the type of hat that has people asking questions such as “Where did you get that?” and “Can I buy that off of you?“. Not to mention that you could end up like my brother and be on TV during Monday Night Football. The hat would easily sell at $60.00 dollars retail, however, WCSB.com has arranged special pricing for $40.00 (plus $7.00 S/H). If your interested in this hat, simply contact dean@whitecomb.com for more information or bid for it on Ebay.

Here is the hat in action:

Once again, this is the best Bears hat ever and a sure collectors item. There is a limited supply, so let us know if your interested!

For those who do not believe me, I actually met Hunter Hillenmeyer at a Halloween Party. I’ve tried telling people this, but they don’t believe me….Here is proof:

What looked to be like an overhyped prediction now appears to be a true reality. The Bulls won their fifth straight (and have their last 12 of 13 games) over the LA Lakers last night 94-89. Even more surprising, was the way the Bulls held Kobe Bryant to only 19 points (averaging 28.3 points per game on the year and had 37 points the game before) and forced him to foul out in the final minutes of the game. The Bulls are being led by F Luol Deng who is a sure bet to be an All-Star starter.

I was a bit surprised after listening to Kobe Bryant’s interveiw on the Steve Rosenbloom and Sean Salisbury show on ESPN 1000. I was surprised to hear about how much respect he pays to the Bulls players, especially Kirk Hinrich and Chris Duhon.

After the game Bryant said this:

“I shot the ball like crap, however, their defense also made me really work. They fronted me on the post, kept it out of my hands and denied me all night. Then if we did penetrate, they packed the lane and forced me to pass it out.'’

Odd comments from a guy who usually owns teams on the perimeter and low post. The Bulls look to extend their streak against the Knicks on Friday.

At least it now seems that the Hawks can at least take the ice night after night and compete against other NHL teams. With the return of defenseman, Adrian Aucoin, the Hawks are 7-1-3 under new head coach Denis Savard. Even more, the Hawks seem to be much more adept at controlling the puck and creating scoring chances. Their defense has looked good, and point man issues on the power play have been even more addressed with the addition of Petr Bondra.

The Hawks look to be getting dividends from lesser-known players such as Jeff Hamilton, Duncan Keith, Patrick Sharp, and James Wisniewski. Goalie Nikolai Khabibulin is always a sure bet in net, and the addition of Martin Havlat and return of Tuomo Ruutu only futher bolster the offensive attack.

Games that were once regarded as mismatches against Detroit, Colorado, and Vancouver now are closely battled contests. Of course, most critics may say that this is the result of Detroit being on a downward slope or Colorado not being the same since the departure of Patrick Roy or Peter Forsberg, but you have to wonder what type of team the Hawks are with the promotion of Denis Savard to head coach.

Yes, an ugly game on the lakeshore that should have been an easy route by the Bears. While you were probably on the edge of your seat for the fourth quarter and overtime, you have to be at least satisfied that the Bears escaped (narrowly) with a win and clinched home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Good teams know how to find ways to win a game and the Bears did just that in a 34-31 OT win. Here are my thoughts and key plays of the game:

“Dez Clark, not White”: It was definitely nice to see TE Desmond Clark resurrect himself in the offensive scheme again (7 receptions, 125 yards, and 2 touchdowns). Oddly enough, the Bucs defense couldn’t figure out a way to match up with Clark on passing downs the entire game. Clark was open on a majority of passing plays, which made things a lot easier for Rex Grossman on check downs. The Bears excelled in the passing game by offering the Bucs defense with backside TE passes off bootlegs and slant down pass protection by the offensive line where Clark would go the opposite direction or would go one-on-one with a Bucs linebacker in coverage. Clark has good speed in the open field, while his ability to block, make harder than average catches, and holding on to the football are in question. While Clark had two touchdowns, he had one big play that left all Bears fans wondering why he has been “missing in action” for so long. With the Bears in a no huddle offense at the Bears 45 yard line, Grossman felt pressure, moved up in the pocket and found a wide open Clark for 25 yards. What was so impressive was Clark’s ability to reverse his route behind Shelton Quarles in the zone defensive coverage. Clark should be regarded as a pure asset in the Bears passing game.  

“Devin Who?”: After last week’s spectacular performance on Monday night against St. Louis, Devin Hester was pretty much a non-factor during the entire game. It seemed as if he did better when he didnt catch the ball or when P Josh Bidwell directed the punt away from him or out of bounds. Probably the most costly play of the game was when Hester fumbled the ball on a kick off return to Wesly Mallard which gave the Bucs the ball at the Bears 16 yard line. It only took the Bucs 3 plays to the put the ball in the endzone with a Tim Rattay pass to TE Alex Smith. Not to worry, Hester is true to his form and will be one of the biggest factors if the Bears make it deep into the playoffs and eventually the Super Bowl.

