Jay Cutler with 300+ yards and 4 tds in his playoff debut.

[thatkidhunt]

He's 27, but yeah, still too early to give up on Cutler or say he's a bust.

I think he was referring to when he was on the Bronco's (age 25)

[ursamajor]

Great game by Jay, just saw the 1st half.

Watched something else during the 2nd half. Now, if he does this against the Packers defense, i'll be one of the first to congratulate him.

The Packers have some great players on defense and in the secondary. Tramon Williams has been a monster in the playoffs and all season. Charles Woodson goes without saying and Nick Collins is one of the elite S's in the NFL.

I'd agree with others, i don't think it's going to be a blowout, but i'm expecting the Packers to win. If the Bears are going to win, it's going to be because of Cutler making plays with his arm.

These will be two of the main factors in the game.

1- The weather and field conditions.

2- ST's, Devin Hester can change the momentum with one return.

Forte had 151 total yards on 23 touches vs the Pack in week 17 (15 carries for 91 yards, 8 catches for 60 yards). Against Seattle Forte had 132 total yards.

I have watched Forte take over and be the reason for a Bears revenge win against GB, after Rodgers and the Packers blew out the Orton led Bears earlier in the season.

[AC1]

I don't want to rain on anyones parade but it was against a 7-9 team. The Seahawks lost all 9 games this year by 14 or more points. If Cutler turns in a performance like that against the Pack then I'll give him credit.

Rodgers had 4 TD's against the #1 seed in the NFC on the road. Now that's more note worthy IMO.

I don't know that it was Rodgers' being spectacular as much as one of the greatest choke jobs in recent times by Atlanta. Their youth showed. Don't get me wrong, Rodgers played well, but Atlanta just never showed up. Seattle by comparison kept fighting. On paper, beating the Falcons might sound more impressive, but Seattle was confident, loose and came ready to play, three things Atlanta was missing.

Too bad he sucked as a Bronco. Why couldn't we get those type of performances here?

Actually he didn't "suck" as a Bronco. He was being widely regarded as the best young QB in the league when we foolishly traded him away. He is in only his first year in a new system and already has taken his team to the NFC Championship Game. Once he marinates in that system a year or two, he'll be right back on the track he was here in 2008. Keep in mind, Lord Rodgers has been in the same offense for 6 years now. Cutler has been in his (highly counter-intuitive) offense for 1.

Re: The Seahawks -

The Chargers and Jets got all sort of credit for winning in the playoffs despite barely squeeking in over the past few years. They were giving the Seahawks credit like that until Chicago dismantled them, but now it's a black mark on the Bears' season.

Remember how everyone was talking about the Jets squeeking in because they faced two teams resting at the end and wouldn't have made it otherwise?

Wasn't Green Bay pretty close to that this year?

Couldn't agree more. The Seahawks played the Saints (with the media darling Drew Brees) very well while the Falcons were cold and tight. Falcons pulled the worst choke job I've seen in recent times.

Cutler has a huge task ahead of him in playing Green Bay ... I'm really pulling for him and the Bears to get a chance in the SB ...

I agree. Green Bay is more talented but Chicago seems to play hard and above their talent level. I like Rodgers and was rooting for him in last year's playoffs but considering how much the media fawns over him and the Packers now, it's hard to root for them. For me, it's Bears, Jets, Steelers, Packers in that order.

[saphire1]

1- The weather and field conditions.

2- ST's, Devin Hester can change the momentum with one return.

1. weather is supposed to be better this week than it was against seattle. but i don't think it will be much of a factor because both of these teams are outdoor teams and green bay plays on the frozen tundra. as for the field conditions, it plainly sucks. cutler and urlacher have complained. opponents have complained. but they cant do anything to the field at this time of the year. im not sure whose advantage it's going to be. bears defensive players have said that the bad field negates their speed when it comes to rushing qbs. the opponents' offensive players have slipped and tripped up. so who knows how the field will play into sundays game.

2. hester almost had one in the seattle game had he either juked or jumped over the punter. but i agree with you. the bears have used hester on lesser snaps this year than last year because they finally realized hester is more valuable on returns than as a #1 wr. either way, i expect the bears to get good field position throughout the game not only due to hester, but due to manning too was is very underrated as a returner (because he plays with hester).

[ERoyal248]

Because he wasn't a early 30's Peyton Manning. He was a still developing 25 year old. Sure he started 5 games at the end of his rookie season. He only had two full seasons as a starter in Denver. In the 2nd season he made the Pro Bowl and threw for over 4,500 yards. You don't think if he had stayed that eventually he would have improved?

