Initial Thoughts on the Bears-Saints Game

1. The Bears are 1.5-3 point favorites as of now for the Saints game. The MGM Mirage handicapper sounds like he would bet on the Saints. He said if the game was played at a neutral site, the Saints would be the favorites.
2. The weather didn't turn out to be correct this week. (It was about a day late with the "wintry mix"--we're getting it as we speak. I hope my flight is not delayed.) For next week, they are predicting windy and cold, no precipitation. The Bears really need a swirling, windy day to hold down the Saints passing attack.
3. To refresh your memory on those playoff success predictors, here they are:

• Overall Defense: .225
• Passing Defense: .174
• Rushing Defense: .242
• Overall Special Teams: .177
• First Down Passing Defense: .293
• First Down Overall Defense: .291
• Road Defense: .258
• Red Zone Defense: .226

And here are how the Bears and Saints match up in the regular season (of the stats I could find):

• Overall Defense: Bears 2nd, Saints 19th
• Passing Defense: Bears 2nd, Saints 22nd
• Rushing Defense: Bears 5th, Saints 20th
• Overall Special Teams: Bears 1st, Saints 14th
• First Down Overall Defense: Bears 13th, Saints 14th
• Red Zone Defense: Bears 12th, Saints 6th

It looks like the Bears still match up well here, but the Saints can kill the Bears with big plays. I also just don't think the Bears can stop the run up the middle anymore without Tommie Harris. Any kind of delay or draw seems to kill the Bears--it uses Urlacher's and Briggs's speed against them.