How much does Sunday night really matter for the Bears?
It’s a 16-game season that coaches and players divide into fourths to keep it manageable mentally and make it feel like less of an endless grind. So is a game between 3-0 Seattle and the 3-0 Bears really that big a deal when you’re pretty sure neither team is going to go undefeated anyway?
Cornerback Charles Tillman insisted that meeting the 2005 NFC champions was not a game by which to measure the Bears.
“So if we win, are we the defending champs?” Tillman asked. “That’s why it doesn’t mean anything. It’s another regular-season game. They’re undefeated; we’re undefeated. It was a big thing last week. Minnesota was undefeated. It’s a big game when it’s between two undefeated teams.”
But all games on the NFL schedule are not created equal. Championships cannot be won in September or October, but they can be lost. So can home-field advantage, though Tillman could rightly point out that Soldier Field in January was no edge for the Bears against wild-card Carolina last season.
Still, said Rex Grossman: “The biggest thing is we want to win the NFC North, and everyone in the NFC North has to play the NFC West. This is our first battle against the NFC West, and that’s who we want to take care of.”
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Mike Downey
You should know that Seattle’s Matt Hasselbeck sometimes looks for four wide receivers at once and that he is not the NFL quarterback married to Elisabeth Hasselbeck of “The View.” (That would be Tim.) What he will view is a Bears secondary captained by Mike Brown that has not given up a TD pass.
BEARS: 17
SEAHAWKS: 20
David Haugh
We interrupt this week of Bears off-the-field nonsense for a special bulletin: This team’s for real. The best defense in the league will force Seattle into being one-dimensional, and though the secondary can be soft on occasion, the pass rush makes the difference. Will the next time Matt Hasselbeck and Rex Grossman take snaps on the same field be at the Pro Bowl?
BEARS: 24
SEAHAWKS: 20
Fred Mitchell
Matt Hasselbeck figures to complete a high percentage of short passes, just as the Vikings’ Brad Johnson and the Lions’ Jon Kitna did against the Bears. But the Bears’ elastic defense should be able to keep the Seahawks out of the end zone most of the evening. Thomas Jones is due for a breakout game rushing the ball.
BEARS: 23
SEAHAWKS: 13
Rick Morrissey
I know, I know: Before the season, in print, I picked the Bears to lose this game. I also had them with a record of 1-3 afterward. But they showed me something with last week’s victory over Minnesota. They showed a resolve that had been in hiding at times. They didn’t play particularly well, and they beat a pretty good Vikings team. This time, they really do need Rex Grossman to play well.
BEARS: 20
SEAHAWKS: 14
John Mullin
The Bears’ defense is fast enough to deal with four-wideout sets if Seattle goes there and is stout enough to deal with the Seahawks’ running game. The Bears face their fourth straight top-12 rushing defense but have too many weapons in 24 16 a national showcase at home.
BEARS: 24
SEAHAWKS: 16
Don Pierson
The game could mean home-field advantage in the playoffs, so it’s time for the Bears to prove Soldier Field actually is an advantage. You have to like the Bears’ defense with Tommie Harris over the Seahawks’ offense without Shaun Alexander. But Bears’ offense vs. Seahawks’ defense is more likely to decide it.
BEARS: 20
SEAHAWKS: 17
SEATTLE TIMES
Jerry Brewer
With Shaun Alexander out, the game turns into a battle of respected defenses. The more established Bears’ unit wins in the end.
Jerry Brewer covers the Seahawks and the NFL for the Seattle Times.
BEARS: 16
SEAHAWKS: 13
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7:15 p.m. Sunday at Soldier Field
TV: WMAQ-Ch. 5
Radio: WBBM-AM 780
