Stan Olson’s Blog

Here I was worried about not being able to watch the game in HD, but that was the least of my worries. Our local CBS station (WCIA) had just went live with their HD transmitter a few weeks ago. However, due to bad weather they had not been able to get their high power transmission lines up on the tower. Luckily though, my friend’s house was close enough to the tower that we could pick up the HD signal. The way the game started off was just amazing. Hester flew through the defense to return the opening kickoff for a touchdown. I don’t know how he continues to do that, but he’s something special. It was ironic because I told my friends that I was watching with that I wished Hester would just run it back for a TD and that’s what he did. (Indy never kicked it to him again after that) It started to rain and never let up during the entire game. I thought that would favor the Bears style of play, but Indy seemed to have more success. (at least to hanging on to the ball) Being down just 2 at halftime, I knew the Bears were still in the game but had to do something on offense. Unfortunately, Rex Grossman had one of his worst games ever at the worst time to have it. I don’t know if it was the weather conditions or just bad decisions, but he just chucked several balls up for grabs and they were picked both times. There’s not much the defense could do since the offense couldn’t stay out there long enough to give them a rest.

Despite the Colts win, it wasn’t a dominating win. The Bears had numerous chances but just kept turning the ball over or coming up short on 3rd down. (I think the Colts had over 3x as many 1st downs as the Bears) There’s definitely some changes that need to be made for next year’s team because this is embarrassing. Hopefully the sour taste of losing the Superbowl will provide for some much needed motivation next season. Someone needs to sit down and put together all the bad / stupid decisions from Rex Grossman and just pound it into him. If he can’t fix those mistakes, then the team needs to go another direction. I supported him throughout the year, but he really blew it in this game. Hopefully the long off-season will give him plenty of time to fix his issues and get better. This was his first full healthy season, so hopefully he can build on it. Congrats to the Colts, glad to see Manning finally get his ring. (of course I didn’t want to see it at the Bears expense) As with the Illini and Cubs, I will say it for the Bears: Maybe Next Year?

P.S. The commercials were really horrible this year. The Bud Light commercials were the only ones with anything decent, everything else sucked. What the hell is with salesgenie.com? Are they hoping to have the success that monster.com did a few years back? And the Prince halftime show, ugh…

Most of the experts had written the Bears off for this game.

-The Saints were a team of destiny and had a powerful offense.
-The Bears defense was not as powerful as it was during the early part of the season.
-The Bears hadn’t beaten any good teams this year.

Blah!

There’s a reason the Bears were 13-3 this year and had the #1 seed in the NFC. Sure they had some bad games, but the end result is that we won games. Everyone blames Rex Grossman, yet he lead the Bears to a 13-3 record. This was the first full season that he was able to stay healthy and gain experience.

Ummm… Hello?? Bears are NFC champs and are going to the Superbowl!!! Who will they play? It’s still too early to tell as the Colts/Pats are still playing. I enjoyed the game at a local watering hole (Jillians) here in Champaign with some friends and had a blast. I don’t know if I will have any voice for a few days, but it was worth it. :)

Finally, I can go to a Superbowl party and have MY team there to root for. This is going to rock!!!! Congrats to the Bears and good luck in the Superbowl!!!!!

Full story from ChicagoBears.com

I didn’t know which Bears team was going to show up today, or which Seahawks team would either. Grossman played pretty well and only had one interception and a fumble. As many times as the Seahawks have won with a game winning field goal this year, it was nice to see the Bears pull it off. Now it’s on to the NFC Championship game against a very potent Saints team. One more win away from the Superbowl, this is truly exciting!

Thank goodness we have a great offense. Huh? What did he just say? Yeah, that’s right. :) Our defense playing short-handed had trouble stopping the Bucs in the 4th quarter. Rex Grossman showed up though and got us the necessary yardage in OT to get 2 FG opportunities. (the first one was missed) So with the win (and the Saints loss) the Bears clinched home field advantage throughout the playoffs. w00t! :) Hopefully the defense can work out the kinks over the next 2 games.

Full story from ChicagoBears.com

Well the critics were silenced last night as Grossman broke out of his funk and looked like the guy we saw earlier in the season. He was overshadowed by the rookie Devin Hester who returned 2 kickoff returns for touchdowns. The guy is amazing and he’s only a rookie! No turnovers for the Bears and it definitely made a difference. With this win the Bears clinched a first-round bye in the playoffs and move their record to 11-2. Did anyone else notice that this was supposedly an away game, yet there seemed to be a lot more Bears fans there? (Soldier Field - South!) Another amazing performance on Monday night and more importantly another victory. :)

Full story from ChicagoBears.com