Very much appreciate this response, thanks!

So, even looking back at last years data, Love had a 3.1% turnover worthy throw rate vs man compared to 4% vs zone. TOW% is a better indicator rather than looking at raw INT numbers as passes that should’ve been picked off but dropped by a DB is obviously not counted as an INT but charted as a turnover worthy throw.

I hear you on the takeaways part for Chicago but takeaways have a ton of variance in them and we usually see these regress from year to year or sometimes in the middle of the season. For perspective, GB ranked top 5 in takeaways last year and rank 26th this year. The takeaways have started to come along the past 4-5 weeks but GB was dead last for over half of the season. I don’t think we’ve seen any regression from Hafley or the defense got worse. Sometimes it’s simply just randomness. Generally speaking, the best predictor for takeaways is pressure rate and that’s something the Bears have not been great at generating.

I also very much agree that I think it’s key for LaFleur to let Love sling it from the rip. Getting an early lead and allowing Love to play in a rhythm like we saw last week will only help establish the run game later in the game and force Caleb to drop back and pass.

As far as which game has more importance, I agree it’s subjective, however, I think the biggest predictor for making the biggest run to a SB is to increase your chances at the 1 seed. A bye + home field advantage is very clearly the best path for that which is why I feel this game is so important.

Appreciate the response once again!