Bears vs Buccaneers

[Sugashane]

 

VS

 

 

Interesting Facts of this Game:

Chicago owns the all-time series advantage

This is sure to make Bears fans happy. Indeed since the Buccaneers officially became a franchise in 1976, the two teams have met 57 times with the 58th set to take place on Sunday. To date Chicago owns a comfortable advantage with a 38-19 record. This includes a stretch from 1983 to 1988 where they beat Tampa 12-straight times. By far the biggest of the rivalry. The Bears have won five of the last seven meetings.

- Hopefully we continue to grow the lead

Seven shutouts have occurred in the series

Another fascinating twist about the series is how dominant the defenses have been at time. Either that or how inept the offenses have been. Both qualify for these teams. Seven times since their first meeting in 1977 (how’s that for poetry?) has one of them been shut out by the other. The Bears did it to them five times while the Buccaneers own the two most recent. Just don’t look at the quarterbacks for those games. It’s not pretty.

- Neither team is getting a shut out here.

Tampa traded them Dan Hampton

People like to thank Tampa Bay for being the team that did business with the Bears last year in the draft. They were the ones who swapped spots so Chicago could snag Leonard Floyd. What most don’t remember is they were also a huge help in collecting one of the best defensive linemen in franchise history. Back in 1978 the Bears dealt three-time Pro Bowler Wally Chambers in exchange for a future first round pick from Tampa. That pick became the #4 selection in 1979, with which Chicago grabbed future Hall of Famer Dan Hampton.

- Hampton just never could get notice due to living in the shadow of the Fridge /sarcasm

They used to be in the same division

These days the Bears are synonymous with the NFC North division while the Buccaneers reside in the NFC South. This occurred when the league went to an eight-division format in 2002. Before that it used to be six division with an east, west and central. Both these teams were members of the NFC Central. Chicago fans may love then to learn that the Bears won the final three meetings between the team before the division split.

They’ve never met in the playoffs

Again, this is a team that has met 57 times in their history dating back 50 years. In that span they’ve made the postseason a combined 24 times. Yet only three of those times did they both make it in the same year and to date they’ve never met in a playoff game. It’s one of those strange quirky facts that tend to pop up from time to time. One can imagine (or hope) that if Trubisky pans out the two teams might be meeting there a lot in the near future.

- Won't happen this year either

The cities have swapped some special players

Another fun little fact about the weird connections the cities share is the players they’ve employed. One or two times throughout history they’ve sent one of their own homegrown athletes to the other to become a star. In the 1950s the Bears collected a young fullback by the name of Rick Casares who would go on to five Pro Bowls and help them win the 1963 championship. Thirty years later the Buccaneers grabbed a local Chicago kid by the name of John Lynch to play safety. He went to nine Pro Bowls and got them a Super Bowl title.

The cities have swapped rather unimpressive players recently.

Tampa has taken on Chris Conte, starting safety when he is not on his annual multiple game stretch missing games with an injury. The other former Bear the Bucs have currently on their roster is Jacquizz Rodgers. As of right now, the Bears have Barth (who has once been cut in favor of AND to win the job over Aguayo ) and Quartergiraffe Mike Glennon (who was replaced by #1 overall pick Winston, will soon be replaced by #2 pick Trubisky, and then will find another team to be replaced by another top 5 pick).

 

Players to Watch

Mike Glennon

Through 3 quarters he threw for only 50 yards, but then threw for the league high 163 4th quarter yards. Expect Loggains to force more throws downfield, as there were opportunities to be more assertive. This will be his first game playing against his former team, and he should be hungry to make a statement about the team that replaced him... and for the team that drafted immediately to replace him.

 

Akiem Hicks

Fresh off signing his

Akiem Hicks signed a 4 year, $48,000,000 contract he responded with a monster game - 3 tackles, 2 sacks, and was instrumental in stifling the Falcons' run offense. This week he will be counted on heavily to pressure Winston and a shut down lanes against McCoy. He very well might be the best addition of Pace's tenure.

 

Nick Kwiatkoski

The Bears have a huge loss with Freeman down with a torn pectoral muscle.  Kwiatkoski will be counted on to shut down the run and will also be counted on to help cover rookie OJ Howard (in his first ever game). While Kwiatkoski has shown his strength to be versus the run, he will be forced into action in nickel as well. How he responds will be  a major factor in the defense's production.  While Freeman has been one of the best MLBs over the last year, he is 31 and will likely require surgery to repair that tear. This will provider valuable experience for him against several young players that he will undoubtedly butt heads with throughout his career.

