Xmas is over. It’s hard to keep track. . .
Anyway, just a quick Slog post to say Hey: you Seahawks fans . . . yeah, you and . . . you too. I think there are at least two of you reading Slog at some point. I’m watching the Seahawks-Rams game, and if the Seahawks win, they’ll make history: the first losing team to make the NFL playoffs. Several 8-8 teams have made the post-season, but never a 7-9 team, which is what the ‘Hawks will be if they beat the Rams.
Will wonders never cease?
Meanwhile, Happy New Year, and sorry I didn’t post more about how much Milton Bradley sucks. Maybe the Bears will face the Seahawks in the second round. . . . they just gotta beat the Super Bowl Champeen Saints.
Hope this doesn’t jinx ya. Seriously. Looking forward to live-slogging Seahawks v. Bears.
UPDATE:
‘Hawks playing solid D, but need to put some more points on the board if they want to stick their season-ticket holders with a one-and-out post-season home game.
Topic for discussion: should a 7-9 team be allowed in the freaking playoffs? At all? Does the divisional setup reward division-wide mediocrity?
UPDATE
OK, had to step outside to check in with the girlfriend, missed the last ‘Hawks FG. A TD woulda been better, but nonetheless, Time is Running Out for the Rams.
UPDATE
Nice pick—doesn’t seal the deal, but makes Celebration in Sodo more likely.
UPDATE
Whitehurst oughta learn the slide rule. Coulda saved himself that hit.
Update
Penalties will kill ya. . . but probably not.
Update
Another field goal. Works for me. . . game out of reach, barring a miracle. Hope the Seahawks beat the Saints and y’all come to Soldier Field. Where you beat us earlier this year (I was there. . . still pissed off).
UPDATE
Nice sack. Nice second sack. And forced fumble. Clearly, the Rams want to go home to rest up for next season.
Final Update
Take a knee, make a playoff bonus. And so history is made!
Over and out from Bruno’s. Hope to see ya in two weeks.
I think there should be some kind of line. Either at 500 or above. I don’t think we should completely do away with the divisions, but when 2 other teams in the conference are missing the playoffs with winning records while a 7-9 team goes, I think there’s a problem.
Love it. Perverse delight at 7-9. Rest of NFL – suck it.
Chicago Fan – you seem to be only sports writer on slog. Keep it up!
“Perverse delight” lol! It is just too funny how giddy everyone is over a 7-9 record. I’m crackin’ up! The Seahawks make NFL history 🙂
And yeah, Slog must have someone patch in from Chicago to have a sports presence.
Hey, my Lions (I grew up in Detroit) got six wins this year. If we can be proud of six, Hawks fans can be proud of seven (and a playoff berth). 😀
cosmic jokes are infinitely hilarious when they work in your favor. NOLA has to come HERE? another cosmic joke.
It’s a holiday miracle.
Unfortunately you won’t see us in two weeks. The Bears will play the best team to advance, which will not be the Seahawks (who will play the Falcons). Too bad, since we owned your overrated team earlier this season. Jay Cutler is Rex Grossman minus two.
@1. You don’t understand how football works.
@CF. Crushing Chicago AGAIN is a personal dream.
@7 I think that if the seahawks win and the packers beat the eagles, the seahawks will go to chicago to play the bears. they’ll have the higher seed.
@9: You’re right. Though I was right about the Bears being overrated and Jay Cutler being a pile of dog meat.
Congrats. Your ‘Clipboard Jesus’ (h/t Nicky) played well, and I wish y’all the best of luck in the playoffs. This kind of reminds me of their ’83 playoff run for some reason.
Hell, after indirectly living the drama that was the MN Vikings (I work for the caterer ‘abused’ by Randy Moss) I’m pulling for the Hawks to go far.
Not that I’m holding my breath, but I don’t like anyone else in the playoffs.
Oh @4 Good job… sincerely. This year the Lions have been slowly making progress, where we imploded, which was painfully obvious in today’s game. The North should be interesting next year, and I don’t see MN any part of it. Although I hope they keep Frasier and Webb.
@10: Oh really? Quarterbacks like Brett Favre and Eli Manning throw a shit ton of picks when they have no offensive line in front of them. As evidence of Cutler’s worth, I present the following:
-Cutler is incredibly dangerous even when flushed out of the pocket; he’s agile, he can throw perfectly placed passes off of his back foot, he can break tackles, and he’s pretty fast for a QB.
