Fear The Chorizo

Texan receivers wearing the latest brand of vaseline-infused gloves today

Pats might just kneel on it 3 plays amd punt until the Texans score again

This is comically bad in terms of turnovers for Pats/Texans

Its amazing that one of these teams or a Broncos team on a backup quarterback will be in the super bowl with how sloppy these offenses are.

It starts with them getting a coach who can change a culture that wasnt anything like it was under Belichek. Along with spending a ton in free agency since their qb is on a rookie deal Also helps facing this Texans offense who seems to be allergic to holding onto the football

Its a shame Stroud and the Texans' offense is imploding with turnovers on dropped passes and terrible pocket presence....their defense is awesome to watch play

The issue is the Dodgers can go on autopilot for 162 games, make sure their veteran starters are healthy, and steamroll through the playoffs - their farm system and IL roster are plenty deep to sleepwalk to 90+ wins. I think the only way, absent the financial system actually getting fixed, to put the screws on their organization is for the rest of MLB to essentially boycott trading with the Dodgers, ultimately forcing then to have to flat out release or make available blocked prospects to the Rule 5 draft, and veterans coming off IL, getting nothing of value in return for them. That includes nobody selling them veteran reinforcements at the trade deadline, too. Force them to play with an aging roster or have to DFA valuable players.

Exactly - the Dodgers are playing by the set of rules governing the sport...problem is the rules mirror what the warden had set up for the guards against the inmates in The Longest Yard. They arent fair and need to get changed - and its worth missing as many seasons as it takes to get it right.

The US taxes their rich people plenty, too....that's a story for another setting though. I'm guessing Ohtani makes more in endorsements already being taxed in Japan anyways - and it'd be easy for him to find a nice spot in FLA or TX for 10 years before moving back to the motherland if he wanted to. So yeah, CA is getting screwed on deferred money.

They've more or less confirmed that the Dodgers made back the totality of their financial commitment to Ohtani after the 1st season he played with them in overseas marketing revenues. In terms of individual team revenues that aren't shared, it wouldn't surprise me if the Dodgers bring in more $$ than the bottom 15-20 MLB organizations combined annually - if not more teams.

One question I have on the deferred money - Do state income taxes on that deferred money depend on where the player lives when it's paid out, or would it be taxed by the state of California irregardless of where the player lives? Depending on the answer to that question, I would think the state government of CA would be pretty pissed about how the Dodgers are paying players, too - assuming Ohtani moves to an income tax-free state or back to Japan right after he retires and the $68M annual deferred money starts coming in. Even if it's ultimately taxed by CA, they're missing out on a pretty large chunk of tax revenue now when, quite frankly, they really need it. The only solution I can see is MLB taking over all broadcast rights and then sharing it across the league equally. Big market teams still keep some of their financial advantages, but the funny money gets distributed evenly so mid and small market clubs at least have a prayer of competing on the field. It's either that, or you put a cap on what local TV revenue can be used to fund player payroll, AND put a tight cap on the percentage of what any player's contract can be deferred.

They wont, because theyll keep funneling in a top prospect here and there or signing younger premier free agents along the way. They have a bottomless piggy bank to offset costs and the deferred money/luxury tax element doesnt have nearly enough teeth in it to harm any current or future onfield talent the Dodgers will put on the field.

At this point, I will actually be pissed if they avoid a work stoppage/missed season or two and dont fix this problem. There is every reason why every other team not named the Dodgers should go to the mat to end this crap.

The fact that Kyle Tucker, who was very average for the Cubs most of last year, gets the 2nd highest AAV contract in the history of baseball given to him by the Dodgers, should be the final nail in the coffin towards 1-2 seasons of no baseball after this season to get the rest of MLB in the same financial galaxy as the Dodgers. The gap between them and the Yankees/Phillies of the world is about as big as the gap between the Yankees/Phillies of the world and the Pirates. Disgusting

I honestly don't think that matters if we know exactly what he says behind closed doors - look at his teams and how they act when the pressure ramps up at crunch time. They turtle - and that spans multiple years with both Rodgers and Love at QB and several rounds of roster churn....it's now a culture where the only common denominator is MLF overseeing it. And no matter what he says to players behind closed doors, it isn't working well enough to translate to disciplined, winning play on the field by his players when it matters most. Actions speak louder than words - it's time to move on if this organization wants to get back to being a team with legitimate Super Bowl aspirations - not just a "good enough" team that finds its way into the playoffs routinely because half the conference gets a playoff berth and the rest of the NFC North seem intent on taking turns having at least 1 team fall on their face when they get saddled with a 1st place schedule. The Bears figuring out how to pose as a functional organization will make this division tougher over the next few years (at least until Williams' upcoming extension forces them to restructure/cut a bunch of their veteran talent in an offseason or two due to salary cap constraints)

I think I'm rooting for a Rams-Bills Super Bowl....send Stafford out to pasture with a title or get Josh Allen a well-deserved 1st. Wouldn't mind the Texans' defense carrying them through though, either.

Been a few articles/comments in Chicago meatball media about how the Bears have a couple players who were on the Falcons when the Patriots came back from down 28-3 in that Super Bowl, and how a tape Ben Johnson showed the team about that comeback in training camp to emphasize "never giving up"...I think the only reason I'd put any stock into that being a reason the Bears won Saturday night is because those Falcons had a certain quarterbacks coach on that sideline to witness it himself, and he has been unable to learn from that and many other games where significant 4th quarter leads vaporized under his watch - MLF I'll be irate if they extend this guy - he's not a head coach you can expect to be a leader of a team who can win it all, he's proven that over his tenure in Green Bay in multiple ways. I think he is an innovative offensive mind and knows how to get the most out of the quarterback position - but that isn't enough to be the caliber of an NFL coach a team with title aspirations needs running the ship. Either fire him or let him enter 2026 as a lame duck coach on a totally "prove it year" - I don't like the idea of him and Gute staying on as lame ducks, but I can stomach that over extending MLF after what we all saw Saturday knowing that's the culture he's built on the pile of postseason failures he's been here for.