 

The running duo of Howard and Cohen

These two have the potential to be a hellish duo for the rest of the defenses in the NFL. Howard, a tank who churned out 1300+ yards and a 5.0+ YPC while not even getting the chance to start until a quarter of the way through the season, is a lead back who had a lot of success in his game vs the Bucs last year. Cohen is the new dynamic though, who showed his elite athleticism and versatility as he churned out a fantastic game. These two will be fiddled with and likely used in more creative ways to compensate for the lack of depth at WR. Expect them to each get 15 + touches even in the most conservative of gameplans. I would not be shocked to see both top 20 touches in the same game, with Howard leading in rushing attempts and Cohen being heavily utilized as a scatback (he may be one of the receiving targets by the time the season is over).

[BucsDraftGeek47]

very good read

hope for a good game , no major injuries

i think Tampa takes it though 24-10

if its any consolation i hope Cohen has a great stat line  just picked him up in fantasy

[Sugashane]

38 minutes ago, BucsDraftGeek47 said:

 

if its any consolation i hope Cohen has a great stat line  just picked him up in fantasy

You and me both bud. Lol

[Nads786]

The most shocking thing is I'm not sure if that is Glennon's real neck or if its been photoshopped. I honestly do not know.

 

I think we have a really good chance to win this game but the biggest concern is the lack of play makers. Can we make the 2-3 plays in a game that change the course?

[Madmike90]

Excellent job Sugashane.

[Rogerthat]

1 hour ago, Sugashane said:

You and me both bud. Lol

ME three and I drafted Howard.  I looking at 35 to 40 touches per game. 

[bucsfan333]

Who's gonna start in his place?

[bucsfan333]

Also, here's to an injury-free game tomorrow.

[blkwdw13]

1 hour ago, bucsfan333 said:

Who's gonna start in his place?

The same person who started last week, Tom Compton.

[GOGRIESE]

0-2 I think....Steelers,Packers and Vikings after that 

[bkokot]

1 hour ago, GOGRIESE said:

0-2 I think....Steelers,Packers and Vikings after that 

I think this is our only winable game left in the first 5, if we don't lose this one, we are 0-5 almost for sure.

[IronMike84]

First off, if the Bears went toe-to-toe with Atlanta, they can go toe-to-toe with anybody in the league. Call "0-5" if you'd like, but they've rarely been blown out under Fox. They won't go 0-5 because they lack talent or can't hang.

The problems which may lead them to 0-5 if they can't get one or all of them corrected have been:

1. Miscommunications in crucial moments.

2. Failure to make big plays when they're there for the taking.

3. Consistently generating zero turnovers, so the turnover battle is a push at best and usually a loss.

It's really hard to ever pick Bears anymore, because those three flaws started during the Trestman era and haven't gone away even with a complete coaching staff turnover and an almost-complete roster turnover.

I don't want to guess a score, but this is a 2-6 win team for as long as they fail to get it together and keep on crapping the bed via the same exact problems every week.

Tampa wins.

[IronMike84]

And I'll continue ranting here because I'm pretty amped up now: how many more times is this team going to play 58 minutes of competitive football and then give away the win because either somebody can't catch a wide-open pass or somebody blows their coverage?

[Sugashane]

11 hours ago, Rogerthat said:

ME three and I drafted Howard.  I looking at 35 to 40 touches per game. 

I have Jordan and Cohen too. That's awesome. lol

[Madmike90]

I think this is a game we really do have a chance of winning...it's a good match up for us in a couple of keys ways...firstly I think this is much more of a Howard game than a Cohen game...that Atlanta D is so big and so fast that it's touch all round...the Bucs D is much smaller so Howard and out OL should be able to run far more power north south plays than last week...Cohen will still have a big roll but I think we could win if Howard goes 100+...I also think this is a solid match up for our D...Cooper played well last week and has the size to go up against Evans...big concern is Jackson over the top so our safeties have to play better...love the matchup of our DL against their OL with is fairly poor and given both their OTs are a little slow out of the blocks I would like to see...and expect to see Floyd getting home a couple of times if not drawing some flags...

Will be an interesting game all round.