“Lucky in Cover One”: Not much to get excited about in Tampa these days, but if you’re a Bucs fan, you had to like the way that Tim Rattay conducted the offense. He had decent time in the pocket (with Tommie Harris and Tank Johnson out) and did a great job of just managing the game and offense. The Bucs put Rattay in good situations and took what the Bears gave them in coverage’s. What frustrated me was that the Bears did not do a good job blitzing Rattay and when they did blitz, they sat in a cover one defense which the Bucs and Rattay severly exploited. First, Rattay exploited S Danieal Manning when he hit WR Joey Galloway on deep post route that went 64 yards for a touchdown. Figuring that the Bears saw this coverage get exploited, the Bucs still did it again when Rattay connected a short slant route to WR Ike Hilliard for 44 yards after both Danieal Manning and Ricky Manning Jr. were left in his dust. Suprisingly, defensive coordinator Ron Rivera seemed to be a bit out of sorts in coverages against a team who last scored a touchdown on Thanksgiving. Keep in mind that things will be back to somewhat normal with the return of CB Nathan Vasher and S Todd Johnson come playoff time.

“Offense on the Go”: The Bears offense has done well in the last two games while the defense has stuggled. Grossman did quite well (29-44, 339 yards, and 2 touchdowns) running the offense and has been able to fend off the media wolves for the last 2 games. The running game still continues to be a bright spot with a collaborative effort from Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson. It was a sure nice sight to see Ron Turner throw a wrinkle in the game taking advantage of FB Jason McKie’s ability to catch the ball out of the backfield. When the Bucs blitzed or offered multiple attacks in pass coverage, McKie was able to get open in the flat and give Grossman a last ditch look in the passing game.

Well, the Bears have clinched home field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs, which means the NFC representative in the Super Bowl will have to come through Chicago. Yes, this team is 12-2, but that means absolutely nothing in the NFL. With Romo and the Cowboys and Brees and the Saints still looming large lately and with the Eagles freakishly hitting stride late in the season, the Bears need to shore up some issues on offense and defense quickly against Detroit and Green Bay before expecting an automatic birth in the Super Bowl. Dallas, New Orleans, and Philadelphia could easily come into Chicago and stun the Bears on a cold January day and leave us all waiting till next year.

What was your thoughts on the game?

Okay, sorry for the belated post, however, I was actually at the game and I am just getting back to blogging. To start off, I have never sat so close to a football game besides actually being on the sideline. If you ever get a chance to sit close at an NFL game, do so and you won’t regret it. I actually was in the second row behind the Rams bench at about the 45 yard line. Besides harrassing C Brett Romberg, here is what we saw in the Bears 42-27 win over the once mighty St. Louis Rams:

“Devin Does It Again”: After Marc Bulger’s 1 yard touchdown to Torry Holt, Devin Hester ran back a kick off 94 yards for a touchdown. Seriously, after Hester caught the ball at the 6 yard line, the Bears special teams opened up a huge hole and Hester ran down the sideline. In the fourth quarter, Hester ran back a kickoff, which was mocked as an onside kick, 96 yards for a touchdown. You cannot really appreciate Hester’s speed until you see him do it in person. He truly is a special talent.

“Rex Regains Composure”: While Rex Grossman’s numbers were not all that impressive (13-23 for 200 yards), he did have 2 touchdowns and a 114 quarterback rating. More impressive was Grossman’s ability to look down on routes and get the ball to Bears wide receivers on routes over and under the Rams linebackers. He never looked rattled in the game and seemed to be back in his earlier season form.

“O-Line is Oh So Impressive”: The Bears offensive line did a great job protecting Grossman (zero sacks) and did a superb job opening holes for both Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson. Grossman never seemed to be hurried at all throughout the game and the Bears running game was in full effect.

“Keep on Trucking”: Both Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson did a great job of moving the ball on the ground during the game and exploiting non-existent blitz packages from the Rams defense. Jones had 11 carries for 76 yards and a touchdown, while Benson had 16 carries for 64 yards. The big key play was Jones scampering for a 30 yard touchdown. Adrian Peterson added his own role by scoring a 1 yard touchdown run.

“Bears defense gets a C”: While everything seemed to be going well for the Bears on offense and special teams, the Bears defense looked somewhat in disarray during the game. Not to worry though, the Bears were getting used to newer personnel and the Rams offense is still a threat in the NFL. The Rams opted to go short while including RB Steven Jackson in the passing game. Marc Bulger and the Rams were able to put up 332 yards passing in the game and did a good job of going after Devin Hester while he was at cornerback. The Bears need to get their act together on defense soon and regain composure. Keep in mind that alot of the Rams yards were put together while they were playing “catch up” late in the game.

All in all, the Bears looked good. Not to happy that the Rams were able to put up 27 points on the Bears defense, but still the Bears played a good game. It was even nicer just to be there.

What was your take on the game?