Say they extend Lafleur - by all indications Hafley's gone, plus the Dolphins may poach some other well-regarded assistants for their own organization at higher roles. Does Policy really want Lafleur to run this back AND help with naming a new defensive coordinator and adding new assistants elsewhere on the team? Plus firing his buddy who "runs" special teams? We've been down that road before and nobody liked it. If Gute is sticking around, I'll shrug my shoulders and be ok with it, particularly if he's a lame duck. Honestly, if Policy doesn't want to "fire" LaFleur, the better play would be for him to go back on what he said about not wanting both coach and GM to be on lame duck contracts next season, cite injuries, and they both return on the last year of their deals in 2026 - I'd much rather to that than extend LaFleur right now.

Mentioned it at the time the plays were made, but the two huge 1st down catches on the Packer drive that resulted in the missed FG from Doubs and Golden also were unfortunate in a way, because they wound up out of bounds and stopped the clock without the Bears needing to burn timeouts. Both really couldn't be avoided (Doubs slid out of bounds on the over the shoulder diving catch, and Golden was running a hard out to the sideline). Had either of those plays stayed in bounds, forcing the Bears to burn a timeout to preserve 40 seconds of clock on a 1st down conversion, I think the outcome of what was still another epic Packer collapse would have wound up being a win. Both of them staying in bounds, and I think the Packers could've all but kneeled away the final minutes before even having to attempt that field goal. Not anywhere close to the main reason they lost - just one of those "of course" observations I made that was reinforcing the fact this team was incapable of closing when it mattered most, and whatever could go wrong at that stage of the game did (even with positive plays).

On this same play, the TE was wide open with a capital W in the deep flat (entire secondary on his side of the field had collapsed into the endzone chasing receivers). He wouldn't have scored, but it was an easy throw and would he would have easily been able to get inside the 10 and get out of bounds, likely giving the Packers 2 more plays to score a TD. I get that Love went for the HR on this throw and for his part, he made a good enough throw in an impossible window for it actually to be completed (Watson didn't come out of his break at full speed and it was just a bit out of sync). that's likely his primary read on the play and it had a shot - and if I remember correctly this was the play where the clock started running so it had to be snapped quickly. However, I think for him to get to the next level, Love's got to understand what the entire defense is going to do in coverage, know he's got an easy pitch and catch to the boundary that sets the team up for better chances at a TD throw, and make the easy play.

Stafford and Adams playing in Chicago many times earlier in their careers definitely helps them - if weather doesnt throw a wrench in the passing game and Stafford's throwing hand is indeed ok,, i dont see how the Bears stop a Rams offense unless it implodes on itself. Nacua and Adams with a good receiving TE and a running game, with McVay calling plays, seems like alot of points scored. And the Rams' defensive front is much more dynamic than the Packers' without Parsons and Wyatt. Any team that found a way to reach the divisional round has a shot, because there is no dominant team in the league this year....but the Bears opening as nearly 5 point dogs at home against LAR is there for a reason. All that said, the only team with a worse special teams unit than the Packers is the Rams - so weird crap may happen in that phase to change the outcome of this game.

Woke up this morning hoping to see an article about MLF gone...didnt see it. Thinking id be ok with Gute staying but also wouldnt mind a complete housecleaning. The reason? The organization is currently soft, undisciplined, and that culture has seeped into a young roster that isn't as good as it thinks it is. That starts with the leaders of the organization allowing that lack of discipline and approach to build because they are ok with it themselves. This ship needs a different captain to shake things up, because we all know where the current leadership can take it and its not good enough. A well coached, disciplined team wouldnt catch a 4th down INT attempt if it was going to cost the team 30 yards of field position. A well coached team wouldnt get a delay of game called on them after taking a TO in a critical moment of the game, while the franchise qb was trying to call TO a second time A well coached team would sell out physically at the goal line to keep a trailing team out at all costs (looking at you, Nixon) A well coached team wouldnt need to be tinkering with special teams return and coverage units during a playoff game A well coached team wouldnt burn 5 of their 6 timeouts at curious points of a game. A well coached team would be able to make in-game adjustments faster than wasting almost two quarters of football to add to a large lead built up with a solid early gameplan A well coached team would have veferan players on the sideline losing their minds talking to each other when things start to go sideways to get refocused and motivated without relying on babysitter assistant coaches to pat them on the back This is all from 1 game, and I'm certain others can point out more miscues from last night - we've seen this repeatedly for 7 seasons, often at the most critical moments of a season/playoffs. It's time to move on from MLF

We see this song and dance from MLF-led teams ad nauseum when they get big early leads. They get both passive offensively, and seemingly cannot figure out in game adjustments once the other team does something defensively to stop how the Packers got the lead in the 1st place. GB was dominating that game, and they fell asleep on offense for almost 2 quarters. Passive and poor ability to adjust in-game gets you beat even with talent...that to me is MLF's legacy.

A 28-6 second half debacle is on coaching. The head coach cannot be that incompetent to blow that lead. The defense got gashed, for sure...but the offense did nothing for too long in the second half to let the Bears finally get rolling. Its on MLF...and also on Love for turtling to the pressure looks he saw. They didn't adjust protection schemes or routes/plays to beat those looks until it was too damn late. Special teams cost the Packers 7 points and field position throughout, too. All in all it's unacceptable against a team that just isn’t good enough to be a 2 seed right now.

They are both frauds