-Cutler is quite durable. Barring one concussion, he’s shrugged off the barrage of hits he’s taken this season with nary a hiccup, and when the Bears set up in the wildcat, he’s actually delivered some pretty punishing blocks.
-Not only can Cutler throw the long bomb, he’s been excellent at making dump-off passes. I have seen him, while being tackled in the backfield, flip the ball forwards to Matt Forte at the last second, resulting in a first down.
You’re just butthurt because you know that now that the Bears have their offense together, the Seahawks would be eating their dust on the way to Dallas in the event of a matchup.
@8: Not going to happen, bro. We may be volatile, but you guys are just plain mediocre.
So how did the Bears do today? The Seahawks have good reason for a low scoring game – the Bears: Not so much. Hey, we’re just following the rules. Re-seeding for the playoffs might make sense, but that’s not what we have right now. Take what comes, I say – enjoy one more game, then look to improve next year.
Rules are rules! Great game tonight, lets shock some people and beat the Saints…yeah, uh, beat the, uh, Saints…
@13. That’s some funny shit. Srsly man. Get the NFL package. Watch the first iteration of that matchup. Cutler is terrible. “incredibly dangerous”. that’s rich.
There’s nothing wrong with the system. This has never happened in what 70 years anyways? They should keep the 4 division winners and two wildcards but re-seed based on records–> NO hosting SEA and so on. . .
And anyone who has a problem with this, well maybe your teams should take care of business and win their division! =)
It doesn’t really matter all that much anyway – I don’t see the ‘Hawks surviving the first playoff game. Then again, I don’t see “Mr. Interception” and da Bears going beyond the first round either.
In the end, all shall fall before the mighty Patriots.
Ugh. Well, there’s only one thing for the Seahawks to do now… win the whole. fucking. thing.
Of course, if they do go far in the playoffs, they’re really only hurting themselves in the long run. A shitty team getting a shitty draft pick next year, yeah, that’s worth it.
@17, like the Raiders, who beat everyone in their division twice and then missed the playoffs. The divisions are treated as meaningless by the league. @1 is probably right about how the league would “fix” this: instead of making a simple design to choose playoff teams, they would complicate their rules further.
Want to fix this? Look at the Premier League, it’s not hard: set up a simple, balanced schedule and the best record wins.
In the NFL, a 16 game schedule means home and away to 7 other teams in an eight-team regional division, and two games against random other teams. Best two records in the division (not counting the out-of-division games, obviously, as they’re meaningless for deciding the best teams in the division) advance to the playoffs, giving an 8 team playoff. Division winners get home-field. Want more teams in the playoffs? Give the third-place teams a play-in game.
@16: Aaand after the bye week, once the O-line had settled down and given Cutler some time in the pocket, did you see what they did to the Eagles? And the Dolphins? And the Jets, even though their defense had fallen apart? The Jets game was particularly telling of Cutler’s skill; he’s got a spread of receivers with plenty of talent but fairly little experience, he’s facing some of the best cornerbacks in the league, and he still lights up the coverage with a shit ton of perfectly thrown touchdown bombs.
Quit judging Cutler by his performance before the bye week; now that we have an O-line, we’ll easily beat the tar out of you if we meet this year.
@21 The NFL almost does this anyhow. Each division plays against another non-conference division each year. For example, this year the AFC West & NFC West played against each other. It rotates each year, 4 years per cycle. One of the playoff tiebreakers is record against common opponents, so those 4 games matter a little bit. I agree that your method is more explicit. It’s more of a question of weighting team records for playoff entry. That’s something that may change with an 18 game schedule.
Bonus: Not only did the Raiders go 6-0 in the AFC West, they also creamed the Seahawks, who used to be in that division.
Congrats to the Hawks, but this year belongs to the Eagles. Philly is going, Vick. MVP Brady is just hype.
@18, Sad but true. We’re the number 2 seed, but I have no disillusions. There are the Patriots, and then, there’s everyone else. Perhaps we can hope that they will fall to a lesser team (again) when they least expect it.
VL @22: Brady’s thrown 355 passes without an interception. Just like Cutler, right?
Jamie: Who knows, anything can happen (and frequently does). Foxboro’s a rough place, though.
@25: Have you seen how he runs when he’s flushed out of the pocket? He’s no Michael Vick, but he’s damn fast on his feet. Quit bitching and moaning; I have yet to see many quarterbacks who can throw strongly and accurately without taking the time to set their feet.
@27: Brett Favre, in his younger years, also led the league in interceptions. This year, the league leader was Eli Manning. A quarterback is only ever as reliable as the offensive line in front of him.
Thoughts now?