Hypo-JETS/BEARS Super Bowl XLV

[74_75_78_79_]

It wasn't too far from happening. Both finish 11-5, both actually did play each other penultimate week of the season. Bears won at Soldier, 38-34.

Would it have actually been a Mark Sanchez/Caleb Hanie QB duel?? Or would Cutler have recovered from his NFCCG injury on time?

Either way, who wins in such a possible event and why? Despite Bears beating them, I'd say NYJ had more 'bite' to them. They would have got their revenge. Their only real stinker was that 45-3 loss at Foxboro. But they did beat the Pats in Week #2 thus at least splitting with them; then, of course, eliminate them in the divisional round. They beat Steelers at Heinz late in the year as well.

Bears' offense was...30TH in the league!! D was #9; nothing special. Jets, however, was #3 defense and #11 offense. Real low-ranked pass game though.

I'd say if Cutler plays its Jets by 7 or 10. Hanie? Jets by 10 or 17.

[Bryan]

Of all the hypotheticals you have presented over the years, I think this one has to be the least interesting (with all due respect, in deference to Code of Conduct). Sanchez/Cutler would have me rooting against both teams.

[Hail Casares]

Of all the hypotheticals you have presented over the years, I think this one has to be the least interesting (with all due respect, in deference to Code of Conduct). Sanchez/Cutler would have me rooting against both teams.

Martz prepping Hanie, who he hated, for the Super Bowl would have been amazing

[74_75_78_79_]

Of all the hypotheticals you have presented over the years, I think this one has to be the least interesting (with all due respect, in deference to Code of Conduct). Sanchez/Cutler would have me rooting against both teams.

Oh, it definitely would have been super-likely the least hyped-up SB ever. Thing is, though, as I said, it almost did happen. Hanie made a 14-0 game, suddenly, suspenseful in the end for better and worse. Two quick TDs, but a pick-6 sandwiched in-between. And Sanchez almost brought Jets all the way back in the 'Burgh.

Not too sure, however, if in such a SB-hypothetical, two commercials (saved for after the game was decided) - say, a Diet Pepsi ad - would have been filmed with the two of them. One of them ending with, "Hey Mark! Next year I'm buying!", and the other..."Hey Caleb! Next year I'm buying!"

[JWL]

The Bears and Jets meeting in the Super Bowl (two major media market teams that haven't won Super Bowls in ages) would make it as hyped as any other Super Bowl.

[Brian wolf]

To this day, people still question how bad Jay Cutler's knee was in that NFC Championship game. I felt he should have kept playing but didnt know how bad the knee was. I was hoping he could resemble what Phillip Rivers tried to do in the 2007/08 AFC Championship game but considering the Chargers couldnt score a TD, maybe Rivers shouldnt have kept playing but he wasnt replaced. I was disappointed Tomlinson couldnt keep playing as well in that game but we never know with injuries.

Even had Cutler gotten through the game, Hanie probably would have started the SB. Some of my cynical friends believe the League wanted the Packers to go all the way but this Bears loss might have happened whether Cutler was healthy or not ...

[Mark]

Some of my cynical friends believe the League wanted the Packers to go all the way but this Bears loss might have happened whether Cutler was healthy or not ...

Like a lot of conspiracy theories that is one that makes zero sense. Sure the Packers are popular but so are the Bears. They may not seem so now but they are pretty much a sleeping giant in terms of popularity IMO [or should I say a hibernating bear?]. In 1983 I didn't know anyone who claimed to be a Bears fan. In 1985 plenty of people I knew all of a sudden had "always been a Bear fan" In fairness other teams had great years without that many people coming out of the woodwork. I'm not even sure a Bears win wouldn't have been better for the league. If the league was in the business of fixing games to help certain teams then why the heck have the Ravens managed to win a couple of Super Bowls? I live in Virginia and I haven't noticed much of a surge in Raven support to supplant Washington.

[Brian wolf]

Its not so much about a teams popularity as which team is hot at the right time. The Packers got hot and swept through the postseason, winning it all but the next season getting upset at home to the Giants despite a 15-1 record. Upsets in the playoffs are common, especially now but some people thought Rodgers late surge was a "great story" that the NFL loves. Then again, Seahawks fans at the time wondered how their 7-9 division champions --who upset the defending champion Saints and beat the Bears during the season--would get soundly beaten by them in the divisional round. Like I told a friend at the time, it just wasnt the Bears year ...

It still has to be very frustrating for Packers fans that despite having Favre and Rodgers, they only have the two championships in that long a timeframe ... Could this season be better for Rodgers, who even the fans are tiring of ?

[Mark]

It seems to me there are plenty of potentially "great stories" that never come to be.

[sheajets]

I can't even fathom what it's like to watch my team in the Super Bowl. Just the two weeks leading up to it. Must be something else

The Jets at 11-5, somehow had to go on the road and not only beat Peyton Manning, but Tom Brady and an extremely powerful Patriots team (on one of their most dominant runs) in Foxboro...then turn around and go beat Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh. That's just too tall an order. The Jets really seemed a bit spent in that Pittsburgh game, and by the time they turned things around it was too late

If we had to face Hanie then I could see them pulling that out maybe...however never underestimate Sanchez's ability to absolutely give a game away. He could've very easily had one of those 10-28 115 yard 0td 4int performances.

That 2010 Bears defense was very good. That 38-34 game was a bit deceptive, both had clinched playoff spots by then and I feel played a bit fast and loose that week. An actual Super Bowl between them would've been in the 16-10 range.

It would've been an ugly game. If the Jets win they do it with special teams (a Brad Smith kick return TD, something like that) and just totally overwhelming Hanie all the while not asking Sanchez to do too much and running the ball effectively...or Sanchez coughs up the game with a bevy of turnovers.