Drew Brees sucked his first three seasons. He couldn't beat out Doug Flutie. So the Chargers draft Rivers, and suddenly Brees started to get it. Peyton Manning threw 100 INT's in his first 5 seasons. Cutler threw 79 INT's. Manning was on a much smaller stage and didn't have to deal with a big market media. It takes years to master the art of being a QB. It just seems odd that at 25 everyone wanted to cut down Cutler for not being Manning and Brady who were in their 30's.

He's 27, but yeah, still too early to give up on Cutler or say he's a bust.

[ERoyal248]

My X-Factor in this game is Tommie Harris. In the last 2-3 games he is looking like the player he was a few years ago. If he is that player again on Sunday and can get pressure up the middle in Rodgers face it will limit his ability to extend plays.

For players, my X Factors for both teams aside from QB's are.

Bears- Olsen

Packers- Driver

[bears6385]

Great game by Jay, just saw the 1st half.

Watched something else during the 2nd half. Now, if he does this against the Packers defense, i'll be one of the first to congratulate him.

The Packers have some great players on defense and in the secondary. Tramon Williams has been a monster in the playoffs and all season. Charles Woodson goes without saying and Nick Collins is one of the elite S's in the NFL.

I'd agree with others, i don't think it's going to be a blowout, but i'm expecting the Packers to win. If the Bears are going to win, it's going to be because of Cutler making plays with his arm.

These will be two of the main factors in the game.

1- The weather and field conditions.

2- ST's, Devin Hester can change the momentum with one return.

My X-Factor in this game is Tommie Harris. In the last 2-3 games he is looking like the player he was a few years ago. If he is that player again on Sunday and can get pressure up the middle in Rodgers face it will limit his ability to extend plays.

[Da Swerski]

Too bad he sucked as a Bronco. Why couldn't we get those type of performances here?

Because he wasn't a early 30's Peyton Manning. He was a still developing 25 year old. Sure he started 5 games at the end of his rookie season. He only had two full seasons as a starter in Denver. In the 2nd season he made the Pro Bowl and threw for over 4,500 yards. You don't think if he had stayed that eventually he would have improved?

Drew Brees sucked his first three seasons. He couldn't beat out Doug Flutie. So the Chargers draft Rivers, and suddenly Brees started to get it. Peyton Manning threw 100 INT's in his first 5 seasons. Cutler threw 79 INT's. Manning was on a much smaller stage and didn't have to deal with a big market media. It takes years to master the art of being a QB. It just seems odd that at 25 everyone wanted to cut down Cutler for not being Manning and Brady who were in their 30's.

[LarryDean]

Too bad he sucked as a Bronco. Why couldn't we get those type of performances here?

Because he couldn't play LB while breaking many of the Broncos single season passing records

[MrO]

Too bad he sucked as a Bronco. Why couldn't we get those type of performances here?

Denver needed to be more patient with Cutler. Not every QB develops at the same rate, be it on the field or off. He still has alot to work on but he's made strides.

[ERoyal248]

Great game by Jay, just saw the 1st half.

Watched something else during the 2nd half. Now, if he does this against the Packers defense, i'll be one of the first to congratulate him.

The Packers have some great players on defense and in the secondary. Tramon Williams has been a monster in the playoffs and all season. Charles Woodson goes without saying and Nick Collins is one of the elite S's in the NFL.

I'd agree with others, i don't think it's going to be a blowout, but i'm expecting the Packers to win. If the Bears are going to win, it's going to be because of Cutler making plays with his arm.

These will be two of the main factors in the game.

1- The weather and field conditions.

2- ST's, Devin Hester can change the momentum with one return.

[Broncoholic3233]

Yup good debut.

It was against the Hawks pass defense though. They fired their O-Cord, I think they meant to fire their D-Cord

[LarryDean]

Cutler has a huge task ahead of him in playing Green Bay ... I'm really pulling for him and the Bears to get a chance in the SB ...

[lolcopter]

good game by jay. if he can repeat his performance against the pack i will be seriously impressed... given his not so pleasant history against that team

[kmcgough25]

rodgers was great saturday night. kudos to him for going to a hostile environment and beating the #1 seed.

with that said, the bears always play the packers tough. since cutler got there, all four games between them have been decided by a single score. this is the playoffs, but moreso, this game is between probably the toughest divisional rivals in sports. frankly, im not expecting any sort of shootout like the atlanta or seattle game. i expect this to be a hard-nosed battle with the winner being decided in the final few minutes.

I hope you are right. Man that will be a great game to watch if so!!